| History

The Attempted Coup was Unprecedented in US History, but not Everywhere Else

Although this is the first time the peaceful transition of power has been interrupted in our democracy, the precedent for such an event was set internationally.

By William Bishop, January 7, 2021

On January 6, pro Donald Trump protestors arrived outside the Capitol to protest Congress confirming the election victory of now president-Elect Joe Biden. Around 1 P.M., however, in a scene that Republicans and Democrats alike say will live in infamy, the crowd turned into a mob and stormed the building that is the beating heart of our democracy.

 The crowd was seen occupying the stairs leading up to the Capitol for many hours, chanting slogans like “USA” and “Stop the Steal” over and over in an attempt to halt the congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 Presidential Elections.

 This startling turn of events begins a new age in American politics where the masses and mobs attempt to dictate their will on the country by vandalizing, destroying property, and forcefully coercing their beliefs on elected officials.

 For the average American, this represents a massive upheaval of the current democratic order of a magnitude never seen before. For many outsiders looking in, however, such events have happened before; most notably in France and Germany.

 During the French Revolution in the 1790’s, the Parisian crowd, a ragtag and unorganized collective comparable to a political lynch mob, effectively ran the country, controlling the arteries of government through violence, death threats, and storming government buildings and sites.

One such incident involved then King Louis XVI de Bourbon, in which his home in Paris was attacked by the anti-monarchist Parisian crowd, who proceeded to slaughter his guards and coerce his support for the revolution. The threat of the Parisian mob was only ended after the then general Napoleon Bonaparte fired on a crowd attempting to overthrow the newly established republic. 

 Even after the early French Revolution in the late 1840’s, it would reform as the “Paris Commune” and revolt against the republican government fighting off the republic’s garrison in an attempt to establish a socialist state in France. 

 While the reasons for such revolts are understandable, as most people had no say in their government, such events have also happened very recently in stable and liberal democracies.

 In August 2020, German right ring protestors attempted to storm the Bundestag, the German parliament building before being repelled by police. The protesters disliked the action of the current German chancellor Angela Merkel, a member of the center-right CDU. The rejection of the lawful way to go about business in their democratic system demonstrates how these violent eruptions are not just limited to illiberal democracies. 

 The violent rioters that have attempted to scar the American tradition of representative government are abhorrent, and immediate action must be taken to prevent this from ever happening again. Our current political establishments and their foundations of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, have been painstakingly constructed over centuries through many laws and reforms. 

 Discarding them could have dire consequences for our society, as the descent into violence and the reactionary iron fist accompanying it will hurt many good Americans. We must remember what we have accomplished, and ensure that the goal of our society, to be the city on a hill with liberty and justice for all, are upheld and not disregarded by the tyranny of mob rule.

William Bishop is an author and frequent contributor for Young Patriots Magazine.