When the Civil War ended, and Reconstruction was beginning, Congressman Thaddeus Stevens was asked if he thought the government should build a jail in the South, big enough to hold eight million prisoners.
In his typical boisterous and passionate voice, Stevens replied:
“Yes, sir, a penitentiary which is built at the point of the bayonet down below, and if they undertake to come here, we will shoot them. That is the way to take care of those people. They deserve it, at least for a time."
Stevens, as the powerful leader of the self-styled Radical Republicans, stood tall and refused to allow the South to betray the country and face no consequences.
While many of his most impactful efforts were thwarted, Stevens's fight remains one of the finest acts of courage ever carried out by an elected official.
In the face of traitors, cowards, enablers, and capitulators, it has never been more important to write.
To record.
To remember.
When the regime falls — and it will — there must be a record of their crimes, and their cronies.
There must be a reckoning.
There must be justice.
The media can no longer be trusted.
It is up to us.