Truth and Reconciliation? Give Me a Break.

Truth and Reconciliation? Give Me a Break.

By Christine Flowers

A few days after the election last week, when things were still a bit murky, I made an offhand remark to some friends about what kind of hat I should crochet for the march that would be taking place the day after Joe Biden’s anticipated inauguration.

Of course, we won’t be needing any hats. There will be no throngs of women parading down the avenues of big cities like Washington D.C., New York and Philadelphia with needlework replicas of genitalia on their heads. That is so 2016, that super-spreader therapy session for pre- and post-menopausal liberal women, because the ladies are happy, happy, happy! The great p—- grabber is gone, and the blinding light of Biden’s suspiciously perfect dental work will chase away the darkness in the valley.

Biden does seem to be the winner, despite Donald Trump’s legitimate attempts to figure out whether the 600,000-vote margin in Pennsylvania melted away due to actual votes or because some deceased residents of Philadelphia rose up, like characters in the “Spoon River Anthology,” and filled out ballots. I am prepared to accept the election results, although I find the election to have a fishy, unpleasant smell to it, much like the odor which emanates from the Potomac swamp and never disappeared under Trump’s administration.

In the days following the election, as the numbers and margins changed and morphed with each passing hour, Democrats separated into two distinct camps. On the one side were those who sought harmony, peace, conciliation and kumbaya. Biden and his running mate placed themselves on that side of the blue line in the sand. They are the squishy, albeit touchingly naive ones, who think that after four years of vilifying people who don’t agree with them they can extend an olive branch.

But it’s the other camp that interests me more, the one that has no problem being open and in-your-face about its agenda. On Twitter, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led the charge by suggesting the left should make up lists of those who had supported Donald Trump, in order to make sure that history did not forget what they had done and to ensure that they were no longer in a position to cause “harm” to others.

That sentiment was echoed by others on the left, including once respected public figures like former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, who said there should be a “Truth and Reconciliation” commission similar to the one established in South Africa after Apartheid ended. The obvious implication was that supporters and “enablers” of Donald Trump should be held accountable for their alleged crimes. Sen. Elizabeth Warren suggested that the Justice Department might want to set up a task force to target former Trump administration officials, and the so called “conservative” Lincoln Project tweeted out a photo of two of Trump’s election attorneys with the comment, “Let’s make them famous.”

You might say that anyone who either worked for or assisted Trump is fair game in the business and political world. A Washington Post reporter wrote a snarky article about how former Trump allies might want to update their resumes to make them more palatable for future employers. You might even think that the public harassment engaged in by those who listened to Rep. Maxine Waters is hunky dory. Having been born below the Mason Dixon line I will take a phrase from my southern ancestors (I must have some) and say, “Bless Your Heart.”

But what you cannot legitimately do is support the compilation of lists, the establishment of “commissions,” the creation of task forces and the doxxing of private individuals who legitimately believed that they were advancing political goals that – let’s be honest – were supported and shared by a large plurality of the American public. You cannot do that and pretend to be Americans. And if you are capable of deluding yourself into feeling virtuous while persecuting others, I’m thinking you were that kind of person well before Donald Trump descended that escalator six years ago.

So to those who are seeking reconciliation, good luck with that. And to those who are seeking Truth and Reconciliation commissions, you got a good look at what the #Resistance looks like when you were marching with those genitalia hats on your heads. This time, though, the #Resistance will be much better dressed.

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Copyright 2020 Christine Flowers. Flowers is an attorney and a columnist for the Delaware County Daily Times.