The Perched Eye blog is 14 years old, from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ... the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.
It seems we’re just now realizing that Trump and Trumpism are forces — the former a psych-spectrum ‘case,’ and the latter ‘-ism’ a belief movement intent (by real past actions) on destroying American democratic operations.
Therefore, at the least to deter future ‘Jan 6’s (2021)’, the punishment for the ‘Jan6’ attempted overthrow of the American government is left with increasing the legal weight of the crime, i’e’, the sentence term. Hence, the DOJ's move to increase sentences for sedition appears logical and perhaps the only recourse to handling cases like Donald Trump’s seditious actions and planning to lead to Jan 6 (and obstructions thereafter.)
One can get lost in legalese ‘entanglements’, but lengthier sentences can serve to prevent future seditious acts, as well as punish the current conspirators whose intent was to overthrow the elected American government.
(Remember Germany’s experience with Hitler, who was convicted of conspiracy and sedition to overthrow Germany’s 1920s Weimar Republic, but only served 9 months of a 5-year term, then went on to gain total power…with the aid of MAGA-like ultra-right wing thugs and para-military elements, Hitler’s Brown Shirt supporters.) Don’t doubt that America saw the same elements (pro-Hitler thugs and legitimate congresspersons) assembled here to forcibly gain total power for Trump, who openly stated his intentions to serve as many terms as he wanted, and destroy his enemies. Trump’s plans for regaining the ‘throne’ were (are/should be) scary.
Let’s trust in the American legal process — the simplest route to prevent future ‘Jan6’s is to increase the incarceration terms for sedition. (Otherwise, we will have to wait maybe 4–5 years, or more, for the current Supreme Court to even hear the Jan6 case against Trump-the-person.