The Party Of Personal Responsibility, When It Suits Them

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes...and then sue anyone who holds you accountable

When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself.

• Louis Nizer

Like crying wolf, if you keep looking for sympathy as a justification for your actions, you will someday be left standing alone when you really need help.

• Criss Jami

Any examination of Ashli Babbitt should begin with one undeniable fact- she died during the commission of a federal crime. This is something that shouldn’t be minimized or ignored. Yes, her death was a tragedy…but the same is true of the law enforcement officers who died defending the U.S. Capitol from Donald Trump’s MAGA-hatted terrorists.

Yes, Babbitt’s death was a tragedy, but it’s a self-inflicted calamity. Despite the efforts of Donald Trump and his supporters to canonize Ms. Babbitt, she was killed while committing a federal crime. She wasn’t murdered. She participated in a terrorist attack on the seat of American governance…and was killed by police officers defending it.

The circumstances which led her to be among the crowd that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th are unimportant. They certainly don’t justify her participating in a terrorist activity intended to nullify a democratically valid Presidential election.

Whether you refer to January 6th as “insurrection” or “terrorism,” the fact is that Donald Trump incited thousands of his supporters to attack the seat of American governance. He deserves to be indicted for treason. Those who followed his instructions should be held to account as well.

The bottom line is straightforward. Ashli Babbitt died in the service of a lie. Now those she left behind are suing law enforcement over her death. Never mind that she was personally involved in a violent attack against the U.S. government. Never mind that thousands of terrorists were in the process of overwhelming a much smaller contingent of law enforcement officers.

No, Ms. Babbitt was killed…and someone must pay for her death. At least according to those who wish to see her memorialized as an American saint.

That someone would fail to see the irony and arrogance behind this lawsuit should leave good and decent Americans unspeakably angry. That members of the “Party of Personal Responsibility” can’t accept that Ms. Babbitt is responsible for the decisions leading to her death is infuriating.

You always have a choice. Don’t ever imagine you don’t. Whatever you do, it’s a decision and you have to accept responsibility for it. That’s when honor becomes more than empty words.

• Lynn Flewelling

Ashli Babbitt willingly participated in a violent attack on the federal government. She committed at least one federal crime (perhaps several). Her compatriots were armed. They’d violently attacked and breached police lines. They were also chanting about assassinating members of Congress…and the Vice President.

HANG MIKE PENCE!!! The “patriots” weren’t kidding; someone had already built a gallows on the Capitol grounds. They weren’t tourists looking for the House gift shop. They were out for blood, and there’s no telling what might have happened had they been able to capture a member of Congress.

So Ashli Babbitt’s family filed a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit against the US Capitol Police? Does no one in her family understand the offensiveness of this gesture, which will almost certainly be laughed out of whatever courtroom it arrives in?

Of course not. The Party of Personal Responsibility expects everyone else to be responsible for their actions and decisions, yet they demand compensation when they’re held to account.

Ms. Babbitt wasn’t murdered…and the Far-Right shouldn’t be allowed to turn her into a martyr. She might have been a saint before January 6th, but her life ended because she CHOSE to participate in a terrorist attack on the federal government.

Her participation in that terrorist attack was a personal choice. Her actions on that day were her personal responsibility. No one is responsible for her death but herself. Her choices led directly to her death that day.

That may be inconvenient for the martyr-makers on the Far-Right to hear, but Ashli Babbit is unworthy of sainthood. As Keith Olbermann correctly says, she “was a criminal- and a terrorist.”

The GOP- the Party of Personal Responsibility- has neither reason nor cause to canonize Ms. Babbitt. If she were alive today, she’d be in federal prison. That she died on January 6th makes her crimes no more admirable or worthy of elevation to Right-wing sainthood.

The campaign seeking “justice” for Ashli Babbitt is as misguided and cynical as it is pure hypocrisy and exploitation. We shouldn’t minimize the tragedy of Ms. Babbitt’s death, but we mustn’t ignore its circumstances. Nor should she be elevated over the law enforcement officers who gave their lives protecting the Capitol.

Ashli Babbitt died during the commission of at least one federal crime, an act of terrorism aimed at toppling the federal government. There’s nothing heroic about that…and it’s time the Party of Personal Responsibility recognized that truth that she was a terrorist and a criminal.

Decisions have consequences. Ashli Babbitt made a poor decision and paid for it with her life. The only person who should be held responsible for her death is Babbitt herself.

It’s what happens when you believe that your devotion to the Big Lie places you above the law.