It is a curious cycle that major political scandals seem to occur approximately every 50 years in our history. In 1808, Aaron Burr tried to sell off the land west of the Mississippi River to the British and establish himself as its “ruler”. He was convicted of treason. In 1861, we had the Civil War with thousands of casualties on both sides. In 1919-20 we had the Teapot Dome scandal where the Secretary of State named Albert Fall sold off oil leases to friends without competitive bids. He was removed from office. In 1972-73 we had Nixon’s Watergate scandal which resulted in the President resigning from office in August of 1973. And in 2021 we had the attack on the US Capitol–which some people regard as simply a “tourist visit”. The backlash of that day is still being felt and will be recorded in history as the day democracy almost died. Of course there were other lesser-known bru-ha-ha’s over the years but these events show that we tend to get restless with the status quo–maybe it’s too boring–and try to liven things up every so often. Let’s just hope we all survive the next wrung on the ladder.
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