It was not long ago that we Americans were defined by a shared yearning for freedom, equality and the hope for a government by the people, for the people. Race, religion or ethnicity did not make us a tribe called “Americans.” It was our shared striving for unrealized democratic ideals that makes us Americans.
January 6, 2022, marks one year since an outgoing U.S. president tried to disrupt the counting of electoral votes at the U.S. Capitol Building in an attempt to steal a presidential election. In a year’s time, not much has changed.
Donald Trump is not in prison. He is an unrepentant former president who flies around the country continuing to assert that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by Democrats. Members of Congress who conspired with Trump to overturn the election are as belligerent as ever, fighting tooth and nail to hide their crimes. Coup plotters resist appearing before a congressional committee while attempting to deprive investigators of records that give a detailed account of their wrongdoing.
In Shakespearean terms, our country is acting out a national Othellian drama. Trump and his confederates, playing the role of a conspiring Iago, falsely declare that Democrats (Desdemona) have been unfaithful to conservative Americans (Othello) by gaming the electoral process to win the presidency in 2020.
Conservatives feel wronged, allowing some Republicans, under the guise of “protecting election integrity,” to manipulate the electoral process in upcoming elections. GOP lawmakers in several states have already legislated and implement countless strategies and barriers to steal our right to elect our leaders. Republican voters accept GOP actions as corrective rather than corrupt. And Trump and an army of propagandists continue to fabricate tales of Democrats’ serial infidelities against the democratic process to fan the flames of anger in the hearts of conservative voters, twisting any natural desire for fairness and unity into a desire for retribution.
The curtain now rises on Act V of “American Othello.” In Shakespeare’s original drama, Act V is where Othello kills Desdemona in a rage and takes his own life after he learns Iago had lied to manipulate him for personal gain. Desdemona had always been faithful to Othello.
In America’s drama, you can bet that after the results of upcoming 2022 and 2024 elections are announced, many Americans will believe elections were stolen. If voters take their outrage to the streets, there could be trouble.
The lesson we learned on January 6, 2021, is that civil society in America is fragile and may quickly turn to lawlessness if radical GOP leaders and right wing agitators (Team Iago) continue to foment in large numbers of Americans deep feelings of being wronged.
If you are watching congressional hearings, you are hearing even more revelations about January 6. A mountain of evidence has already unmasked GOP bad actors as pirates intent on plundering our precious democracy. If Democrats committed the same wrongs, we should object just as strongly.
As Republicans, Democrats and Independent voters, we are still one people, Americans. We need to see that we are all being played and step out of this contrived conflict and choose better leaders to represent us.
We can view January 6 as an harbinger of bad things to come or we can see it as a call to common sense, reconciliation and unity. The choice is ours.
Eric Hubner
Eric Hubner, Volcano, Hawai’i, received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brigham Young University, as well as a Master of Social Work degree from the State University of New York. He is a retired mental health therapist and school social worker, who also worked in the addiction field and coordinated services for families at risk of child abuse and neglect.
