A year ago, I wrote a post simply titled “Disgrace.” I included a graphic I found online showing an American eagle hiding his face in shame.
I wrote it after watching the storming of our Capitol by a group of insurrectionists and others who’d been inflamed and encouraged to do this by our then-president and other Republican leaders who echoed and amplified the misplaced sentiments about the election having been stolen.
I was somewhat encouraged when, later that day and for a few days following, many Republican leaders – including Mitch McConnell – blasted the day’s events and called the president out for encouraging a coup attempt and for not having called for the rioters to stop.
But that lasted only a few days and then the Republican leadership went back to pushing what we now call “the big lie” and – worse yet -- began denying it was an insurrection and blocking any attempts to investigate what happened and set things right so it could never happen again.
Instead, the Republican leaders have stonewalled attempts to find the truth, place responsibility and make necessary changes.
Although more than 700 insurrectionists have been arrested to date, the real conspirators – the Republican leaders, those in and around the White House of the previous administration, along with the so-called journalists at FOX News – have gone scott-free, even as their actions leading up to Jan. 6, 2021 and beyond have further torn our country apart.
It does not seem to be exaggeration when we hear warnings about the end of our democracy. I am terrified when I think what could happen if the radical Republicans retake control of Congress next year and – heaven forbid – the White House in 2024. Look what they’re already doing in many states to take away the precious right to vote, especially for those who’ve historically been marginalized.
So I hope that, as we look back at the events of a year ago, most of my countrymen realize that what happened was wrong and profoundly un-American. Those who promoted it must be held responsible and must somehow pay the price.
I don’t see how we can continue like this.
E.J. Dionne, writing in Wednesday’s Washington Post, sums it up well. “Accountability for the events of Jan. 6 must be legal but also political. At issue is whether we are the democratic republic we claim to be. A Congress that refuses to enforce the equal rights (such as voting rights) the insurrectionists rose up to reject would be capitulating to some of the worst impulses in our nation’s history.”