Will the Blinders Come Off?

I am unhappily quite certain that many people are not taking in some of the most riveting testimony and information ever revealed in our world of politics by missing or ignoring the January 6 Committee hearings. When I say this, I am referring to “people” that believe that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election due to election fraud. It is hard to imagine that support for what is termed the “Big Lie” can persist considering what has been revealed by the hearings. There is a lot to choose from in these hearings regarding what has been the most striking.

The most recent hearing as of July 12 introduced a participant in the breaking in of the Capitol who shared how he was motivated to do so and how he came to realize that he was essentially snookered. Stephen Ayres believed Trump when he said there was election fraud and that he was illegitimately robbed of his position of President. In describing his realization that this was not the case, he mentioned a simple reasoning.

It basically has to do with the complexity of rigging election results in multiple states and essentially leaving no trace of evidence in doing so. In fact, all “evidence” supporting the idea of a rigged election has not come close to passing muster in any court.

This is particularly perplexing to those that believe the 2020 election was legitimate in that if the Democratic Party is so clever as to manipulate a national election on such a massive scale, how come their cleverness does not get their socalled leftist agenda established. Those that are or have worked with Democrats have never been impressed with their ability to pull off such a complex set of actions or agenda. Actually, one can say it is quite the opposite by the fact that the opposite party consisting of a minority of the nation’s citizens has shown great ability to control the nation’s agenda for many years.

As a result of his experience breaching the Capitol, Ayres lost his job and had to sell his home and now has a criminal record. At the close of the July 12 hearing, he apologized to police officers at the hearing who were present at the Capitol that day including Army vet Aquilino Conell. Conell has similarly lost his job as a Capitol police officer as a result of injuries he suffered during the attack.

This is not the first time, persons with disrupted, ruined or threatened lives (for themselves and their families) as a result of the “Big Lie” have come forward. A Georgia election worker and the Arizona state Speaker of the House also spoke to the personal devastation they have experienced in a prior hearing.

The promotion and adherence to a proven lie is possibly one of the biggest threats to our nation’s future. How is this “proven” you say? For one, the hearings are revealing this in riveting detail. Additionally, all fact checking has shown the fraud accusations to be in error. For those that do not agree, please watch any upcoming hearing and review the past ones - plus consider the reality that it is not feasible that essentially everyone in the world of conventional media, in the jobs of fact checking, and in the courts of law are working in lock step on such a grand conspiracy.

For a nation where citizens essentially resort to calling each other liars, what is the way to reach resolution? We need to add up and weigh the evidence in as clear-headed manner as possible.

I came from the generation and mindset that saw the advocacy and management of the Vietnam War as a major deceit by our government leaders. From that time, I have not given up my inclination to question everything put forward by “conventional” thinking. In that vein, the story of a stolen election simply does not pass muster. However, the story of a high government official gone awry certainly does.

As an ordinary citizen caught up in the Trump lie, Ayres presciently stated at the hearing, “The biggest thing for me is to take the blinders off, make sure you step back and see what is going on before it is too late.” Many lives have already been ruined. Can we share a common reality before it is too late for our future?

W Laurence Doxsey, Retired, Former Director of Office of Sustainability for City of San Antonio, former Environmental Officer for US Department of Housing and Urban Development, former Sustainability Officer for City of Austin, resides outside Medina.