First anniversary of Jan. 6

Thought for the day

On this day in 2001, George W. Bush officially was declared the winner of the 2000 presidential election, President Jimmy Carter authorized $1.2 billion in federal loans to save the failing Chrysler Corporation in 1980, and sixty years earlier to the day, the Boston Red Sox sold future Hall of Famer Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees.

Unless you have been living in a cave for the last year, you know that Jan. 6, 2021 is the day democracy was battered and bruised.  It could have been worse.  Democracy easily could have died that day.

Some conservative TV hosts and members of Congress claim the riot that took place at the U.S. Capitol was nothing more than a typical visitors' day in Washington.  Don't be fooled by such nonsense.

When I worked for Rep. Don Edwards in 1972, a typical day included one or two constituents quietly dropping by to meet him.  It never included scores of marauders running through the halls of Congress, breaking into offices or aggressively pounding on doors searching for the Speaker of the House.  But that is exactly what happened a year ago.  As a result, more than 700 people have been arrested, not to mention the 140 police officers who were injured that fateful day or the 5 deaths linked to the riot.

I don't know which civics books or Constitution those TV talking heads or elected officials read in school, but they certainly weren't the same ones Rep. Zoe Lofgren and I read when we attended high school together in Palo Alto, California.  You don't have to be a descendent of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt or any Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to understand the impact those insurrectionists had on America a year ago. 

No matter who encouraged them or which extremist political organization they belonged to, those Jan. 6 rioters had one fundamental, un-American goal in mind:  To disrupt the peaceful transfer of power from one president to another by declaring the Electoral College vote null and void. 

I'm not smart enough to know how a "rigged election" morphed into "Stop the Steal" and then "Hang Mike Pence."  What I do know is Congresswoman Lofgren, and the House Select Committee she sits on investigating the riot at the Capitol last year, have a clear vision for America.  That is, to prevent another day like Jan. 6, 2021 from ever happening again.  On this point, I am 100 percent in favor of the committee's ongoing investigation.       

I believe George Bush (43) and Jimmy Carter would agree with me.  Who knows, maybe The Babe would, too, if he still was playing baseball. 

-DF