Today, during lunch, I turned on the television and watched the beginning of the Congressional select committee investigating the assault on the Capitol this past January 6th. The testimony of the police officers who defended the Capitol that day was absolutely riveting. I found them to be credible, articulate and surprisingly thoughtful about their experiences that day. One officer when asked about the events said that he had not thought of America being like that, but upon reflection conceded that it probably is.
How sad and, in some ways, even implausible for most of us. The questioning by Congressman Adam Kinzinger from Illinois, struck me as especially impressive and insightful. Kinzinger, an Air Force pilot, with duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, in his words, is a “conservative Republican” but an American first. Though he voted almost 90% of the time with Trump and voted against the first impeachment trial, he broke with Republican leadership when the former president refused to accept the outcome of the 2020 election and went on to instigate the assault on the Capitol
Kinzinger gave an emotional performance about the meaning of democracy and constitutional government. He appealed to our higher calling as patriots and our responsibility as citizens and politicians. In doing so, he spoke out against his Republican colleagues who continue to spread lies about the “stolen election” and downplay the assault on the Capitol. He’s not giving up his conservative principles or beliefs and he is still a Republican, but he rightly puts those partisan positions behind his allegiance to the country and his oath to uphold the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Unfortunately, there will always be those out there who, for whatever reasons, will continue to act out against what they perceive to be an unfair, dishonest and self-serving establishment. They don’t believe in the rule of law and, the truth be known, probably don’t understand or value constitutional government. They’ve always been there, but have never had the license to publicly act out before.
What troubles me even more are the large numbers of conservatives, Republicans and others who because of their hatred, contempt or disrespect for Democrats and liberals are willing to throw the rule of law and constitutional government under the bus to get their way.
Specifically, I’m thinking about the reluctance of those who read these pages to come forth and admit the truth of what has happened. For some time now, I have reached out to them asking if they have any remorse about supporting Trump only to be met with silence or retorts as to why. This puzzles me and pains me as I know them to be good people.