My fellow Americans,
I write with a heavy heart, outraged over the violence that left one police officer dead and several others severely injured. The violence that occurred at the sacred seat of our democracy sought to interrupt our sacred democratic process is an ugliness that we should not soon forget nor seek to erase. Those who desecrated the people’s house must be held fully accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
The right to petition the government and the right to assemble are two of the five fundamental freedoms in the First Amendment. These rights are foundational to our democracy – but there is no right to armed protest, despite the right to keep and bear arms, which is protected in over 40 state constitutions as well as the Second Amendment. But all of these rights occur within society, which means they are not universal – existing in society brings the freedom that stems from obligation and duty to others.
January 6th did not occur in a vacuum. The last decade of social media discord has been driving further divides in our nation and between us the world. Partisan filters has made us discount someone if they bear the markings of the other tribe and urged us to see the other side as the enemy who must be destroyed. This way lies violence and it is only those who have never engaged in violence who glorify such calls for it.
We have entered the age of conspiracy theory. The dawning of this new age has flourished in a time when trust in institutions that help make meaning of life both good and bad has waned. Instead, we have sought meaning from groups on the internet, some of which have been seeded with bad actors seeking to exploit us for financial or political gain or for the mere thrill of a taste of power. We must turn away from the temptation toward every day outrage and reserve our righteous anger for events like the violence and desecration January 6th.
So what do we do?
First, leave any Facebook groups or other Internet forums that foster conspiracy theories. There is mass confusion and chaos around covid, for example – find information that open to others, not buried in secret groups. Look to your local doctors and nurses and health officials. Will their information be perfect? No, nor should we expect it to be. The situation is constantly changing and we are constantly learning new information. Work with your local government to develop plans that will get us back to work and school and sports and church safely.
Second, do not get the primary source of your news from Facebook or Youtube or other social media. There are plenty of bad actors seeking to monetize your attention and feed you a steady diet of junk information disguised as news to keep you perpetually outraged and clicking on more. Walk away. Do not reward their bad behavior. Reengage with your local and regional news – if we all did this, we would rapidly redevelop a shared sense of reality and meaning, which we desperately need to do. One example I know if is that if you are an amazon prime member, you get access to The Washington Post with your membership. See if your local library has subscriptions to other news outlets.
Third, help rebuild institutions. Civic society functions based on our engagement with our institutions – the power comes from us the people. Get involved in your local school board, your local sports leagues or other non profits that work to ground us in a sense of community. We must rebuild the bonds of we to include those we disagree with and further, to expel those who wish us harm. We cannot cede the power of the commons to those of ill will. Public libraries are more important now than they ever were – the truth is paywalled but the lies are free. Public libraries help us contextualize the events we see – we need them now more than ever in the age of information without context on the internet.
Fourth, be wary of coded language and secret explanations for events. But at the same time, learn the language that others are using to speak in coded ways that feed conspiratorial thinking. Find the simplest explanation for events – they are usually the most correct. January 6th was meant to be a peaceful protest by the vast majority of Americans who showed up that day. It is also true that terrible violence occurred that cost lives and that many showed up determined to cause that violence. They used the good will of others as a shield for their malfeasance.
Finally, I would ask that we all remember the words of Senator John McCain – whether you agree with his political position or not, in his final letter to the nation, he reminded us that we are a nation of ideals, not of blood and soil. Those ideals are enshrined in our Constitution, which is an imperfect document that orients us toward a more perfect union, one that is always in progress. And that progress takes the work of each of us working toward a common goal and shared purpose for all Americans, not merely the powerful.
To my fellow citizens of other nations around the world,
Do not lose faith in us. We have not been always good neighbors but America has always been slow to rise to the challenges she faces. I can only hope that we will return to the global stage, humbled and hopefully inspired to do our part to make the world safer and better. Our nations face great challenges in the coming decades – we must find ways to solve them together.
We have difficult challenges to face in the coming days, weeks and months. We will get through this but only if we hold those who desecrated the Constitutional process accountable and then work to rebuild trust in each our communities that bind us toward the common good. Do not lose hope. Do not despair. Now is the time to get to work. The moral arc of the universe bends toward justice but it only does so with the efforts of all us working together to shape the communities we are a part of.
