I’m going to prison over Jan. 6 – thanks to GOP cowardice

Last month, a federal judge sentenced me to four months in prison and four months of home detention for my role in the events of Jan. 6, 2021. He also fined me $10,539. I am to report to prison Nov. 5.

Some Republican politicians defend January 6 protesters who walked into the Capitol that day though open doors, unimpeded by law enforcement. Virtually none, however, defend people like me who pushed their way in.

“We believe in law and order,” they say.

Well, so do I. But the Left doesn’t. During the summer of 2020, leftist mobs burned, looted and killed. They defaced historic buildings and tore down statues of American heroes. Did leftist leaders condemn them? No. Politicians like Kamala Harris actually donated money to bail Minnesota rioters out of jail. Others essentially said: “Look, we may not agree with rioting, but police in this country are so racist that we understand why people on the street exploded. Solve the racism problem and you’ll solve the rioting problem.”

Right-wing leaders could have followed their example on January 6. They could have said, “Look we don’t agree with breaking into buildings, but this election was extremely shady. We’ve been begging you for answers for two months now, but instead of addressing the concerns of tens of millions of voters, you’ve basically called them kooks and given them the silent treatment. So, although we don’t approve of violating the law, we understand why the crowd at the Capitol reacted the way they did. Agree to an audit of the election and we’ll tell them to calm down.”

But right-wing leaders did nothing of the sort. Instead of using the chaos to their advantage – as the left did in the summer of 2020 – they condemned us and ran for the hills.

“But we’re not like the Left,” say Republicans. “We believe in following the rules.” I agree. In an ideal world, we should all strive to be model citizens. But if one side reveres the law while the other side mocks it, evil will ultimately triumph. As Brig. Gen. Percy Groves writes in “Behind the Smoke Screen,” “[I]f a pacifist people … are not prepared to oppose force by force, they will in the long run strengthen the rule of violence.”

In any event, I had no intention of breaking the law when I traveled to Washington on January 6. I went because I thought – and still think – that many strange things happened on Election Day 2020. Nearly half the country (including 10% of Democrats) did as well. We screamed and yelled for two months. No one listened. The courts shut us out (mostly on technicalities), the media treated us as crackpots, and state legislatures were too cowardly to buck the entire media establishment, which had already declared Biden to be the winner. So the concerns of tens of millions of Americans were ignored.

I, and tens of thousands of others, walked to the Capitol on January 6 to attend a scheduled rally. When I arrived there, I saw no rally. I saw no cordoned-off area. All I saw was disorder. People were milling about everywhere. “Where’s the rally?” I asked myself. And then I noticed how humongous the Capitol building was (I hadn’t been to D.C. since I was a child). The section I initially approached didn’t even have windows. “The politicians won’t even know we’re here,” I realized.

As these thoughts were percolating in my head, I heard a woman say, “Let’s go to the other side of the building.” Still somewhat confused at what was going on, I, and a few others, followed her. When we got to the other side, I saw two massive sets of stairs ahead. Approaching the second set was a sea of Trump supporters. The stairs themselves were guarded by about five to 10 people.

At that moment, all I saw was opportunity. I knew five to 10 guards couldn’t keep back hundreds and hundreds of people. I also knew that if we wanted to make our voices heard – after two months of being given the silent treatment by the establishment – storming the Capitol was just about as perfect an opportunity as possible.

When leftists rioted during the summer over “police racism,” the authorities basically gave them free reign. So I and many others assumed that new rules reigned in town: If you’re really upset, you’re allowed to get a little rowdy. I thought to myself, “Now it’s our turn.” (I should also mention that respect for authority wasn’t exactly high after nine months of crushing COVID tyranny.) So I joined the crowd rushing up the staircase and later helped it push its way into the building.

“Respectable” right-wing leaders make a point of denouncing us, but storming a building in response to a likely stolen election is an under-reaction, not an overreaction. The Left burned and looted. We didn’t. In fact, not a single painting or statue in the Capitol building was damaged. Our aim wasn’t to destroy the building. Our aim was to save it.

Yet, we are the ones who are called domestic terrorists. We are the ones who must go through extra security at airports. We are the ones who go to prison. We are the ones whom the FBI is still tracking down nearly four years later.

And where are Republican and conservative leaders? AWOL.

Meanwhile, Floridians will soon vote on an amendment to legalize marijuana. Smoking marijuana is illegal under federal law. But liberals don’t care. They have such contempt for the law that they are now asking millions of Floridians to vote to ignore it. Officials in many states already do.

So leftists can openly defy the law on smoking marijuana, but Republicans can’t stomach the idea of their supporters storming a building to protest what might be the greatest political crime of all: stealing an election.

You don’t have to like violence or disorder. I certainly don’t. But the Right must stop trying to be holier than the pope. Liberals can whine about January 6 all they want. Our response should be: You brought it on yourselves.