January 6th Must Be a Federal Holiday — DEMOCRACY DAY — So We Never Forget
On this, the third anniversary of that day in 2021, when the then still-President of the United States, who had but just two weeks left in office, having recently been removed by the vast majority of the American people who had ousted him from the presidency at the polls… on this day, January 6, 2021, he decided to stage a coup and called upon his rabid right wing followers to come to the nation’s Capital to halt, with violence if necessary, the peaceful transfer of power.
With his fraudulent catalogue of outright lies, perjury, slander, fake video, nonexistent witnesses, soon-to-be-disbarred lawyers and not one scintilla of evidence to prove his claim that the election had been “stolen” from him, nearly 90 judges across the country, many of them Republican appointees, had ruled against him, a number of them accusing him of trying to overthrow a proven, legitimate, free and fair election and inventing a conspiracy to fool millions of people that he was somehow still the President.
He then declared he had no intention of leaving the Oval Office. He had called for millions to stand with him and fight on January 6th, 2021. He told the angry mob he would march with them up Pennsylvania Avenue to storm the Capitol and stop Congress from doing its duty to officially certify the results of the 2020 Presidential election in which Joe Biden won by seven million votes.
His incitement of what became a vicious, violent riot where thousands, heeding his orders, attacked the Capitol Building, resulting in the deaths of five law enforcement officers, plus the injuring of another 140 policemen and women (many of them severely), the ransacking of both houses of Congress, the hunting down of Congressional leaders whom the mob sought to maim or kill (including the vice president whom they intended to lynch), and then, amidst all of this horror, they raised their victory flag and paraded throughout the Building — the Confederate Flag from the Civil War, a fete the defeated Confederate Army was never able to accomplish themselves. On January 6, 2021, that flag of white supremacy, slavery and treason, for the first time ever, “flew” inside our United States Congress.
But maybe the worst thing that happened that day, though, was not the feces and broken glass strewn throughout the Capitol Building. It’s what happened a few hours later that night, after order was restored. The members of Congress came out of hiding and returned to their respective House and Senate Chambers. They still had one job left to do: Officially certify that Joe Biden was the elected President of the United States of America. Of the 535 Representatives and Senators who had earlier taken the oath of office to uphold and defend the Constitution, 147 of them — all Republicans — just hours after they ran for their lives to survive this coup attempt, chose to side with the treasonous mob and voted to block Joe Biden from entering the White House to do the job the American people elected him to do. It was a stunning mass action of treason, to violate their Constitutional duties and give “aid and comfort” to the insurrectionists. Section 3 of our 14th Amendment states quite clearly that any elected official who participates in such an uprising — or gives aid to that uprising — is prohibited from holding office. Yet remarkably, 121 of those Republicans were reelected to Congress on November 8, 2022 to serve another term. (At the bottom of this posting, you may copy and share the WANTED poster I created of the names and mug shots of the 121 reelected offenders in Congress.)
Since that day in 2021, over 1,200 of these rioters have been arrested. Over 900 have been convicted, with more trials to come. And the Ringleader, whose coup attempt failed, was himself eventually placed under arrest and charged with 91 felony indictments in a conspiracy to overthrow the government’s free election. He is currently awaiting at least five separate trials.
Friends, I think this day of infamy must never be forgotten. The lessons learned from it — how we came this close to losing our Democracy — must be passed down to future generations. Democracy, as we and the rest of the world all know, is a fragile enterprise, and it can be lost in the blink of an eye. A renewed commitment, a mass outpouring of support for liberty, freedom, equality and solidarity, must take place this year.
And here’s my simple idea I’d like everyone to get behind:
Make January 6th a National Holiday. The day each year when we remember what happened on January 6, 2021 — and when we celebrate the right for everyone to vote, without harassment or suppression, and where no one, regardless of wealth or position, is above the law.
Democracy Day, January 6th.
Let’s do it! We might have to defeat a slew of Democracy-Haters at the polls this November 5th — but we can do that, too! We must do that, too!
Wherever we are or whatever we do today, let’s talk to the people we see and simply say, “you know, what happened on this day three years ago, this should be a federal holiday — a day of remembrance so we never forget how precious The Vote is, how necessary it is to create a real and full Democracy — and why we must always defend it against any and all enemies, foreign and domestic. Especially domestic.”
Let me know what you think. I think we’re worth it.
Michael Moore
To download the Hi-Res PDF of our “121 Traitors in The 118th Congress” poster for yourself, or to share, click below:
Photo by: Shay Horse/NurPhoto via Getty Images
I think if we’re going to have a holiday for remembrance, it should be Election Day which would also help with voter turnout out.
This is what I want to hear Biden say, "If you re-elect me and give me the Dem majority in both houses to support what the majority wants and needs, I will:
1. Raise taxes on the wealthy
2. Pass single-payer universal health care with a plan to provide Medicare for All by the end of my term
3. End voter suppression
4. Bring prices down by busting up monopolies, and
5. Get big money out of politics."
I would knock on doors to spread that message to get the Democrats to vote a straight Dem ticket.
Gloria J. Maloney