What happened on January 6, 2020 has been alternatively described as an insurrection, a rebellion, an insurgency, and a coup attempt. As accurate as these descriptors may be, I believe the events that day can most appropriately be labeled, and understood, as a counter-revolution.  Counter-revolutions occur in response to revolutionary events; events that represent significant, and often accelerating, changes in a society. Clearly, revolution and counter-revolution go hand in hand.
Revolutionary events portend change in society. Change being championed by forces on the political left; liberals/progressives. Counter-revolutionary events represent resistance to the changes that occur in society. This resistance is championed by forces on the political right; conservatives. Seeing January 6 in this light can help us better understand the forces that are at work in our country and the dangers that still lie ahead. It is important that we use a long enough time period so we can understand the revolutionary and counter-revolutionary forces at work.
The revolutionary event most directly responsible for what occurred on January 6 was the election of the first non-white person, Barak Obama, to the Presidency in 2012. This was followed by his subsequent re-election in 2016. His election signified a major change in the country; an increase in the power of a segment of our society that had relatively little power for most of our history. A segment of society that had suffered the powerlessness of slavery, the overt discrimination of Jim Crow laws throughout the American south, and the systematic de-facto discrimination that existed in the rest of the country. Obama’s election was a revolutionary event that was a culmination of decades of efforts by the political left to affect change. Legislation such as the creation of Obama care, giving legal recognition to same-sex marriages, and creating greater gender equity in the military were tangible outcomes of that change. Obama’s re-election in 2016 signified that the changes would not be fleeting, that such changes were becoming part of the new normal in the United States.
Not surprisingly, counter-revolutionary forces would develop to resist, and even more, attempt to reverse the revolutionary changes that had occurred. Donald Trump captured and personified the spirit of these counter-revolutionary forces. His embrace of the birther movement and Obama as being unqualified to be President, and therefore illegitimate as President, helped fuel the counter-revolutionary movement and Trump’s election as President in 2016. However, to the dismay of counter-revolutionary forces, Trump proved to be particularly inept and ineffectual in stemming the tide of revolutionary change. Aside from appointing judges to the judiciary who have counter-revolutionary tendencies (which portends badly for the continuation of revolutionary change going forward and will result in the reversal of some revolutionary changes of the past such as the right to have an abortion), Trump did little to turn back the clock. Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election signified that the counter-revolution was failing. The revolutionary forces of the left took control of the Presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. Drastic action would be required if the counter-revolution was to be salvaged.
Donald Trump was more then willing to provide leadership for what needed to occur. The internet enabled counter-revolutionary forces across the country to communicate and develop a strategy to protect and advance the counter-revolution. This culminated in the events of January 6. Seeing January 6 in the context of revolution and counter-revolution can help us in understanding the challenges and potential dangers that lie ahead. When we think of January 6 in this way, we need to examine past instances of revolution and counter-revolution and what happened then. This will be the subject of my next post.
