What Can The Left Learn From The Insurection At The Capitol?

We can learn from the examples set by others in two ways. Either their examples are ones we learn to imitate or they are ones we should want to avoid. The examples my own father provided for me includes both kinds of learning. He tried to be fair when considering the views of those he disagreed with. At the same time, he struggled with drinking and smoking. So while I have tried to imitate his fairness, I have been successful at avoiding drinking and smoking and the problems they bring.

When I think about revolutions as a leftist, I think about Russia. The example of the October, 1917 revolution is one to avoid. For it quickly resulted in one of the most repressive regimes ever in history. Thus, when I think about revolutions, I believe that they must be democratically and nonviolently based rather than one that is instituted by force. For outside of being democratic, the revolution involves significant coercion. And outside of being nonviolent, the revolution is most likely being nondemocratic.

So what can the Left learn from the invasion of the Capitol? For some of what we witnessed is within what some Leftists I know would entertain doing.

Considering how the public reacted to the invasion of the Capitol, one would have to say that trying to change government by physically threatening our lawmakers is self-sabotaging--besides being immoral. So suppose they succeeded--that is that they succeeded in intimidating the Congress and Vice President in overturning the election. Do we really think that those loyal to The Constitution would automatically submit to 4 more years of Trump? Do we realize how enraged many in both the government and the public became over those actions? And now that they tried to undo the election, do we really think that they won anyone over to their cause?

It's not that could not have temporarily won by overthrowing the election, it is that the results of their actions would have rapidly grown outside of their control. And since they failed, they hurt their image in the eyes of the public.

So with our nation at a crossroads in terms of how much it will follow Biden's lead, we on the Left would still like to promote what we believe in. And that will be difficult since we have no representatives on our side in the government. There are no real Leftists there. The Democratic Party is not a political party for Leftists. So what do we do?

I have debated with some Leftists who believe that violence is an option. The results of the January 6 insurrection stands with me in my corner. So too do the results of the violent parts of the protests that occurred during the summer. That violence, whether practiced by provocateurs or by those on the Left, turned many people against what the Left wants was easily used by Trump and his allies in their political campaign.

Here, we should note that activism, like fighting a war, often fails because it relies on yesteryear's strategies and tactics to try to win over today's people to today's causes. Thus those who practice some of yesteryear's strategies and tactic fail to understand what is needed to win today. We don't need armed revolution or even massive civil disobedience to win. In fact, besides the immorality of the former, those methods are often self-sabotaging. For those methods do even not make winning over the public a goal. And without winning over the public, we are merely forcing our ways and beliefs on others which, in turn, will only cause some of our opponents to return the favor.

What the Left needs to do the most is to focus on educating the public as to what we want. Of course, the Left is not a monolith in terms of wanting the same things. There are some objectives that some on the Left want that I oppose very much and visa-versa. But in terms of what most on the Left favor, our first goal is to prove to the public why they should want what we want. That cannot be accomplished with violence or the threat of violence. And one of the reasons why violence cannot be used to accomplish our objectives is because people are basically ignorant of what the Left wants. Thus, we have to teach them. And while teaching them, we have to provide examples that they want to imitate rather than avoid.