They said there were none left. They said it couldn’t be done. They said American institutions had failed. They said the United States of America – the erstwhile bastion of liberal democracy – was a basket case. Well, they were wrong.
There are some left – political leaders who are both ethical and effective.
It can be done – reverse six years of corruption and destruction of the American body politic.
They have not failed – there is strong evidence the Congress, specifically the House of Representatives, will save us from ourselves.
The United States of America is not a basket case – with every hearing of the January 6th commission we witness democracy in America is not only alive but well or, at least, well enough.
Far be it from me to play the part of Pollyanna. Still, let it be said that the U. S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is the most important and best managed such committee in American history. If any single group of people can turn the tide of our miserable recent history, it is they. These five men and these four women.
- Bennie Thompson from Mississippi, who serves as Chair.
- Liz Cheney, from Wyoming, who serves as Vice Chair.
- Pete Aguilar, from California.
- Zoe Lofgren, from California.
- Adam Schiff, from California.
- Adam Kinzinger from Illinois.
- Elaine Luria, from Virginia.
- Stephanie Murphy from Florida.
- Jamie Raskin from Maryland.
The hearings being held by the above committee are more significant than those that brought down Senator Joseph McCarthy. And they are more significant than those that brought down President Richard Nixon. They are more significant because the corruption, cruelty, and toxicity that characterize former president Donald Trump are more extreme than anything that stained McCarthy and Nixon. They are more significant because Trump has wormed his way far deeper into the American psyche than either McCarthy or Nixon. And they are more significant because neither McCarthy nor Nixon came as close to knifing the heart of American democracy.
One more thing: the January 6th Committee is operating in a context in which collaboration and cooperation have become rare commodities. Political leaders especially have become known for nothing so much as their contentiousness and divisiveness. Yet here we have five men and four women able to temper whatever their differences and able, therefore, to model what good leadership in 21st century America looks like.
They do not walk on water. Nor are they likely to pull a rabbit out of a hat. But if any group of people can begin – note I write “begin” – to lead us out of the wilderness it is this one. No grandstanding or showboating. Instead, to a person they make the work of the country their priority.