So by the time you read this column, the anniversary of the armed insurrection at the Capitol last year will be over but the effects of that event are still being felt and will be for years.

There have been several surveys to show there is a large group of Americans that still believe in their heart of hearts that somehow President Joe Biden and the evil Democrats “stole” the election.
And I know I’m deemed “evil” as well as I’m part of the media.

They apparently still need to believe this conspiracy, because otherwise they have to face that their candidate lost. Of course, they think that way because their candidate tells them to think that way.

In response, there are people who are working against mail-in voting laws, and in many states there are now efforts to re-configure voting districts to help assure a predetermined outcome for their side.
All of this is being framed as measures to help ensure everyone’s “freedom” and “liberty.”

Frankly, I see this as a crisis and one that continues to become worse as the echo chamber that fueled the attack on the Capitol and on the Constitution continues to pander to the worst nightmares of these Americans.

I can’t help but think that some people might draw some sort of parallel between the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and those of Shays’ Rebellion. I believe they would be incorrect in doing so.

Thomas Jefferson wrote about the Shays’ Rebellion in 1787, “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical,” and that, “It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.”

Well, that sounds pretty damn comforting to the people who broke into the Capitol and attempted to stop the procedure to close down what they had been instructed to think was a fraudulent election.

A side thought here: how much money do you think the people who made the Trump flags, bumper stickers, banners, pins, have made off of this movement? How much of that material was made overseas? Just asking questions.

I would contend the issues that propelled Shays’ Rebellion and the cultural differences between 1787 and 2021 are vast.

The events in Western Massachusetts in 1787 pushed officials into understanding that the Articles of Confederation, which defined the United States of America, were not working and that a better governing document, our Constitution, needed to be created.

Don’t believe me? Here is what History.com had to say: “Shays’ Rebellion was a series of violent attacks on courthouses and other government properties in Massachusetts that began in 1786 and led to a full-blown military confrontation in 1787. The rebels were mostly ex-Revolutionary War soldiers-turned-farmers who opposed state economic policies causing poverty and property foreclosures. The rebellion was named after Daniel Shays, a farmer and former soldier who fought at Bunker Hill and was one of several leaders of the insurrection. The farmers who fought in the Revolutionary War had received little compensation, and by the 1780s many were struggling to make ends meet.

“Businesses in Boston and elsewhere demanded immediate payment for goods that farmers had previously bought on credit and often paid off through barter. There was no paper money in circulation and no gold or silver to be accessed by the farmers to settle these debts.

“At the same time, Massachusetts residents were expected to pay higher taxes than they had ever paid to the British in order to assure that Governor James Bowdoin’s business associates would receive a good return on their investments.

“With no means to move their crops and make money to pay off debts and taxes, Boston authorities began to arrest the farmers and foreclose on their farms.”

Those arrests only added fuel to the fire and after the attempt to seize the federal arsenal in Springfield, it was clear to national leaders something had to be done and that something was the Constitution.

If farmers and veterans hadn’t taken to arms, what would have happened to our fledging country? Thank you, Daniel Shays, and all who marched with him.

Shays and his men were brought to armed action because they had no other means to address the issues that confronted them. The people who broke into the Capitol did so apparently because they wanted to stop the electoral process because their side didn’t win.

There is no comparison. Shays’ issues centered on fairness and justice. The insurrectionists were the sorest of losers who were willing to stage some kind of coup to keep Trump illegally in power. They had no respect for law, no respect for the Constitution.

I would love to hear what Jefferson would say about the people who stormed the Capitol. I bet he wouldn’t condone it.