Blinded by Darkness

 

Bruce Springsteen originally wrote and recorded the song, “Blinded by the Light” in 1973. In a guest opinion piece published in the West Bend Daily News on January 9th, it would appear that Waring Fincke, and his all too apparent burning hatred of President Donald Trump and all things conservative, has fallen victim to a blinding darkness. Now that the special election in Georgia has consolidated the government power into the hands of the democrat party, Fincke revels in expectations of his vision of a return to the normalcy he so desires. In other words, ousting President Trump and delegitimizing conservatism by any means necessary.

First of all, I want to express condemnation for the ugly scene at the Capitol on January 6^th. Each and every rioter must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Anyone who breached and entered the Capitol must turn themselves in to the authorities. Conservatives are to respect authority and abide by the rule of law. Those who do not are not conservatives at all. They are no better than Antifa thugs.

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led a march to Washington DC, where he gave his, “I have a dream” speech. In it he said, “We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.” Dr. King emphasized non-violent means to protest injustices.

On January 6^th, 2020, President Trump held a rally in Washington DC where he spoke to a crowd of supporters prior to the certification of Joe Biden’s election as President. He spoke of his belief that pervasive fraud affected the outcome of the election. He is accused of provoking the assault on the Capitol by inciting an insurrection. From the text of his speech, “We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” Is there convincing evidence that this rhetoric falls under the definition of incitement of insurrection? It does not. Unfortunately, Fincke devolves into broad accusations without citing any specifics, simply uttering general and vague claims. One wonders if Fincke even took the time to read the transcript of the speech.

I will refrain from describing the riots and attacks on Federal buildings by BLM and Antifa, that some have cited to somehow lessen the severity of the criminal actions that took place at the Capitol. Two wrongs do not make a right. The hyper-partisanship Fincke displays is exactly what is wrong with our society. If we disagree, we need not hate each other. But that has become the norm. The second most important commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. (no matter their politics) There is no skin color in the eyes of our God. We are all his children. That makes us all brothers and sisters. To God, everyone matters, everyone is loved, no matter what we have done or failed to do. Instead of promoting hatred and revenge, we should be trying to heal our nation.

Instead of another exercise in unfounded impeachment theatre, cooler heads should prevail. Hatred and divisiveness will eventually lead to the fall of our Republic, especially if we allow them to continue to grow and fester. President Biden has the opportunity to take the moral high ground and put an end to this witch hunt. He said that he ran to heal our nation and put an end to the divisiveness he attributed to President Trump. He said that he will represent all Americans, even those who did not vote for him. Now is the opportunity. Will he choose to lead, or will he decide to punish his perceived enemies, that might just happen to include roughly one-half of our nation. I for one pray that he chooses wisely.