By BERNADETTE WILSON
For better or for worse, history has been made this week.
Lost in all the commotion is a most critical question that deserves a thoroughly contemplated answer.
Millions of Americans watched as our house, “the People’s House“ was breached and security fences torn down. Windows were bashed in and lives were lost, one of them being inside the U.S. Capitol Building itself, at the hands of an officer.
Social media erupted in debate as to who was to blame, as photos surfaced suggesting that a few of the rioters that spoiled it for the protesters, were actually Black Lives Matter and Antifa activists.
It was heartbreaking. It was infuriating. And it was embarrassing, all at the same time.
Condemnation of the heinous acts was so prevalent, it makes one question how the Antifa riots continued in the fashion that they did in 2020 for as long as they did. Their riots lasted months. Admonishment was entirely warranted back then.
I read statements and social media comments stating that Republicans are the “party of law“ and that this was not the way to get real change. And I found myself agreeing.
Yet a question burned in my heart: What action does justify the American people storming their Capitol? What warrants a civil war?
I know what warranted a Civil War in the 1860s. I know how we justified the Revolutionary War.
But for Americans today, in the year 2021, what act is so egregious that it would justify a civil war? At what point is it acceptable to throw the tea into the harbor?
Alaska’s congressional delegation and Gov. Mike Dunleavy all issued statements admonishing the behavior of the rioters in Washington D.C. I can’t say I disagree with any of them.
But there is a burden on our elected officials to tell us, through their eyes, when is it OK for Americans to rebel?
Senator Lisa Murkowski, Senator Dan Sullivan, Congressman Don Young, and Gov. Dunleavy: What action could be so bad? Do the people ever have the right to overthrow their government? If so, when?
As elected officials, time and time again, you have told upset Americans to take their grief to the ballot box, but when the ballot box is broken, what do they do?
When the only vehicle that guarantees a say in all of their other freedoms is wiped away from them, what do they do?
Republicans are not the party of law and peace, as too many have stated. We are the ones that led the Civil War. And thank God we did.
And for my fellow Alaskans, and Americans, most importantly this question should be asked of you. History shows the decision is yours.
No government entity, no citizen, wants to go to war with their neighbor. Yet the crusades took place, Joan of Arc went before us, a Revolutionary War and a Civil War were fought and every day, average Americans became heroes.
What we do know is the answer to the question of “when” is surely not “never.”
For the last 60+ years, Americans have subscribed to a mantra of “peace not war.” Was this the beginning of our conditioning by our government to give the government free rein?
Let me be very clear, I am not condoning a civil war. Nor is this “when” a question for which I have an answer.
What I am asking all of us is what I believe we owe each other: a considered conversation about what could be so egregious that a civil war or a government takeover by the people would be warranted?
We know it’s not the killing of millions of innocent babies. No civil war erupted after abortion became legal.
We know it’s not the stripping of our religious rights. Our churches were shut down in March of last year. Again, no war.
Even our freedom of speech has been chipped away at dramatically. Yes, Facebook and Twitter are private companies and can do as they please. However the fact that they do not appreciate our American values of free speech, even to the extent that they silence our president, has sparked no nationwide violence.
Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance in our schools has been largely removed.
Even the very heart of our republic – transparency and fair elections – are not egregious enough to constitute a civil war, society says.
So what does?
When a woman asked Benjamin Franklin as he left the Constitutional Convention, “What have you given us, Mr. Franklin?” he replied, “A republic, Madam, if you can keep it.”
And so a most critical question that deserves a thoroughly contemplated answer must be addressed : How will we keep it?
Bernadette Wilson is a business owner, mom, and civic leader in Anchorage.
