Since Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, people have been blaming others. A recent example:
On January 6th, our U.S. Capitol Building was breached and overrun by rabid Trump supporters causing at least 5 deaths, numerous severe injuries, and untold property damage. One of the talking points has been criticism of law enforcement for failure to gear up and react more swiftly to the attack. While there is growing validity to some of those complaints, my blood boils when I hear congressional Republicans launching those complaints while failing to acknowledge their complicity in this preventable tragedy.
How could they not see the writing on the wall during 4 years of dishonesty, abuse of power, and destruction from a man who puts himself above all else? How could they not realize that an unrestrained bully feeds on his own power and grows like a cancer intent on destroying anything that gets in its way? Rather than risk alienating their Trump-supporting constituents by publicly denouncing his dangerous behavior, they cowered behind their own political ambition hoping to ride his coat tails to re-election regardless of the cost to our country and its people.
I tried to imagine being the wife, husband, or child of a law enforcement officer and listening to the scapegoating of my loved one. I would be asking those enabling lawmakers why they did nothing during the past 4 years to head off this inevitable attack while my family member may have had only a few moments to react. And now, images of National Guard personnel sleeping on the floor of the Capitol Building ready to put their lives on the line during the Inauguration, all because this President's behavior was condoned or ignored by some in a position to know better.
Yes, the planning was deeply flawed, but the fundamental blame lands on the congressional Republicans who preferred to bolster their political careers with the popularity of such a self-serving tyrant.
While the police may not have REacted as they should have, Republican lawmakers did not ACT as they should have long before January 6th despite the obvious red flags concerning this man's destructive appetite. Blaming law enforcement is like an arsonist and his accomplices blaming the fire department for not arriving sooner.
I’m Jen Amenda and that’s my Perspective.
Jen Amenda is a life-long Rockford resident and retired from teaching.