And so 2022 begins

 First, the good news: 2021 is in the rear view mirror! A year of pandemic and a year of danger to democracy, it’s not going to be lost in the history books. Two news items in today’s Washington Post of note to start. A full third of people polled by the Post and the University of Maryland say they think there is justification for violent action against the U.S. government while 62% said violence against the government is never justified. The proportion of Republicans saying this is clearly higher than Democrats but equals the proportion of independents. How much of this is driven by the lies of Donald Trump, echoed by Republicans, that the election was “stolen” from him in 2020? My guess is that most of it is. Despite the facts (those stubborn things per John Adams) showing no genuine widespread fraud in voting or counting votes in 2020, more people than ever feel that violence is a justifiable means to change governments. When can we use our guns is a question increasingly heard from the MAGA group. Trust in elections and their results is what prevents a civil war and sadly the Post-Maryland poll reinforces that the distrust Americans feel toward their institutions, especially free elections, has eroded to the danger zone. How this will end is not in my power to predict but, as a retired Naval officer, my oath to the Constitution holds. A government that is imposed under extraconstitutional shenanigans is not a legitimate government. Such would have been the case if the insurrection of a year ago had installed Trump again. Those who would thwart the Constitution should note that each coin has a flip side.

The second news item of note this morning is that Margerie Taylor Greene, the Republican Congresswoman from Georgia famous for her repeated high decibel lies, propaganda, and harassment, was finally tossed off Twitter mirroring her idol Trump. The reason was deliberate posting of disinformation about Covid-19. I am proud to say that I am among the many who kept reporting her lies to Twitter. No fear that I would believe them but her 465K followers likely would. Social media has become a cesspool over the past 5 years with Facebook (now cunningly trying to conceal itself with a new name, Meta, just like Erik Prince changed the name of his for-profit mercenary outfit from Blackwater to Academi to hide its dismal reputation) leading the way. I spend almost no time on Facebook and applaud Twitter for trying to squelch propaganda. Now we will see if MTG uses her official Twitter account in the same way she used her personal one. We will be keeping watch.

Finally, the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic continues. The current surge (both Delta and Omicron) is sending the numbers of cases into the stratosphere. Fortunately, the number of hospitalizations is not rising as quickly (although our healthcare system remains in jeopardy) and deaths are also not rising as quickly. As Francis Stead Sellers writes in the Post, we have seen multiple medical breakthroughs with Covid-19 but our public health system remains fractured and is not delivering to the American public. It will take much work to rebuild public health and a lot of investment. It can be done. Just like the stalled Build Back Better Act, though, it takes national will to make that investment. Our tax money is quickly given to the Department of Defense for the enemies beyond our borders. It must be given to ensure that the enemies of our nation within are defeated too. That includes invisible enemies such as SARS-CoV-2 and visible enemies such as seditionists and demagogues who threaten our democracy.