Witness to Turbulent American Democracy: The Paradox for Soul Searching of American Acclaimed Values

The Myriad Drama at the US Congressional Committee Hearings

Nancy Pelosi, the US House Speaker wanted an independent and non-partisan congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021 Trump planned mobbed invasion of the US Congressional complex in Washington, D.C. Its aim was to undo the peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden- the President Elect according to the US Constitution. But Republicans subservient to Trump dictum refused this democratic process to allow the truth digging of the catastrophic events in modern American history.

Was there a connection to America’s global warmongering and the domestic “terrorism” advanced by the Trump claimed presidency on January 6 insurrections at the Capitol complex? In every political culture there is peculiar psychology to see its own pros and nothing else. Should America and its turbulent democracy ignore the imperatives of living time, its articulation of futuristic time will be totally unlike its own – a contradiction covered by adroit instinct. Could America and its political leadership see the mirror and do some soul-searching? “There are the times that try men’s soul”, noted Thomas Paine in his famous “Common Sense”, the lifeline to American independence.

Yesterday, the committee heard DC Metropolitan Police Officers Daniel Hodges, Michael Fanone, Harry Dunn and Sgt. Aquilino Gonell. All four police officers had first-hand witnessed the January 6, insurrection to explain the psychological trauma and emotional and physical injuries of the insurrection had long-lasting critical consequences that they continued to endure and trying to grapple with. They spoke of pains, anguish and heartbreaking experiences when trying to protect the congressional complex and members of the Congress in attendance at the time. Michael Fanone, one of the officers stated emotionally: “I felt like they were trying to kill me.” Fanone lost consciousness, suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized after the clashes, according to the media reports. Harry Dunn pointed out - how the mob attacked him with racist slurs and abused him because of his color of the skin as a black man: Dunn has repeatedly spoken out how he and other fellow Black officers are still grappling with their harrowing experience on January 6, when they endured racist attacks from insurrectionists:

“The Black officer struggle was different as in, like I said, we fought against not just people that were, that hated what we represented, but they hate our skin color also…. That's just a fact, and they used those words to prove that. They showed that they hated us and they hated our skin color.” Aquilino Gonell narrated how he was beaten with a flagpole while defending the complex. His hand was sliced open. And he was hit with so much chemical spray that the liquid soaked through to his skin.

Daniel Hodges in a video footage was shown crushed in a doorway between a massive press of rioters and the police line, writhing and screaming in pain. The video shows one of the rioters grabbing at Hodges' helmet and trying to rip it off.

To the curious mindset of the select committee, these witnesses will also raise questions stemming from how officers are still grappling with the emotional, physical and short-long term psychological wounds they endured more than six months earlier and what care and remedial support they should have gotten from the law and justice officials.

Global Eye on Turbulent American Politics of Democracy

Along with American masses, the global community continues to watch the congressional committee hearings - how America and its acclaimed liberal democracy are vulnerable to unthinkable change and unpredictability for the future generations. It would affirm that US textbooks on a working democracy are incomprehensible to the “Common Sense” and rational understanding. There appears to be “No Goodwill” active political bridge builders in current extreme American emotional and intellectual decadent upsurge. Those invested with public trust are far from any logical pursuit to speak out truthfully any bipartisan political language of the time. Joe Biden and the Democratic Party appear mature, resilient, intellectual and morally conscience and self-disciplined without erratic behavior to ensure that American systems of political governance should work for the good of WE, the People of America. After several months of the new administration in America, the Republican Party still appears controlled by former President Trump and even at the hearings its members look delusional and intellectually exhausted and making conflicting statements to assert their own verdict of the January 6 insurrection in denial of a planned mobbed attack on the capitol complex. Trump’s moral and political failure and resistance to truth is more of a blindfolded person leading the blinds as there is always inconsistency in politically delusional adventures.

Joe Bidden has Opportunity for Political Change and Moral Leadership

True wisdom needs soul searching and tranquility of human behavior – the manifestations of true wisdom. If Americans are intelligent, they should listen to voices of Reason and Wisdom before it is too late. Its pains, horrors and cruelty are within itself. America and its democratic manifestations are prone to change under conditions of time, space and waking consciousness.

America is in desperate need of moral and intellectual leadership. In situations of adversity and crises, leaders represent self-confidence and optimism for change, not egoistic agenda and belligerent outbursts as the nuisance of individualistic political indoctrination. President Trump was pursuing an unsurpassably intense political conspiracy to degenerate the present and future of American political governance. Trump was a warrior without any characteristics of true wisdom and political vision. Comforting the major paradoxes of history, wrong people, glued to wrong thinking, do the wrong things without any rational sense of time, people's interest and history. Trump failed to see the interests of the America people and global community to a peaceful approach to conflict management through dialogue and non-rhetoric belligerent statements. Naïve egoism and one-sided complacency to individualistic interest cannot further the cause of peace within America. Biden and his team would urgently need rethinking and men of new ideas and creative strategies to undo the harm and distrust that fractured the American political stability. Biden and his team should articulate a Plan enriched with wisdom, vision and forbearance to pursue political, moral and intellectual pursuits for change and rebuilding the 21^st century American political culture and values. Would Biden and his team give priorities to dogmatic concepts of power and exploitation of truth or the forgotten - We, the People? In a recent article: “America at Crossroads: Presidential Election and the Clash of Democracy” (Uncommon Thought Journal, USA: 12.14.2020), this author envisaged a rational creative agenda for Biden and team to restore a reasoned and functional outlook of American democracy away from entrenched turmoil and withering of the political partisanship: https://www.uncommonthought.com/mtblog/archives/2020/12/14/america-at-the-crossroads-the-presidential-election-and-the-clash-of-democracy.php

Would President Trump be held accountable for his insurrection and violation of the tenets of the US Constitution? Or would he go unpunished for his planned complicity and violations of the Constitution? The time and opportunity for a reasoned dialogue and peaceful transfer of power was lost by Trump and the Republican Party leadership. On January 6, the followers of Trump’s cult performed the staged drama to appease the emperor and his complicit supporters. Cynicism about American politicians is endemic across the board. Could the present American leadership restore a sense of political normalcy in a highly turbulent crisis that engulfed the nation to greater risk of insecurity and survival for a sustainable political future? This author noted the following observations in “American Presidential Election and Democracy Look for Change, Moral and Intellectual Leadership.” (Uncommon Thought Journal: 11/19/2020.):

To glance ahead, America and its claim to a working democracy will haunt future generations with suspicion and extended discard. Trump and his coercive puppies could not think of America as part of the global community except as conforming to their own fantasies, phobias, prejudices, policies, practices and preferences, favoring Israel and Netanyahu and nothing else for the pandemic entrenched people of America. History will tell of this time when Trump plagued the body politic with the deliberate misinterpretation of the election and outrageous futuristic hypotheses leading nowhere in a civilized society. The sudden and inexplicable democratic plunge into self-geared wickedness must be catastrophic for future generations

Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international affairs-global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: One Humanity and the Remaking of Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution. Lambert Academic Publications, Germany, 12/2020