{"id":1344,"date":"2021-01-13T09:27:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T16:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1344"},"modified":"2021-01-12T09:29:50","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T16:29:50","slug":"demonstration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1344","title":{"rendered":"Demonstration?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We had two powerful demonstrations in our nation last week. One was lawful, orderly, tedious and impressive. The other was destructive, unlawful, with no clear purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first was the US Senate runoff election in Georgia. In case you missed it, two Democrats got elected to the Senate in a state that has only elected Republican Senators for the last twenty years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did this happen? Pretty simple, really, but awfully hard to accomplish: turnout. Almost as many Georgians voted in the runoff as in the general election in November. Twice as many voted as in the last runoff election in 2008. Georgians showed up at the polls, cast their ballots, actively participated in this representative government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state of Georgia ran this runoff election according to their rules; they followed their laws. About half the people\u2019s candidates lost; about half had their guy win. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s disappointment and elation. But the outcome should be seen as a win for us all, if we have any hope for our Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t find this encouraging because \u201cmy side\u201d won. It\u2019s really not about whose side wins, it\u2019s about this Republic working for our citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effort was incredible. Getting people interested in voting, aware of the choice before them, then getting them to the polls or to fill in their absentee ballot is hard work. It takes a lot of organizing, a lot of effort. The effort was made, and the results rewarded the effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, the margins were slim, but the outcome was clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doesn\u2019t a turnout like that just thrill you? Doesn\u2019t such voter engagement restore your faith in our Republic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If not, then maybe you found the second demonstration more meaningful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For weeks right wing Trump supporters have talked about \u201coccupy the Capitol\u201d on unregulated, fringe social media sites. President Trump even set the date, January 6th<\/sup> in a tweet he sent out December 6th <\/sup>calling for a \u201cbig demonstration\u201d in the Capitol. He knew then, and his followers figured out soon enough, that this date would be when the Electoral College Votes would be certified by Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure the crowd was encouraged by the actions of many, our President in particular. I can\u2019t help but think that the wave of Republican elected officials who tried to support one state (Texas) suing other states about how they ran their elections also egged the crowd on. For elected Republicans to abandon one of their fundamental beliefs, state\u2019s rights, to support a demagogue surely signaled that the crowd was correct in their adulation. Heck, even Idaho elected officials jumped on board: Governor Little, both Congressmen, many legislators suddenly needed to follow the roar of a crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Attorney General Lawrence Wasden was a man with integrity in the face of this furor. He refused to add Idaho\u2019s official imprimatur to this blasphemous document. Boy, did he catch it. But if you\u2019re not making somebody mad, you\u2019re not really standing for something, are you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you imagine Idaho being sued by Oregon on how we run our elections?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the crowd formed on Pennsylvania Avenue, our President, Donald Trump, called for them to march up to the Capitol. \u201cI\u2019ll be with you\u201d, he promised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve all seen the videos of the Trump, Confederate, Gadsden (even Idaho) flag waving crowd .as they pushed into the US Capitol building. You\u2019ve seen the pictures of the posturing, pissing and selfie-taking mob.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, you need to be thinking right now how these two demonstrations touched your heart. If the boring slog of talking to neighbors, or strangers about the importance of their vote doesn\u2019t touch you, then I must say, I fear for our Republic. If instead you were roused and supportive of the riot trying to disrupt our legal processes, maybe this Constitutional form of government just doesn\u2019t suit you. We need to be deciding, each of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We had two powerful demonstrations in our nation last week. One was lawful, orderly, tedious and impressive. The other was destructive, unlawful, with no clear purpose. The first was the US Senate runoff election in Georgia. In case you missed … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1344"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1346,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344\/revisions\/1346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}