“The Enemy Is Within” (An Acrostic for Nancy Pelosi–Revisited With Hope)

D eep Jan 20 sighs of relief
E dged out by fierce reality;
M adam Speaker does not
O rate with exaggeration.
C haos now
R esides in the People’s House
A s elected terrorists
C ircumvent metal detectors,
Y owling threats at “colleagues.”

N ever do we recall blatant
E nemies of democratic rule
E choing, even exaggerating, a
D efeated president’s worst lies,
S ubmerged in hellish unreality.

U ntil we citizens who
S ee what lies ahead

T urn elections
O n all levels toward
D emands for Truth
A nd Comity,
Y esterday will eclipse tomorrow.

Annie

—–

Since I posted this tribute to Nancy Pelosi and her colleagues—with encouragement to us all—on January 30, 2021, it’s become evident that inside the “People’s House” dwells a level of hostility strong enough to wreak havoc on our democratic republic.

As we ponder the implications of January 6th tomorrow, a full year after the Insurrection, I seek to commemorate the sheer courage shown by the Representatives, their staffs, and the Capitol police by simply working each day to fulfill their responsibilities—while other Representatives who are determined to upend our democracy threaten and demean them and try to foment more violence.

The prognosticators and pundits may point to historical trends to insist that Democrats are nearly certain to lose control of the House and Senate this year.

Such a loss would spell the end of the US House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack’s investigation to learn the full story behind the Insurrection and those who planned and financed it—and it would mean the end of our democracy.

I’ve concluded that negativity equals paralysis. Though our democracy is more fragile than we ever imagined, we are not powerless—as long as we take our responsibilities seriously. It’s up to us to ensure it survives this onslaught.

My fellow blogger TokyoSand at politicalcharge.org has posted: “What’s My 2022 Midterms Prediction? Glad You Asked!”

She writes:

“None other than Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a scholar on authoritarians and threats to democracy, said the following on Twitter yesterday:

“Part of GOP psyop is to make you lose hope, to become defeated and not even try to save democracy. ‘It’s all useless.’ It’s an old trick.”

[Note: Ben-Ghiat is a historian and the author of the book Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.]

The hopeful note is that Congressional Democrats continue to work on legislation to benefit us all.

And the surprising and very hopeful note is that throughout the country, Democrats and some Republicans are running to defeat the legislators in what’s been called “the Sedition Caucus” because its members voted to stop or overturn the 2020 election results confirming that Joe Biden clearly won.

They are Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Madison Cawthorne, Jim Jordan, Mo Brooks, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and more than 130 other Republicans.

In many cases, the races are in heavily Republican districts, so the declaration of candidacy by individuals facing an uphill battle, who will subject themselves to inevitable death threats and potential violence to serve in Congress at this time, is to my mind enormously honorable and patriotic. I commend them all.

And I hope that once the Select Committee’s hearings and reports are publicly available, we’ll see some restoration of civility in the People’s House.

While they’re doing their parts, we must do ours.

TokyoSand added:

“We should expect that Republicans will push out articles written by anyone who proudly proclaim the Dems will lose the House, will lose around the country, because it serves this goal of discouraging our voters. But be on the lookout for anyone pushing these articles and messages — what is their aim in doing so? We all have a role in pushing back, even if it’s a simple comment to say that nothing is set in stone until the last vote is counted.”

“…. Historical precedent is only that — history. Every election cycle has its own personality, its own forces pulling and pushing on voters. What we can do is ensure that as many people as possible see how important it is to keep showing up to the polls, to actively engage in our democracy, to ensure that it lasts.”

Both President Biden and Vice President Harris will address the nation tomorrow, and Speaker Pelosi has planned a series of events that will include testimonials by legislators, a prayer vigil, and a discussion with historians intended to “establish and preserve the narrative of January 6th.”

As you probably know, in an attempt to rewrite history, the anti-democratic forces have described events that terrible day very differently from what millions of us saw.

All these important commemorations must be matched by our own resolve and actions within our local communities. We must not allow fatigue or apathy to permit this noble American experiment to wither until it’s too late.

We must ensure that the voices of the majority of Americans at all levels of government who continue to believe in democracy are not silenced by a noisy but well-financed cadre determined to perpetuate the Big Lie, suppress voting, and place control of the counting of our votes in the hands of partisans who will nullify the will of the people.

I repeat the message my January 30th, 2021, acrostic spelled out:

DEMOCRACY NEEDS US TODAY.

And I join TokyoSand in asking: “Are you in?”

Annie