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A nonpartisan think tank could set stage for a new era of cooperation

Some political pundits are calling the November 8 midterm elections a make-or-break moment for the future of this country and for democracy in particular.

If that seems to be a bit of an overreach, then consider how the specter of violence has become an accepted form of political expression in some quarters as have attempts to re-write history to align with distorted notions of the truth.

Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the intended target of an assassination attempt by a deranged attacker who had been worked into a violent frenzy by extremist ideology that has found a happy home on various social media platforms.

Speaker Pelosi, of course, escaped the attack, but her husband did not, suffering a series of severe injuries while fighting for his life to ward off a would-be assassin.

Instead of condemning the attack, various longtime critics of Pelosi have laid the blame for the assassination attempt squarely at her feet, contending that her immigration policies opened the door for the Canadian-born attacker to eventually settle in the United States.

That same sort of reasoning, not surprisingly, has been used to justify the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, framing it in terms of a legitimate “political protest” despite the fact that all legal efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 president election had long since been dismissed and discredited.

Fortunately, there has been a definitive way to set the record straight in matters such as these – our justice system, which methodically has held hundreds and hundreds of rioters accountable for their sickening attempts to make mob rule the new political standard in this country.

One of the latest to receive a reckoning was a January 6 rioter by the name of Albuquerque Head, who was sentenced last month to 7-1/2 years in federal prison for dragging a police officer into a roiling crowd where he was repeatedly kicked, beaten, and tasered.

His judgment day came shortly after three defendants accused of aiding a 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer were found guilty of taking part in the conspiracy that was linked to their opposition to the restrictions she imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The conspirators, according to prosecutors, hoped that the abduction of Whitmer would spark a violent uprising and instigate a civil war.

Somewhat coincidentally, talk of “civil war” was on the mind last week of Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon, Governor Whitmer’s opponent in the November 8 election.

The Republican nominee, appearing on a show she was hosting on the far-right streaming service “Real America’s Voice,” invoked a conspiracy that the pandemic and the protests in the summer of 2020 after the killing of George Floyd were part of a decades-long plan by the Democratic Party to “topple” the United States in retaliation for the Confederacy losing the Civil War.

The bizarre and disturbing nature of such thinking is another striking example of how far we have sunk in terms of the caliber of candidates appearing on the November 8 ballot. Evidently, conspiracy theories sell on the campaign trail, especially when they are peddled by those possessing vivid imaginations and an utter disregard for the truth. The list of those who deal in fiction is long and growing and are at the heart of a worrisome trend that needs to be reversed now.

It is among the reasons we recently launched the Primerus Foundation, which we hope will serve as a catalyst for helping attract the best and the brightest into the world of public service.

The Foundation also is taking shape in the form of a nonpartisan think tank that hopefully will be a magnet for those who value the principles of honesty and integrity, and possess the smarts, decency, and problem-solving abilities to keep us from falling into the political abyss.

Undoubtedly, ours is a herculean task, one that also can be viewed in the context of a modern-day David and Goliath story where heart, courage, and commitment can help slay a giant fueled by hate, lies, greed, and immorality.

In such a contentious climate, the battle is for the soul of the nation, and will revolve around the willingness of the American electorate to show a collective sense of responsibility to restore our political credibility. Otherwise, we run the risk of being remembered by future generations as just another failed civilization destined for the ash cans of history.

Best regards,
Jack Buchanan, President