We still need to do much soul-searching on how we got to this point and how to ensure we never return to it. Those who committed these outrageous acts are being brought to justice, but that is not enough, because the threat remains. Responsible Americans must defend our democracy every day if we are to keep it. The attack on the Capitol was a sad reminder that that work is never over. It was the product of hard work, and over the years, thousands have died defending it. Our system of government did not arise spontaneously. If people believe it is okay to attack our institutions and those who defend them when they don’t like an outcome, then our democracy is compromised and our country imperiled. The essence of democracy is majority rule and accepting the outcome of decisions. We have done this to ourselves and reached a profoundly dangerous point from which we have yet to recover. Last year’s was from the inside-our own citizens doing their best to trash a symbol of democracy and disrupt a lawful process required by our Constitution, and apparently proud of it. The difference is that the other attacks came from the outside. January 6, 2021, will go down in history as another “day of infamy,” along with December 7, 1941, September 11, 2001, and August 24, 1814, when the British burned the Capitol. Those fears are resurgent today, and as our forebears did, our duty is to combat them and put them back in the closet where they belong. For nearly 250 years, the strength of America has been its resilience-its ability to adapt to change-but every generation has been plagued by a minority who resist change, cling to the past, and fear the “other”-foreigners or those of a different race or ethnicity. I wrote that we are “tribal, violent, racist, and selfish,” and we proved that a year ago. The idea of America may be exceptional, but it is increasingly clear that our people, or at least a lot of them, are not. The events of January 6 reinforced that conclusion. My column after the 2020 election suggested that the events of that year, particularly the reaction to the election and Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, exploded the myths of American exceptionalism and American competence. This week, nearly a year later, I want to repeat some of my thoughts then and provide some updates. A year ago I put trade aside to deal with what happened on January 6.
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