“For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” Future Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor, John Winthrop, uttered these words aboard the Arbella, urging his fellow settlers to be a shining example for the rest of the New World.
For centuries, the United States of America was this very city upon a hill, a beacon of democracy, leading the world in innovation, technology, and opportunity. In recent years, however, it seems we have fallen from our standing, no longer acting as the world superpower we once were.
Jan. 6, 2023, marked the two-year anniversary of the insurrection on our nation’s capitol by American citizens who denied the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Despite the initial overwhelming majority who condemned the attack, the GOP has reversed its stance in the past two years, embracing the seditionists and their claims.
This past summer, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol conducted 10 public hearings to gather information about the insurrection, questioning participators in the attack as well as members of former president Donald Trump’s administration.
The work of the committee was largely successful, culminating in over 900 arrests, spanning from misdemeanors like resisting arrest to felonies like seditious conspiracy.
Trump, in his usual manner, came to the defense of the indefensible, quickly shifting the blame. “I think it’s a disgrace what’s been happening,” he said on the obscure, far-right news outlet “Real America’s Voice.” “So many of these people are great patriots, and what they’ve gone through. Then you look at Antifa and BLM. You look at what’s gone on there, with what they’ve done in all sorts of places over the last two years, where they’ve burned down cities.” Neither Antifa nor the BLM movement has ever burned down a city.
The committee also found that leading up to, on, and following Jan. 6, Trump made continuous false claims of election fraud, plotted to overturn the election, pressured state officials and the DOJ to overturn electoral results, and oversaw an effort to submit false electoral certificates—none of which were particularly shocking.
Despite the committee’s objectives, opinions on Jan. 6 have changed marginally in the past two years. About 50% of the country believes that Trump should be criminally charged, though this is predictably divided along party lines. Similarly, throughout the hearings, President Joe Biden’s favorability polled low, sitting between 38% and 42% for the majority of the time.
This is indicative of the larger problem that we face as a country. In the time since the insurrection, it has become acceptable to support the attack and the assertion that the 2020 election was fraudulent. In fact, this claim has actually become a cornerstone of the modern Republican Party platform, so much so that many GOP officials oppose new laws barring insurrectionists and seditionists from running for office. (Apparently it is a radical notion that those who try to overthrow the government should not be allowed to be a part of it).
This month Congresswoman Marjory Taylor Green (R-GA) was named to the House Homeland Security Committee, a further indication of how those who have embraced the insurrectionists have been rewarded in Congress.
Unfortunately, the issues that plague our nation’s politics are not particularly unique. The United States is not the only country that has recently witnessed the rise (and subsequent crash and burn) of a far-right leader.
On Jan. 8, 2023, supporters of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the country’s Congress after their refusal to accept his defeat. Rioters sprayed fire hoses, ransacked offices, and broke windows in the congressional building. Sound familiar?
Like Trump, Bolsonaro is a bombastic leader who has similarly attacked the integrity of Brazil’s electronic voting system without a shred of evidence.
One year ago, I wrote an article that defined a first-world superpower by its prosperity, democracy, and political stability. However, we as a nation are beginning to resemble the unstable countries we once looked down upon from our perch high on the hill.
