Some thoughts on our history and our democracy - and our COLLECTIVE obligation to know the former as we defend the latter on this eve of January 6. Thread:
1/ There is a tension at the heart of our founding documents. We were founded by rebels who rejected one authority, then sought to build a country around a new authority they created.
2/ Our founding declaration takes it as a stated truth that it was "necessary to dissolve the political bands" that previously held them together. How would then then ask Americans to commit to a new set of bands?
3/ That matters because for our founders, the UNITED states was always an aspiration, but never a guarantee. Their first effort (the Articles of Confederation) failed to bind the states in a coherent union.
4/ That "spirit of 1776" was one of rebellion, not of acquiescence. When Daniel Shays didn't like his taxes he didn't wait for the next election; he led a rebellion.
5/ And so our founders had to come up with something to bind a country that didn't have a common race, tribe, religion or even language - none of the trappings that most countries used to create a national identity.
6/ Their genius in 1789 was our Constitution. The British would sing God Save the Queen. We Americans would take an Oath to defend our Constitution. It was a stroke of genius and has served us well for these 232+ years as the thing that unified us. A shared rule of law.
7/ It wasn't perfect. Heck, they'd already amended it 10 times by 1791. And it totally kicked the can on the slavery question. But it aspired to a United States and gave us the framework to preserve one.
8/ The Civil War would of course test that proposition again and compel more amendments. But in the end, there was - in Lincoln's famous words - just enough virtue in the nation to save it.
9/ The fact that it has adapted to the moment and survived this long, and that we have held together has inspired lots of other countries to copy our Constitutional democracy. But past performance is no guarantee of future results.
10/ And any country founded in rebellion always has a dangerous fuse that can be lit if some fraction of people can be persuaded that it is patriotic to take up arms against their government.
11/ This is the core question raised by January 6th. A free and fair election elected Joe Biden. The former guy, rather than upholding his oath to defend the constitution told people that it was time to rebel. Some listened, and the fuse was lit.
12/ Most of course did not. Because there is still enough virtue in the nation to save it. But there are a meaningful number of people, many currently still in high office who remain deeply hostile to the principles of our Constitution. To free elections. To democracy.
13/ If a foreign power had attacked the US Capitol seeking to overturn our Constitution we would have a bipartisan consensus to oppose. We know that because we did when the British attacked the Capitol in the War of 1812.*
14/ * In fairness, the Federalists were a little too pro-British on that front, but that support was the beginning of the end of their party. But I digress.
15/ So the question now for all of us who have taken that Oath to protect the Constitution from all enemies, foreign AND domestic will treat this attack in the same way. There can be no ambiguity on that question.
16/ But ultimately, we won't be saved by the 537 of us who hold federally elected office alone. It is on all of us as Americans. Do you love our democracy and our Constitution enough to defend it in this moment? I certainly do.
17/ Not with violence but with a commitment to strident civic engagement. In peaceful demonstrations, in organization and yes, at the ballot box. With the recognition that it is, in this moment a deeply partisan act to defend our democracy.
18/ That is a tragic thing to say about the party of Lincoln. But it cannot be ignored.
19/ But take comfort in the fact that there is still more than enough virtue in the nation to save it. Those anti-Constitutionalists wouldn't be fighting so hard if they thought their views could win in a free and fair election.
20/ Our democracy can, and will still work. It did when we went back onto the floor in the wee hours of January 7 to certify the results.
It will this time as well.
But only if we preserve it. /fin
It will this time as well.
But only if we preserve it. /fin
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