No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible. There is always an excuse. There is always an explanation. There is always some responsibility to escape responsibility.
Of course no snowflake alone can create an avalanche. But so too, no avalanche can occur without large numbers of snowflakes, acting together to create destruction.
Same is true with politicians who have been encouraging the insurrection in Washington, D.C. When our Sen. Daines was campaigning and until the afternoon of Jan. 6, after the invasion by rioters of the Capitol, Sen. Daines was spreading the lie of voter fraud. Rep. Rosendale was worse, since he lent his voice to the false voter fraud claim early and continued with this lie throughout the invasion and beyond, even continuing to today. Rosendale would be satisfied only if millions of voters were disenfranchised.
Words matter and words can and do result in predictable and consequential action. Telling the lie about voter fraud, again and again, only helped to justify the crowd’s actions and created the environment for the riot and insurrection which occurred on Jan. 6. Neither Sen. Daines nor Rep. Rosendale alone spoke words which caused the riot but each, in his own way, set the stage and provided encouragement to the white supremacists to use violence to try to block the government from action.
Now of course, these legislators are encouraging calm and a cooling down of emotions. Honorable men when mistaken, admit their mistakes and strive to make amends for their misconduct. However this is not the choice these legislators made, instead preaching calm now, after the fact, to avoid responsibility.
