Sunday (Jan. 14), a letter writer told Advertiser readers that the U.S. is “the best nation in the world,” that January 6 was no insurrection “because citizens marched to the Capitol Hill to voice their displeasure,” and that “using government to punish those citizens is also undemocratic.”
Ours is a great nation, arguably the richest and most powerful in the world. But it is hubris to claim “best” status for the U.S. There are many other great nations, and their citizens will think more of us if we show our greatness rather than boast about it.
Meanwhile, the evidence steadily mounts that January 6 was a calculated insurrection attempt, and that law enforcement and the courts do know the difference between marching down Pennsylvania Avenue on the one hand and on the other assaulting police with bear spray, metal objects, flag staffs, and fists, and breaking windows and doors and forcing one’s way into a government building. Ten thousand or more folks massed on the Ellipse and Mall and marched toward the Capitol.