All through the ‘Seventies, the Republican Party touted itself as THE party of “law and order” against “urban crime” and the “war on drugs;” and the Democrats, not wanting to appear “soft” and “weak”-a form of weakness in and of itself-went along with this scenario. For this, the Republicans, and their “Liberal” Democratic enablers rubber-stamping it, have gone about wearing-down the civil liberties of Americans; in the meantime, Republican administrations engaged in all kinds of violations to carry out their policies, such as Nixon urging the South Vietnamese regime to back out of peace talks that would have cut short our nation’s involvement in that horrible war, so he could squeak by in the presidential elections in 1968; and in 1980, when Republican operatives urged the theocratic regime in Iran to back out of negotiation with the Carter administration over freeing the hostages in the embassy; and again in 1986-87, during the Iran-Contra scandal, where Oliver North conducted a supply system for the Nicaraguan contras, in violation of federal law. (Of course, being conservatives and Republicans, they were never prosecuted; they almost always get the kids gloves and leniency-how’s THAT for “law and order?”)

Now, later this week, the Congress will ratify the votes of the Electoral College to certify Joe Biden as President of the United States. In the Senate and House, there will be futile resolutions denying the reality and legitimacy of the votes for Biden from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona-states Biden won, but conservatives and Republicans anymore care nothing about anyone else’s rights but their OWN right to repress and oppress their perceived enemies. On the streets of DC, there will be the rightist-racist thug elements, such as the “Proud Boys,” threatening violence to stop the vote count. (Let’s call them terrorists, as they are-they’re not just “irate citizens lobbying their elected representatives,” they’re bullies and thugs, and whenever they get violent, as during the early stages of the COVID crisis and the Electoral College votes in state capitols, they get warnings from the nice state troopers.)

Our “president” is leading the charge on this; having long called for beating up protestors; using OUR military to attack peaceful demonstrators so he can stand in from of a church he’s never darkened, holding a bible he doesn’t read; and spreading lies and conspiracies about the voting system-the SAME voting system that elected trump’s congressional bootlickers.

Let’s not be fooled anymore by the “law and order” talk; we MUST stand up for our rights and freedoms against those who would take them from us, for the sake of powerful people who care nothing about working people, low-income people, marginalized groups, and even their own enforcers. We’ve done this MANY times in our history, and we can and will do it again.