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capitol

No, We Can’t Just Move On

January 12, 2021 by Spencer Critchley

Capitol riot
Capitol riot photo by TapTheForwardAssist, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

No, we can’t just move on and put this behind us. It’s not “divisive” to talk about what’s happened. It’s essential.

The coup attempt — still ongoing — forces us into a long-delayed moral reckoning.

When democracy is working, we should be able to have strong political differences without judging each other morally — but that’s because democracy only works when our differences stay within the boundaries of morality. In a democracy, there’s no legitimate position that justifies corruption, bigotry, or cruelty, for example. Those things can’t be a matter of opinion; they’re immoral.

And there’s no legitimate position that justifies an attack on democracy itself, such as we saw most violently last week, but which has been mustering for a long time.

Where Trumpism could lead has been the subject of increasingly urgent warnings since Trump announced his candidacy — and long before that. Trump didn’t come from nowhere.

And now here we are, with our democracy in danger and lives lost.

[Read more…] about No, We Can’t Just Move On

Filed Under: Politics & Society Tagged With: capitol, insurrection, sedition, trump

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