VegetableMan wrote:
You have a new appreciation for war criminals? Hmmm.
While I can't speak for anyone else, I would suggest its a new appreciation for people able to keep most of their destruction outside of our borders without a seeming determination to run roughshod over our constitution and turn us into an autocracy. For all their faults and misdeeds, these were people who wanted to preserve (albeit in pared down form) and replicate (in different countries) the guiding principals of our government, rather than holding desire to emulate the actions and structures of leaders of other nations we've traditionally considered threats to Democracy. Before Trump and January 6th, I had not fully appreciated how important that one concept actually is. We should be able to disagree on nearly everything and anything, without trying to subvert the power of the people, because as long we can do that, the ship may continually list to one side or another, but it will keep floating.
Is that the right prioritization system? I suppose only time will tell. But is the one I grew up believing in, the one I and my relatives in other countries overseas always saw as the promise of America, despite whatever evil our nation engaged in internationally. There is no "American dream" without it, IMHO.
What happened a year ago didn't just shake the faith in Democracy of Americans; it shook my relatives overseas to the core. Is Democracy sustainable as a system of government? Looking at Jan 6th in conjunction with the fall of other governments that are now Democracies in name only, but not in fact, we are now forced to wonder.
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Mom to an amazing young adult AS son, plus an also amazing non-AS daughter. Most likely part of the "Broader Autism Phenotype" (some traits).