A new low for US democracy?
“The events of 6 January are a reminder Americans cannot be complacent about the imperfect achievements of 1776”
BENJAMIN L CARP
When extremists violently invaded the US Capitol in January, they chanted “1776”, claiming the mantle of the year when Congress declared American independence.
Revolutionary symbols abound in America’s rightwing circles, from the Gadsden flag depicting a coiled rattlesnake (“Don’t Tread on Me”) to the Tea Party movement of 2009. Calling for a second American Revolution, white supremacists have stockpiled guns and selectively quoted figures including Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. Awash in conspiracy theories and macho fantasies, they imply that today’s federal government is similar to that of the monarchy of British king George III.
Back in 1765, North America witnessed the start of a decade of demonstrations against parliament. Many of those protests centred around the Pennsylvania Assembly: while it met at Philadelphia’s state house, radicals regularly protested against the
