Head into Washington, DC today and you’ll have to question whether you’re in the United States of America or in Nazi Germany. Bridges into the city have been shut down, soldiers at checkpoints demand to see identification and keep people from traveling into downtown, and fences full of razor wire are multiplying at a rapid rate. Will this overreaction to the storming of the Capitol eventually die down, or are we seeing a new normal and the end of our open society?
As some of the memes circulating the internet say, if you need 25,000 troops to defend your inauguration against the people, you probably weren’t elected by the people. Despite the dramatic rhetoric emanating from the Democrats, what happened at the Capitol wasn’t a coup or an insurrection. It was a group of angry, geriatric Trump supporters upset both at what they saw was a stolen election as well as the mistreatment they received from the police they thought would be sympathetic to them, and they reacted as any normal person facing injustice would. And since they severely outnumbered the incompetent security guards known as the Capitol Police, it’s no surprise they took over the building.
Despite the security restrictions that had previously been in place at the Capitol, Capitol Hill remained uniquely open when compared to other capital cities or even to executive branch buildings. Anyone can enter the House and Senate office buildings and walk into a Congressman or Senator’s office to drop off materials, talk to staffers, or set up an appointment. That’s the beauty of the First Amendment’s right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. But will that become a casualty of the recent security crackdown?
Much of the Capitol Hill area and downtown DC is now a closed-off security corridor. Biden is so paranoid that the FBI is even vetting the National Guard soldiers in the city to make sure they don’t try anything funny. And now that the fences and checkpoints are in place, they may remain a permanent part of the DC landscape.
Biden is talking about trying to start a “War on Domestic Terror,” i.e. cracking down on anyone who disagrees with his administration or its policies. These new security procedures could be part and parcel of them. We’re quickly moving away from an open and free society into a closed, paper-please totalitarian tyranny. Biden is taking advantage of the excuse provided by the takeover of the Capitol to push hard for as much power as possible. It’s up to conservatives now to stand strong and refuse to allow his overreach, otherwise we risk losing the rights we’ve enjoyed for so long.
