We like to keep a tight focus on real estate in the Real News, but sometimes (and now is one of those times), there is an elephant so enormous among us that we are moved to expand our editorial boundaries. You may be wondering which elephant we're talking about as we are besieged by elephants lately–gun violence, anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bills, and the potential reversal of Roe, to name just a few. Though all are worthy of our attention, the January 6 hearings feel paramount and elemental to the fabric of our democracy.
America is an idea. That's it. That's all it is. An idea. Set down on parchment. Enacted by once esteemed white, wealthy, entitled men. Privileged by education, the right to own property, enslave people, lead our military, and form our government. Once esteemed but no longer, this is the genius of the constitution. The idea itself. The belief in self-governance by the people, of the people, for the people.
We are those people. The citizen participants upon whose shoulders the protection of our yet fledgling experiment in democracy rests. Our belief in which led to the defeat of King George, our independence, the election of Abraham Lincoln in light of the 13th amendment, passage of the 14th, 15th, and 19th amendments, and the Voting and Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965. In 1973 we impeached Richard Nixon, leading to the passage of the War Powers Act, the Election Campaign Act, and the Freedom of Information Acts of 1973 and 1974. All of which expanded democracy in response to the same anti-democratic forces that persist today.
If we still believe in the American Experiment of self-governance, the only answer is participation. Watch and listen to the hearings, read the transcripts, talk to each other, read the opinion pages, seek out alternative points of view, and most importantly, reference history because if the past is the prologue, this might be our future.
