Today’s Jan. 6 Hearing

POSTNOTE: Heather Cox Richardson summarizes Oct. 13, 2022.  Another, very important, Oct. 15, 2022.

I watched the hearing today, Thursday Oct 13, all of it.  It was very interesting, as usual.  It was not a hearing in the usual sense.  It was a conclusive meeting of the committee, televised. It seemed all for the main purpose of building a permanent record for posterity regardless of what happens down the road.

I leave the strategizing up to the lawyers and lawmakers (usually one and the same).  They know the process and the adversaries far better than I.

The history will not be buried.

Preceding todays hearing I listened to the first two podcasts of Rachel Maddows Ultra.

Here’s what I said about this podcast on Oct 8. “Monday evening Rachel Maddow presented the first two segments of her podcast on pre-WWII seditious conspiracy in the United States… It is powerful, given in context with today.  Here is the link.”

I am not a regular listener to podcasts, but…

…these podcasts are, indeed, powerful, and easily accessed, together about 75 minutes divided into easily listened to segments.  I think there will be six more.  If you’ve never visited a podcast, it is a very simple process, words, not pictures, from your computer.  (Each podcast had one powerful photo as wallpaper.)

The series is about America’s very close call with Fascism right before WWII.

The main characters in the first two episodes were a U.S. Senator from Minnesota, and a Catholic Priest from Michigan.  Neither were choirboys, shall I say.  The Senator, pro-German, was killed in a very suspect plane crash; the Priest, who had a huge following, was Fascist, anti-semitic and pro-German.  They had lots of support from Nazi Germany.  Minnesota was well on-board with the program to overthrow the government.

It is worth taking the time to listen to the program and following segments.

Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 dystopian novel, It Can’t Happen Here, comes into the conversation.  His novel was prescient.

It is remarkable, the similarities between what we’ve been experienced in recent years, and 82 years ago.

Take the time.  It’s our country; it’s everybody’s future.

COMMENTS

from Fred:  Sen. Ernest Lundeen was among Midwest isolationists who, prior to Pearl Harbor, was in the anti-war effort. Here is a [Sept 2009] MinnPost article about him and the plane crash.