It used to be that after much wrangling and posturing political leaders would come together and cooperate for the good of the country. Issues or problems concerning the safety or well being of the nation took precedent over politics and personal gain. Not so any more.
I’m reminded of Senator Arthur Vandenberg’s declaration that “politics stops at the water’s edge” about foreign policy during the Truman Administration. A Republican, he was chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and could have opposed the creation of NATO in 1948, but he didn’t. Unfortunately, that is not the case today, either in regard to foreign policy or urgent domestic issues and problems.
This change continues to be brought home almost daily by the obstruction of the Republicans to just about everything. Most recently, only two Republicans – Liz Cheney (Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois) – voted to support appointing a House Select Committee to investigate the attack on the Capitol. This comes after Republicans had earlier scuttled efforts to put together a 9-11 type bipartisan commission to look into what happened this past January 6th.
Everyone and both parties should be eager to investigate the unprecedented assault on the Capitol. It was an extraordinary event in our history and politics; it should be in everyone’s interest to understand what happened and why. Of course, there will be those who want to win political points, but that does not lessen the importance of what happened that day.
Wouldn’t it be reassuring if patriotism would prevail with the approach of this independence day? In the past, Republicans and Democrats would’ve joined hands to investigate the events of January 6th, but unfortunately, the Republican party no longer exists. There are few real "Republicans" left.