When The Mob Takes Over

The following is my morning radio monologue. I hope you’ll consider it as we await the verdict in the Chauvin trial. — Erick

The founders of our country were no fans of democracy. That's why people get upset when you say democracy, instead of a republic. Now, the reality is that the Greeks used the word democracy and the Romans used the word republic. We're technically a Republic with democratic components. It's complicated. Our founders didn't like democracy as constructed by the Greeks, the direct democracy. They decided to go with the Roman Republican-style where individuals gave representatives the power to choose for them, instead of the Greek direct democracy. The Roman version was a representative democracy where the Roman citizens would elect people to go represent them in the Roman Senate. The Greeks in Athens in the early days of democracy were when all the people showed up and considered rules and legislation. That's what the founders didn't like. They didn't like mob rule. They did not like the mob being able to bully and badger people into getting their way.

The founders set up a government that had three branches. Ironically, the least powerful was the third. It is not accurate to say that they are co-equal branches. They put the most pre-eminent, prominent, powerful branch first, giving it the power of the purse. The chief executive was supposed to be a lesser role, and then the judiciary would be the most minor. They certainly had checks and balances between them to control each other's fear of influence. Over time this has changed, now with the executive arguably being the most powerful branch. The reason the third branch has gotten as powerful as it has is the first two branches liked the idea of being able to blame the unelected judges for decisions.

Chauvin Trial

Maxine Waters risks Derek Chauvin getting out of jail with her latest comments. The judge in Minnesota did not declare a mistrial but said it may give grounds on appeal. Maxine Waters essentially said they need to burn the city down if they don't get their way. She denied it later, but it was caught on film. Despite this Nancy Pelosi has defended her. The mob wants justice and only their definition of justice will appease them.

I want to be upfront and honest with you. I think Derek Chauvin should go to prison. I do not necessarily think he murdered George Floyd. He was a police officer acting in the line of duty who I do think used excessive force. Having his knee on that man's neck for almost nine minutes clearly after George Floyd had stopped struggling is problematic. He refused to allow a paramedic to examine him, refused to take his knee off of him, and refused to allow others to see him. When the ambulance arrived, Chauvin still refused to get his knee off of George Floyd's neck. I think that Derek Chauvin acted inappropriately and I think he will be punished. I don't necessarily think it's murder in large part because he was a police officer on the job. George Floyd did have a history that police officers did take into account.

Burning Down American Cities

The idea that the mob should stand ready to burn down the City of Minneapolis if they don’t get their way is simply un-American. The governor of Minnesota has had to call in the National Guard to prevent riots at the same time Maxine Waters is getting a pass on saying "Burn down the city," if the mob doesn’t get their way. The idea that the Democrats want to oust Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress because she didn't support the electoral college vote but give Maxine Waters a pass is a bit too much for me. I'm not a fan of Marjorie Taylor Greene, nor am I of Maxine Waters. I think they're about the same person, but the idea that the Democrats would give Waters a pass and condemn Marjorie Taylor Greene for the things she does is staggeringly hypocritical.

The media has deeply internalized January 6th, which was undoubtedly a terrible day. Yes, there were peaceful protestors, but yes, you cannot deny that there were also malicious people who intended to harm members of Congress, and no it wasn't Antifa. I apologize for shaking you out of your mythology. It was not Antifa. It was people who supported the president of the United States, then Donald J. Trump. They were in the minority, but they did try to cause harm. They did try to storm through a door and grab members of Congress. They did erect a noose. But you know what? They didn't burn down Washington, DC.

The Media Bubble

The fact that the media called January 6th an affront to our democracy reveals the bubble they live in. Look on the streets of Minneapolis, there's your affront to democracy. Look on the streets of Portland, Oregon, there's your affront to democracy. Look on the streets of Chicago, Illinois, there's your affront to democracy. Look at the mob wanting to burn down their city of choice if a jury doesn't give them exactly what they want. There is your affront to democracy. The fact that they’re so fixated on January 6th is why nobody trusts them. The American media should be standing up against the mob when they decide to burn down the city if they don't get their way.

While both sides see each other as the enemy, only one side is in the streets of major American cities trying to burn them down. Only one side burns down American cities, smashes cop cars, and beats people up in the streets when they don’t get their way. The media is so fixated on the supposed rise of white supremacy in this country, they refuse to even cover this. There is a jury deliberating facts. I suspect they will conclude he should go to jail for what he did.

If the Derek Chauvin trial does not go exactly like the mob wants, cities will burn, lives will be destroyed, if not taken and businesses will be turned to rubble and the American media will give a pass to all of it. “It's understandable anger, you see.” Either the system works or it doesn't and what the media has been doing over the last decade is being complicit with people like Barack Obama and others, to say that the system doesn't work. To some degree, I think some of these people would love it if there were violent riots around the country so they could wash their hands of it and say, "Time to start over with our socialist paradise, we’ve got to get rid of the constitution." The problem is there are people on the right who want the same thing. Many on the right have decided the constitution doesn't work. It seems like I hear this on the right as much as I hear on the left these days.

The fact that you've got a contingent of people in this country justifying what happened on January 6th and now you've got an even larger contingent of people on the side of the American press, turning a blind eye to the fact that mobs may burn down America if a jury doesn't give them their way is revealing about where we are as a county. Trust the jurors. They're the real American heroes. Trust the American people, not the mob.