For many years these divisions have been deliberately fostered for political, economic, partisan, and individual gain. Truth, fairness, civility, and decency have been ignored in the pursuit of power. Democracy, equal protection of the law, and promoting the common welfare have been subordinated to the “divide and conquer” style of politics. Now we are reaping what has been sown.
The anti-government mob that stormed the Capitol was angry that its candidate did not win the election. They believed President Donald Trump's false claims that the election was stolen. They believed his false assertions that Congress could set aside the certified election results. They were deliberately misled and incited to violence.
These people did not have a legitimate reason to protest. There is no evidence the election was stolen or that any significant voter fraud or manipulation of vote-counting occurred. Republican and Democratic election officials in all 50 states certified the results as accurate. Nationally, 62 court cases were filed challenging the election results, including in the U.S. Supreme Court. Courts ruled against all but one of these; the one exception involved an insignificant procedural technicality. The electoral votes Congress counted on Jan. 6 were accurate and legal.
Martin Luther King, Jr., in his “Letter From the Birmingham Jail,” talked about legitimate vs. unjustified protest. Legitimate protest is based on truth and real social, economic, and political grievances. He said there are just and unjust laws. Citizens have a legal and moral responsibility to obey just laws but also a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws and actions by the government. So, citizens should, for example, protest racial discrimination.
There is no comparison between the mob violence at the Capitol and last summer’s legitimate Black Lives Matter protests — or the many other peaceful actions in our history by activists seeking peace and political, social, economic, labor, gender, or racial justice. The BLM protesters had real grievances. Their protests were a reaction to numerous recent cases involving police killing people of color without justification or accountability. People of color have been the victims in a long history of racial inequality. There is no disputing Black Americans are 3.23 times more likely than white Americans to be killed by police, as a June Harvard University study found.
On entering military service, members of Veterans for Peace took an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.” In the spirit of Martin Luther King's “moral responsibility,” we, in our mission statement, further “affirm our greater responsibility to serve the cause of world peace.” We believe this involves working for peace at home by opposing hatred, bigotry, and violence and working for justice.
On entering office, federal elected officials take the same oath with an additional requirement to “well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.” Many elected officials have been violating this oath by promoting the false claims that the election was stolen or fraudulent. Specifically, 121 U.S. representatives and six U.S. senators challenged the electoral votes in an attempt to overturn the election results. This undermined the integrity of the election and provided aid and comfort to the rioters. These officials should face consequences for publicly lying and violating their oaths of office.
The members of Veterans for Peace call on all citizens to accept that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election. It is time to end the violence and accept the truth.
Warren Howe of Duluth and Philip Anderson of Maple are members of Veterans for Peace, Chapter 80 Duluth-Superior.
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