A Mad King’s Independence Day – Jan 6th

The January 6th hearings have come to a close and news pundits spanning the full spectrum of political perspectives have weighed in with their summary of the proceedings.

FOX News (Conservative leaning news)

“The testimony in and of itself is really really powerful.”

“All of this is obviously riveting. Its its very dramatic.”

CNN (Liberal leaning news)

“She gave the picture of a mad King.”

Civility is not a sign of weakness. A lesson apparently lost on our former President.”

He is a Criminal and a seditious President of the United States.”

“It is worse than we ever imagined.”

“This hearing was billed to be a wow moment and it certainly, seems to me, delivered on that wow.”

Regardless of our political affiliations, religious dogmas, or heritage as Americans and human beings we have to be able to establish a baseline to discern the difference between right and wrong. The last few weeks have presented testimony from everyday American citizens from all walks of life who lived through the January 6th storming of the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.  Now, lets not mince words when we discuss January 6th, which will likely live in infamy with the same longevity as the September 11th Twin Tower terror attacks. January 6th of 2021 was an attempted Coup d’état of the United States government.

Notable writer and philosopher, George Santayana, is known for the assertion “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” And the next two years will determine if the “American Experiment” of democratic and religious freedom fails or prevails. I pen this literary warning as a student of history.  I, as well as countless others, recognize an eerie echoing of self-destructive ideologies once synonymous with Nazi Germany. Some will applaud and others condemn this comparison. So, we’ll let history tell the tale.

History Lesson

The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch, was a failed coup d’état by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, General Erich Ludendorff and other Kampfbund leaders in Munich, Bavaria, on November 8–9 1923, during the Weimar Republic. Approximately two thousand Nazis marched on the Feldherrnhalle, in the city center, but were confronted by a police cordon, which resulted in the deaths of 16 Nazi Party members and four police officers.

Hitler escaped immediate arrest and was spirited off to safety in the countryside. After two days, he was arrested and charged with treason.
The putsch brought Hitler to the attention of the German nation for the first time and generated front-page headlines in newspapers around the world. His arrest was followed by a 24-day trial, which was widely publicized and gave him a platform to express his nationalist sentiments to the nation. Hitler was found guilty of treason and sentenced to five years in Prison. Having served only nine months, Hitler was released and redirected his focus towards obtaining power through legal means rather than by revolution or force, and accordingly changed his tactics, further developing Nazi propaganda.

Ten years after his first failed coup d’état, in 1933 following a series of electoral victories by the Nazi Party Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. Upon achieving power, Hitler dismantled the nation’s democratic institutions and transformed Germany into a war state intent on conquering Europe for the benefit of the so-called Aryan race.

I’m confident you know what happened after that.