President Donald Trump’s loyalists who assaulted our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6 are guilty of sedition.
The terrorists in the mob do not represent all Trump supporters, but the actions last week should force all of his supporters into deep introspection. However, this goes beyond them.
Americans, regardless of political stripe, must consider this: where are we headed?
This isn’t about joining hands and singing Kumbaya, but we can collectively turn the temperature down.
The administration in Washington, D.C. changes a week from today, but the rest of us Americans, 330 million strong, will go about our daily lives.
There is a lot to think about.
The president failed this nation at a critical moment. Trump is directly responsible for inciting the mob because of the speech he gave at a rally among his ardent supporters hours before they stormed the Capitol, for two months of unending false claims about election fraud and refusing to concede, and four years of labeling those who disagree with him as enemies of the state.
Political disagreement is part and parcel of the American experience. Labeling others as enemies of the state is language fit only for tyrants and their enablers.
Republican members of Congress who voted to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election — including our own Rep. Jeff Van Drew — are guilty of aiding and abetting the mob by giving credence to their fears. They are guilty of damaging Americans’ faith in this democracy.
Other Republicans fought the attempted coup. They had the courage to put the Constitution and our democracy ahead of their politics. To be sure, most of them waited far too long, going along with Trump’s lies and refusing to acknowledge Joe Biden’s presidential victory until the last minute out of their own fear of the president. At least they had enough guts to refuse to participate in that final, fateful charade Jan. 6, and stood up for the Constitution.
Van Drew, however, was a profile in cowardice, more interested in maintaining his loyalty to Trump in hopes of continuing his political career. Van Drew will be remembered for his disservice to America. So will the other Republican members of Congress who voted against certifying the victory of President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
But he, and they, will continue to serve, will continue to be the face of the Republican Party. How will they respond in the months to come?
Will one of them try to be the next demagogue?
That is what we, as Americans, need to reflect upon.
Will we be taken in by the next purveyor of hate and division or will we demand better from our leaders?
Do we really want to continue to demonize our friends, our neighbors, our family members because of our political beliefs? Or do we step back from the edge and acknowledge that we don’t have to live our most extreme politics? Can we disagree peaceably and respectfully?
We should all be sick of hearing the phrase, “We want to take our country back.” There is no taking our country back because this country has always belonged to all of us, not just those in political power at any given moment. This democracy, messy as it is, remains ours to shape.
The fundamental underpinning of democracy is ending the most spirited and divisive of campaigns in the peaceful transfer of power, to acknowledge winning, to acknowledge losing. That is what has made our democracy an inspiration to the world.
It has been tarnished these past four years because of the heightened rhetoric from — and encouraged and incited by — the person in the Oval Office. It was damaged more on Jan. 6 by the physical actions of an unpatriotic and un-American mob.
But we can restore its luster.
We must demand more from our leaders, that they find ways to work together, to shape legislation in bipartisan fashion, rather than continue gridlock based on one political party “winning” at the expense of ordinary Americans. We must demand they find ways to get more Americans voting, not fewer, to ensure the democracy is as representative as it can be. We must demand they do not label their political opponents as enemies of the state.
We also can demand more from ourselves.
There were 74 million Americans who voted for Trump; 81 million voted for Biden. Obviously, we do not agree on who should lead.
However, we can dial down our own rhetoric.
We can shut off the TV and radio personalities when they try to egg us on, to make it us versus them, or to try to shift the blame. We don’t have to change our political beliefs, but we don’t have to demonize those with whom we disagree. We should try to listen to viewpoints with which we don’t agree, to understand why our friends or neighbors or family members believe something else. A huge part of democracy is debate.
We need to put aside the hate.
We just saw where Trump supporters’ unabated anger can take this country.
We don’t want to go there.