Simon is struggling a little in school, because the school is actually holding him accountable for learning stuff. I wrote earlier this year about how the other school didn't really do that, and was grading more on the ability to show up than to learn. It was disappointing. The hardest part about this for him is that he hasn't had to work with a balance between accountability and accommodation, and so he's easily overwhelmed over things that he's not that interested in doing (read, "homework"). But here we are, and there have been consequences for the choices that he has made. I understand that he's frustrated, but there's a difference between "can't" and "won't," and he has to reconcile that. He has to be held accountable.
I think most functional adults understand this, but for some reason in politics, we're suddenly seeing, from the party that touts "law and order," backlash to being held accountable. Trump's desire to hold on to government documents is only the tip of the iceberg. You can't be victimized when you did something wrong and there are mountains of evidence that you did it. His whole "movement" seems to be about that. He can make things up and cry foul over imaginary wrongdoing, with no evidence, but that gets to be even more sad when you can actually prove something.
It's not just him. Fox News and others are being sued for defamation by companies in libel suits over the voting fraud allegations that certainly were proven false. Politicians and lawyers who played along with the big lie are being asked to testify in front of grand juries. Some members of the circus are even losing elections (the biggest relief of all). Seditionists are going to jail and entering guilty pleas.
This is important to the survival of democracy. It's one thing to differ on policy, but it's quite another to attempt to cling to power using lies and deception. That's not serving the electorate, obviously. Holding people accountable under the law is even more important if we're ever to reach a point where we can truly demonstrate that there are not two systems of justice in our country. For old, rich, white men to claim that they're being victimized for breaking the law, while young people of color get busted for having a dime bag of weed, is wholly absurd. That's not me making a subjective observation, either. You can illustrate the absurdity with data.
If my 12-year-old can learn about accountability, it's the least we can expect from grown-ass men.
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