I had intended to collect and share my thoughts about the one year anniversary of the insurrection at the Capitol, but I find that Peter Baker in this morning’s Times has collected my thoughts for me. A profoundly depressing and frightening analysis of our nation’s fragile and febrile condition, and of the factors that make further violence and democratic backsliding all too plausible, even probable. Key quote: “America has not come together to defend its democracy; it has only split further apart.”
Those of us who believe in the rule of law, revere democratic institutions, shun personality cults, and assign value to evidence and fact must be prepared to make common cause with others of similar mind, even when we disagree about policy. If support for democracy itself continues to divide our two parties, then, sooner or later, democracy is lost.