Kari Lake lost in Arizona. Her crowd shows it.
She lacks the mandate of heaven.
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| Click here: 25 seconds |
Meanwhile, in China, crowds risk prison to make known their frustration over citywide COVID lockdowns. Some are chanting for a wholesale change in government.
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| BBC |
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| ABC |
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| Video: 36 seconds |
In America we bestow governmental legitimacy by constitutional rules. With elections. By appointments made by officials authorized to make appointments. Theoretically, what matters is the law, not the size of the crowd. Reality is a little different, especially when the crowd is assembled at a seat of government and the people in charge realize the crowd is too big to control by brute force. In a crowd of 100,000 people, or a million people, government loses its monopoly on the use of violence. Theoretically the entire military might of the government could be brought against the crowd, with tanks and artillery, and the crowd treated as an enemy occupying force. In reality, with every citizen carrying a camera, such use of military force is not possible. The country's people would see the government has lost its mandate.
The "Mandate of Heaven" is a Chinese concept that governments rule because it is the natural order of the universe. Heaven granted them power to rule wisely. The wise rule expected by heaven results in a contented people. A discontented citizenry shows the government stopped ruling as heaven expects, so it would have lost heaven's mandate. Thus it became illegitimate, and revolution is legitimate.
Polls and elections are abstract. People are tangible. Crowds are an in-your-face measure of popular discontent.
In 1770 disorderly crowd on a snowy night in Boston created what Americans call the Boston Massacre. In 1773 a Boston crowd boarded a ship and destroyed boxes of tea, the Boston Tea Party. Americans celebrate those acts of crowds. As Americans understand it, the crowd, not the British government, reflected the genuine mandate to govern in the face of unwelcome new laws.
A small crowd is a message. Arizonians concluded that Kari Lake lost her election. She should go away. The giant crowd at the Stop the Steal rally on January 6 demonstrated that the protest of the 2020 election was not just sore-loser-Trump. He created a mass of angry people in agreement. Most commentary considers Mike Pence a key figure in that event. He stayed at the Capitol and counted all the votes.
Perhaps more important was the fact that Trump did not lead the mass of people into the Capitol. Law enforcement at the Capitol managed to gain control of the approximately 1,000 people who entered the Capitol. Had there been 50,000 or 100,000 people in the Capitol, there might have been no vote count. Congress would have seen the power of a crowd occupying the seat of government, a crowd too big to suppress with military force. The crowd would have the power. The Congress would be hostage. Civic order might need to be restored by the Plan B in the Constitution, turning presidential succession over to the House of Representatives, with one vote per delegation.
A large crowd that will endure casualties has the power to replace governments. They have the monopoly on violence at the decisive place and time. Elections can be disputed. Reports on elections can be dismissed as fake news. In a large crowd one can see tangible proof of the will of the people and the mandate of heaven.
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4 comments:
In psychology, Stop the Steal would be called projecting.
The U.S. is supposed to be a “nation of laws” with “justice for all.” If our laws were applied equally to all, maybe we wouldn’t have crowds of disaffected people confronting the government. What we have instead are low-level crooks receiving long sentences while crooks who steal millions go free. For example, when Rick Scott was CEO of Columbia/HCA, he oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in U.S. history. He not only wasn’t held accountable, but he went on to become the governor of Florida, and then a senator. He’s now worth about $260 million.
In perspective? The Tiananmen Square protesters numbered nearly a million at their peak, and were quelled by an estimated 200-300K Chinese military.
A crowd of 50-100K rioters on 1/6 could have stopped the vote certification (that day), but would have been dispersed even by tear gas and rubber bullets.
In a large crowd one can see tangible proof of the will of the people and the mandate of heaven.
That goes even more for the United States, where the large crowd will also be well-armed. Although, as we have seen, that can be a two-edged sword.
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