September 11, 2021

By Richard Procida

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared it a “day that will live in infamy.” On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked our nation. They destroyed the World Trade Center and attempted to destroy the Pentagon. They had another target in mind, possibly the Capital. On January 6, 2021, domestic terrorists finished the job. These are days Americans should never forget.

On January 6th, 2021, the President of the United States incited thousands of his supporters, many of whom came armed and prepared for combat, to “march down to the Capital” and “fight like hell” to stop the certification of the election. He told them to fight twenty times in his speech. So they marched to Capital and fought “like hell” causing death and injury to Capital Police Officers. They defaced the sacred halls of Congress causing 2.5 million dollars in damage. They even smeared feces on the walls.

They threatened the lives of our representatives and chanted “hang Mike Pence!” The Vice President had refused to participate in Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the election. Had they succeeded, the American experiment in democracy could have come to an end a mere 245 years after the founding of our democratic republic. Trump spread lies and disinformation designed to mislead his followers into believing the election was stolen. 

Trump anticipated he could lose the election. So he started sowing doubt about the election results before voting even started. He declared there was no way he could lose and promised to contest the results. He filed more than 40 lawsuits all of which failed. 

He spread false propaganda about the election and incited his followers to fight. He called them to Washington DC on January 6th promising that “it will be wild.” When they got there, some in combat gear, he incited his militant followers to attack Congress and stop the certification of the election. While his plan failed, it was a traitorous attempt to end democracy in America.

The insurrection was an attempted coup. A coup is a sudden, violent, and unlawful seizure of power from a government. The people who attacked the Capital were not patriots. They were deluded, thugs acting irresponsibly and carelessly, unwitting agents of foreign and domestic propagandists who seek only to overthrow American democracy and replace it with a dictatorship. 

While racism is a tool used by propagandists to cause division, the real struggle is over money and power. Who will lead, or perhaps more accurately own, the richest and most powerful country in the world? That’s what’s at stake.

We must keep the beacon of democracy lit in America for the sake of democracy around the globe. Should democracy fall in the United States, it will have disastrous effects on democracy around the world.

Dictators like Vladimir Putin don’t like democracy movements. At the same time, they don’t want to kill their own people and destroy their own country. It’s costly and unpleasant. So they are looking for solutions. They have developed a technology capable of manipulating groups of people. That technology is propaganda, sometimes called messaging, the narrative, or public relations. Propaganda is a pervasive and powerful tool to influence attitudes and behaviors. 

Corrupt politicians disseminate false propaganda to raise money and take power. The ongoing false propaganda about the election constitutes a direct threat to democracy, an ongoing attempt to overthrow our government. It is currently being used to justify laws restricting access to the ballot.

The coup attempt hasn’t ended. It’s just changed gears. Now Trump is sowing distrust in the recall election in California. Will he call out his MAGA thugs to overthrow the government of the State of California, too? There will be some who believe he already has. 

It’s up to us to fight for democracy. Only we can defend the Constitution. We cannot hand the responsibility for our democracy and the defense of our Constitution over to others. Corrupt politicians or foreign actors must not be allowed to subvert our elections. We must set national standards to protect every American’s fundamental and sacred right to vote. 

It’s time to pass the For the People Act to ensure that every citizen has the right to vote and that every vote is counted. The filibuster must not be used to undermine democracy. The For the People Act sets basic standards for access to the ballot box in federal elections, such as ensuring early voting, ballot boxes, and same-day registration. It protects every citizen’s right to vote and ensures that no citizen is denied the right to vote.

September 17th is the Finish the Job for the People Day of Action calling on the Senate to pass the For the People Act. There will be events around the country. Find an action near you and get involved. 

I myself am unwilling to let democracy die without a fight. Join me.  

Rich Procida is the founder of the Truth and Democracy Coalition and the host of Democracy Under Fire! A new YouTube show and podcast covering the threat to democracy and what we are doing about i

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