Yesterday I watched a film that made my jaw drop. It was based on a historical event that happened right here in the US of A. All I could think as I watched this movie was – January 6. Yet the events of this story occurred more than a century ago. There were some similarities in the circumstances of both events but for the most part they were very different. Only the reaction was, in some ways, a carbon copy of how our government is handling what occurred on that day.
The movie is The Conspirator. It is by no whiff of the imagination a “right wing propaganda piece”. In fact, in some other light, just the opposite is more likely to be inferred.
It is the story of Mary Surratt. She was a southern woman, a Confederate supporter who ran a boarding house in Washington D. C. when Lincoln was shot. She was implicated in the plot to assassinate the President, Vice-President Johnson and Secretary of State Seward because her son, a friend of John Wilkes Booth and, allegedly a co-conspirator met at her boarding house to further their plans. Here are some of the similarities I saw.
(spoiler alert!)
Mary Surratt was charged because of her proximity to some of the bad actors.
Little or no evidence was forthcoming.
The evidence that was presented was thin, at best, and possibly false.
She was held without bail until trial in a dank cell. Though I imagine it may be better accommodations than those of some J6 prisoners and she was likely treated better.
The prosecution stacked the deck against her. A civilian, she was tried by a military court rather than a jury of her peers in a civilian court.
She was going to be tried to appease those who abhorred the assassination.
While she was found guilty, her original sentence was life rather than hanging.
The powers that be demanded and got the death penalty for her.
A writ of habeas corpus was obtained, granting her a civilian trial. The writ was overruled by President Johnson, who had zero authority to do so.
Of course, this dark chapter in our history envelopes the worst moment of our nation. In fact, one could say, and yes, I do say it, if our constitution was followed, this nation as it stands today would not exist at all.
The Confederates were not “rebels”. These sovereign southern states did not attempt to “overthrow” the Union, they seceded – they opted out. It was their absolute right. Now I am not going to debate their intentions or the merits or demerits of their contentions. What I will say is they had every right to act as they did, even if they were wrong.
The Union had already trashed the Constitution many times over. Thus the monkey trial of Mary Surratt pales by comparison. Yet the total disregard for her rights as a citizen and as a human being should glare as a festering sore on this nation’s history.
It is not the first, the only nor the last time the powers that illegitimately be, have trampled on the rights of us citizens – individually and as a group. Every instance is an affront to our sovereignty as citizens.
Someone once put forth an analogy concerning illicit sex that works here. He said illicit sex was like duct tape. Used once the very strong adhesive binds two together so it is very difficult to separate them. However once the tape is removed and applied to another and the bond becomes weaker. When repeated over and over again, eventually there is not enough adhesive to bond at all.
The same thing can be said for our rights as enumerated in the Constitution. Each time an amendment is “temporarily” lifted from our founding document it needs to be bound back in but each time the bond is weaker. At some point, a point we are dangerously close to, the bond will be too weak to stick at all.
Don’t take my word for it, watch The Conspirator for yourself. Compare that story with the plight of the J6 political prisoners. The details are different for sure but the substance – the stark obliteration of these citizens’ rights to appease a handful of political cockroaches, if not to deflect attention and shelter them from their own treasonous actions, is glaring.
Just for the moment, set aside Disney’s crusade to reverse Florida’s new parental rights law or as the left has misnomered it, the “don’t say gay bill. Forget whose side they are on. Forget that the overt protests are about the prohibition of sexualizing children up to grade three. As a matter of fact, for the time being, don’t even consider the fact the Disney is essentially actively supporting the grooming of young children and/or indoctrinating them sexually. Leave it all behind and consider this:
Congress or not? Maybe a better question is… what if they do? Big F-N Deal. For those of you with memories stretching way, way back to 2017, you might recall, Republicans held the White House, the House of Representatives AND the Senate. Now you tell me… what, exactly were they able to accomplish during those two years?
My morning began with a conversation with my wife. As I am in the habit of regaling her with a selection of the latest memes, current events was the topic. It doesn’t matter the topic, her response is always the same: “There’s nothing we can do about any of this.” I see the despair in her eyes as they meet with my own. Maybe “despair” is too strong a term. Hopeless resignation is more accurate, I think. I am hard-pressed to disagree with her entirely. I can see a different path. It is not an easy one. It is not a likely path but it is a path nonetheless. More about that in a bit. It seems more expedient to consider the most likely path, the one we all seem to be on. The road to hell.
When that happens, all bets are off. Someone might declare a “national emergency” and seize power on the spot. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. The deciding factor, as always, will be how much they believe we citizens will tolerate. We’ve already proven quite docile. They could simply engage the troops. Of course, first we’ll see law enforcement deployed in all their glory. Then the National Guard will be called in. Last but not least, we’ll see the military put boots on the ground. Once this happens, it is only a matter of time before a “provisional government” assumes power. At some point they will defer to some “global leadership”. The globalists will finally be able to establish their world government because our nation no longer stands in their way.
movement. Just before Covid hit, citizens all over our commonwealth convinced our county boards to declare our respective counties to be Second Amendment Sanctuaries. The movement was a response to the State’s recent attack on our 2A rights.
Yes, we CAN vote our way out of this… so to speak. Many, especially my brothers on the right, disdain the idea. I understand why. For decades we citizens vote and vote and vote. Sometimes we see some light at the end of the tunnel but it is always extinguished far too soon. The problem is our vote is only part of the answer. As was demonstrated in November 2020, what also matters is who counts the votes. We’ve been far too lax on that matter. Even then we are not out of the woods.
expected. Once such a person, or any person who finds themselves in a position of authority begins calling citizens names like “racists” and “terrorists” simply because they do not like the actions of said citizens, once they begin using these terms to justify infringing in the rights of citizens, then the actions of said authoritarians become illegal in and of themselves. This same principle can be applied to all who are holding our own January 6 POWs in despicable and reprehensible conditions, denying not only their rights as citizens but their human rights.
it is. We pick a day – I would say a Saturday so us working stiffs don’t have to take a weekday off – and we show up to our respective county seats in support of the truckers. Even better if we could make it a rolling demonstration with folks there every day but, you know, work. We do that sort of thing.