By Bruce Richter

I’ve been reading The Patriot Post for years. I was drawn to your publication because of your belief that our Constitution should be interpreted as written as opposed to the Left’s treatment of it as a “living” document, which Thomas Jefferson condemned, as if it could be twisted to fit the prevailing political views of the day. The Patriot Post is obviously devoted to the Rule of Law enshrined in our Constitution, which many among our ranks have taken a sacred oath “to support and defend.”

For months, grassroots Patriots have watched as businesses across this country have been vandalized, looted, and burned by BLM and antifa. People have been assaulted and murdered.

And law-abiding people across this country waited for justice to be done!

Square blocks of so-called autonomous zones have been set up, and government buildings and businesses within those blocks have been taken over. The people responsible for this takeover supposedly set up their own government within these zones.

And law-abiding people across this country waited for justice to be done!

The untold number of violations of law in these cities were all but ignored by the prosecutors and government officials when they either ordered police to stand down or refused to prosecute the few arrests that had been made.

It was not uncommon for elected officials in those cities to make a spectacle of themselves showing their support for the lawlessness. They fell in line (sometimes literally) with the rioters as they condemned the police and promised to defund them. No doubt you are well aware of the Missouri prosecutor who refused to prosecute those arrested in a suburban neighborhood for threatening to burn a home and kill the occupants. But she proclaimed that she would prosecute to the full extent of the law the homeowners who made it known to the threatening crowd they would defend themselves. (Still not sure what laws they violated.)

And law-abiding people across this country began to doubt the justice system!

Some congressional leaders such as Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Kamala Harris, and others stoked the flames with rhetoric designed to encourage the civil disturbances across the country. As usual, they blamed the unrest on racism, conservatives, white supremacy, and of course Trump. There was no condemnation of the unrest from Democrats.

And law-abiding people across this country still saw no response from law enforcement to include the DOJ or the FBI!

Throughout this entire time of rioting and lawlessness, the Democrats made clear their intentions to hijack the upcoming election by whatever means necessary. The Patriot Post wrote several times about the Democrats’ pre-planning strategy and the “red mirage” the country would see on election night. What would appear as a landslide for Trump would disappear over the next few days as Biden would emerge the victor.

The Democrats upstaged Nostradamus when they predicted this!

And law-abiding people across this country collectively expected that certainly now they would see justice done. After all, the election affected the entire country for at least four more years. The election law violations that occurred prior to the election and on election night would certainly be heard in the courts.

But the courts seemed to use the favorite tactic of Congress and “kicked the can down the road.” They mostly refused to hear cases based on procedural flaws. But there were several suits brought before the court that held promise and they too were shot down.

The people thought investigations are certainly being conducted to get to the bottom of these election irregularities.

Nothing but crickets!

And the people across this country got a real clear picture of the hypocrisy and double standard that permeates our government and the justice system. The subliminal message being sent to the people was, “Move on and accept the election.”

For months, BLM and antifa had literally controlled various parts of the country without consequence. Organized crime must have given itself the old Homer Simpson “D'oh!” slap as it watched BLM shake down the largest corporations in America in exchange for protection from looting and burning. Unlike organized crime, BLM didn’t have to pay off law enforcement or conduct its shakedowns in the shadows. Heck, it didn’t pay off law enforcement to look the other way; it assaulted them and then demanded the defunding of police. These marxists sold themselves as the leaders of a noble cause and made millions in extortion.

And the people across this country were consumed with frustration because they felt abandoned. Abandoned by their representatives in government and abandoned by the justice system. In the USA, this isn’t supposed to happen.

Then the January 6 Capitol riot happened…

Suddenly, after months of laryngitis, government officials and law enforcement found their voice. This breach of the Capitol would not go unpunished.

For months, rioting, looting, and murder had been carried out by “mostly peaceful protesters.” Yet the Capitol building had been violated by “domestic terrorists.” Congressional leaders screamed for justice and talked of sedition and treason as they simultaneously let everyone know how they had all feared for their lives.

State buildings had been taken over for months, disrupting government business. Yet a few hours of business disruption in the Capitol is the equivalent of a coup attempt. Thankfully, the brave souls that represent us in DC were able to resume their duties in short order.

Regrettably, lives were lost on January 6, and there were injuries to police officers and others — that is never acceptable.

I have said all that to say this: What happened in DC was inevitable. Inevitable because law-abiding people throughout this country expected law enforcement, prosecutors, and government to do their job. For months, the people waited and waited. And while they waited, they witnessed daily violence across the country. Violence that achieved results without repercussions! What the law-abiding people received for their patience and belief in our system was nothing. Nothing but hypocrisy and double standards and more frustration.

Even law-abiding citizens have a breaking point. Frustration was the driving force behind the invasion of the Capitol.

Differentiating the actions of protestors in the Capitol versus those across the nation verifies the double standard and hypocrisy of the DC elites who have called for the Capitol rioters to be treated as domestic terrorists after the same elites watched and in some cases empowered violence and riots across the rest of the country.

(Mr. Richter is retired as a third-generation law enforcement officer.)