Many times, I hear the complaint: "The two parties are just the same! No difference at all!"
I am here to tell you that there IS a difference between Democrats and Republicans and yesterday - January 6, 2021 - is all the evidence I need to prove my case.
In 2016, I voted for Hillary Clinton. And I was extremely disappointed when she lost. She is a highly capable, very competent leader who had experience at all levels of government. But she lost the election.
Maybe people didn't vote for her because she's a woman. Or maybe because she is President Bill Clinton's wife and they didn't like him. Or maybe they didn't like her personality. Or maybe they simply didn't trust her. And James Comey's FBI email investigation announcement days before the election didn't help, either. In spite of all that, Clinton WON the popular vote! She didn't, however, get enough votes in a few key districts that would have given her the 270 electoral college votes needed. So, she lost. Trump won. It's as simple as that. Trump won, Clinton lost.
Even though U.S. intelligence agencies had warned of Russian hacking, Democrats did NOT claim the 2016 election was "stolen."
Clinton supporters did NOT file dozens of frivolous lawsuits - with no evidence - aimed at invalidating election results in key battleground states. Judges at all levels, many appointed by Republican presidents (even a few appointed by Trump) dismissed the cases.
Democrats did NOT threaten election officials during and after the election, requiring many officials to need extra security.
Clinton supporters did NOT breach our nation's Capitol wielding long guns and waving Clinton signs, flags and banners.
We did NOT assault the People's House by breaking windows and ransacking some lawmakers' offices.
Clinton supporters did NOT vandalize media equipment and threaten reporters.
Democrats did NONE of that. But Republicans did.
Trump doesn't like the fact that he lost the 2020 election. No one likes to lose. But until Trump, every presidential election loser did the right thing: conceded with grace and professionalism.
The whole world has been watching. What they saw was a bunch of Republican thugs who would prefer a dictatorship to a democratic republic. Thugs who cannot stand to lose an election. Thugs who were led by their idol who hid out in the White House supporting their illegal acts. Thugs who certainly do not understand, let alone comply with, the rule of law.
If you are a Republican and you did not publicly condemn Trump's verbal diarrhea and his supporters' actions, then YOU are complicit. You are no better than they are because your silence encourages them to continue.
At least their actions - and your silence - give us some real evidence:
There IS a difference between Democrats and Republicans.
And history books will have a field day making sure that difference is laid bare for all to see.
