On January 6, 2021, a gunshot on Capitol Hill was heard around the world. Washington, D.C., was thrown into chaos. This is from the Bloomberg Businessweek:

Followers of President Trump had stormed the Capitol that afternoon to stop the certification of the Electoral College ballots that elected Joe Biden. As lawmakers went into hiding, the mob roamed the marble halls, occupied the Senate chamber, and trashed offices. 

It is Bloomberg Businessweek’s opinion that American democracy was dumped in the trash can.

The election issue was the immediate cause of the January 6 Capitol chaos, which was rooted in the widespread bitterness among working people who only get crumbs while the elites enjoy themselves in fancy restaurants, never mind that the lockdowns are hurting practically everyone else. 

Trump’s presidency tapped into the alienation of the forgotten Joes and Janes. When Joes and Janes feel cheated, they have little to lose by following Trump, come hell or high water. Who are their targets? The lawmakers who conned not only jobs but also elections out of them. We don’t have to agree with these Joes and Janes, but we have to understand them. More than sympathy, folks who feel cheated look for justice. Globalization gives them no justice and certainly no justification of the ever-widening income gap.

I personally doubt that the incoming Biden administration can or even will address the plight of Main Street Americans aside from dangling empty promises around. I hope I am wrong, though.

For the right reason, a second Tea Party movement is brewing and will haunt Joe Biden, just as the first one that haunted Barack Obama in 2009.

American democracy is alive and kicking, and will always be. Its demise is exaggerated, to paraphrase Mark Twain.

--- Lingyang Jiang