The road to national unity must be paved with the steaming asphalt of accountability. 

The worst course of action following the events of Jan. 6, when white nationalist insurrectionists stormed Washington, D.C. in an apparent coup attempt, is to start letting people involved off the hook. 

The severity of this failed coup attempt cannot be overstated. American lives have been lost, and God knows what would have happened had any of these armed psychopaths gotten their hands on members of our congress.

American citizens need to understand that it doesn’t take millions of people to overthrow an elected government. By radicalizing police departments and pockets of the military, a concentrated group of American fascists are well on their way.

The bottom line is if this group is not met with firm opposition, I shudder to think of the consequences.

The fact that the Capitol was evidently compromised by internal agents on Jan. 6, and that fact that the FBI is having to actively vet members of the National Guard in lead up to the inauguration because of fears of attempted assassinations, should alarm all of us.

In any functioning democracy, Donald Trump would be expelled from his office, barred from ever holding office again and his sycophantic accomplices in the White House would be permanently black-balled from U.S. politics. Unfortunately, the U.S. at present isn’t a functioning democracy. 

To anyone paying attention, it’s obvious that our political hierarchy has become a meat grinder designed to weed out and destroy decent human beings. Our federal government is a cesspool of some of the most corrupt, dishonest, inept, cowardly, self-serving and treacherous individuals that this country has to offer. As a nation we are now reaping seeds that for decades have been sown.

This entire election cycle has been marred by conspiracy theories and acts of aggression. With not a shred of credible evidence to support claims of election fraud, dangerous bad-faith discourse has persisted around the nature of Joe Biden’s landslide electoral victory.

Spearheaded by Trump’s vanity, Republican senators and congressmen have been all too willing to fan the flames that are driving these alt-right maniacs to violence. 

The role that major party players like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley had in this attempted coup should not be downplayed. These men are as low as confederates. 

In their traitorous self-interested ways, they have actively worked to undermine our democracy and by doing so have disqualified themselves from holding public office. Them and their ilk need to be cast out of government.

It is as disgraceful as it is predictable that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is choosing to run out the clock on Trump’s term rather than following up on the House’s articles of impeachment by holding a trial in the Senate. In all likelihood, the American people will be dealing with the ramifications of McConnell’s decade of terror atop the Senate for years to come. 

Frankly, it was beyond idiotic that Democratic party leadership spent any time entertaining the idea that powerful Republican officials like McConnell or Vice President Mike Pence would step up and remove Trump. 

The fact that Democrats hesitated in the slightest following the events of Jan. 6, demonstrates their reactionary nature and lack of leadership. They cannot afford to put these issues to bed once Biden takes office.

With the incoming administration, if our elected officials cannot overcome the tremendously dysfunctional nature of present-day party politics and hold these extremists accountable, then another dire blow will have been dealt to our democracy.

The notion that there can be reconciliation through accepting white nationalist insurrectionists into the broader decency of our society must be wholly rejected. The politicians making a career out of fanning their flames at the expense of our democracy have no place representing the people of the U.S.

Lady Liberty now stumbles like a punch drunk boxer, it’s going to take bold action and political courage to get her off the ropes. I hope like hell the new Democrat-lead government is up to the task.