America Must Decide Between Unity and Revenge

Joe Biden has plucked "unity" from a thicket of possible themes as the thrust of his inauguration as the 46th president of the United States. Although a commendable choice, it hardly reflects the rhetoric or actions of his party's leaders.  Will Biden's plea make any difference for a divided citizenry?

That questions lingers as Democrats led by a revengeful Nancy Pelosi impeached the president for "inciting violence" during his January 6 speech. The Speaker of the House inflamed partisan emotions with her second impeachment of Mr. Trump, a parting middle finger to the president.

Put aside your feelings about whether President Trump deserves this ignominy for his impassioned speech near the Capitol. Is the Speaker's action designed to knit the country or segregate it further?  Why impeach a president with less than a week left on his term?  

Constitutional scholar and former Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz labeled the impeachment "unconstitutional," pointing out the president did not incite the crowd but advocated his position. Here is how Dershowitz framed the issue:

"You can condemn, you can attack, you can refuse to vote for, you can do all those things which are politically available to you.  But the one thing you can't do is use the law, which is impeachment, on something that is protected by the First Amendment."

Will an unconstitutional act unite all Americans?

According to the Associated Press Mr. Biden's inauguration speech will be a "show of bipartisanship at a time when the national divide is on stark display."  This surely must apply to Biden's own party.  Or does healing require Republicans to suffer retribution and revenge at the hands of the victors?  

Pelosi's impeachment tactic was not just aimed at President Trump but also his supporters.  There is a movement afoot in the Democrat Party, corporate American and the media to punish anyone associated with Mr. Trump, including his 74 million voters.  Evidence abounds to validate this contention.

Rich Klein, the political director for ABC News, took to social media with this mencacing message: "The fact is getting rid of Trump is the easy part.  Cleansing the movement he commands is going to be something else."  Chastised and fearing for his career, Klein deleted the Tweet.

CNN anchor Don Lemon linked those who supported Mr. Trump to Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members.  "Principled people, conservative or liberal, are never on the Klan side. Principled people, conservative or liberal, are never on the Nazi side," he said on air in a reference to those who voted for Mr. Trump.

A PBS (Public Broadcasting Corporation) attorney Michael Beller was recorded saying the children of Republicans should be shunted to "reeducation camps." He didn't stop there.  "Homeland Security should take their children away." PBS subsequently fired  Beller from the taxpayer supported network.

During the impeachment proceeding, Democrat Rep. Jason Crow took the floor to denounce Rep. Taylor Green, a Republican who contested the election results.  "There are unfortunately a handful of members of Congress, Mrs. Taylor Green is just one, who are morally bankrupt," Crow bellowed.

"They are depraved and frankly dangerous individuals," he added. Green joined 147 of her GOP colleagues in questioning the results of the presidential contest.  Olive branches were nowhere in sight. The time was ripe to unleash the hounds of heckling to besmirch those who sidled with Trump.

Rep. Green suffers from convenient amnesia.  Members of his  party challenged the 2016 election results when the Electoral College votes were certified in the House. Speaker Pelosi tweeted: "Our election was hijacked.  There is no question. Congress has a duty to #ProtectOur Democracy."

Do you recall the hue and cry about the blasphemy of suggesting the election was stolen?  Crickets.

Corporate America is piling on too as a growing list of firms vowing to punish those who did not support the certification of the Electoral College results.  Among the first were Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs Group and JP Morgan Chase along with Citigroup and Marriott International.

"We have taken the destructive events at the Capitol to undermine a legitimate and fair election into consideration and will be pausing giving from our Political Action Committee to those who voted against certification of the election," a Marriott spokesperson said.

Titans of business are locking arms with Democrats to seek retribution for the grievances aired by the party.  These capitalist proponents have adopted the socialist tactic of becoming nothing more than an extension of the ruling party, raising antitrust and Constitutional issues.

In the midst of the boiling cauldron of reprisal, the two major social media platforms, Twitter and Facebook, reacted.  Twitter banned the president and Facebook suspended his account.  Many foreign leaders, including the Australian government,  condemned the ban as an act of "censorship."  

In Russia, the opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, cautioned that this precedent will be "exploited by the enemies of freedom of speech around the world. In Russian as well." Startling to hear a Russian lecture America about its Constitutionally guaranteed protection of free speech.

Then Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the ad-hoc leader of the Democrat progressive wing, unexpectedly, and likely inadvertently, revealed what Democrats are plotting.  Her chilling comment:

..."I do think that several members of Congress, in some of my discussions, have brought up media literacy because that is part of what happened here and we're going to have to figure out how we rein in our media environment so that you can't just spew disinformation and misinformation."

Will censorship cure what ails America?  Or will people be left with no choice other than to make their voices heard in the streets?

Let's hope President-elect Biden's plea for unity is sincere.  However, unless his party's leaders and revenge-minded Democrats show restraint, America will descend into chaos and anarchy.  There will be no healing of volcanic passions unless both parties appeal to the greater good in us.

Unity does not mean everyone must agree on Mr. Biden's policies. Critics should not be silenced in the name of unity.  This Unity refers to our oneness as a nation.  We are united by the Constitution which guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of the press. 

If America turns its back on those freedoms, we will plummet into the abyss of failed democracies.