.MichaelSteele: In the wake of Jan. 6, no George Washington has emerged to unite us. All we have are the lessons — and warnings — of history.
Political leaders didn’t rush to move on from the episode; they resolved to learn from it. They recognized that the attack reflected a deeper sickness in the country, even if there was reasonable disagreement on the remedy.
The rebellion was enough to force a reluctant Gen. George Washington out of retirement and back into the spotlight to rally Americans behind federal reforms that would ensure the American Revolution hadn’t been fought for nothing.That swift, decisive action likely saved our fledgling republic. Madison considered only the second option viable. America couldn’t get rid of the root cause of mob-like behavior. The source was human nature, he argued, and rectifying it would require snuffing out liberty itself.That left only one method: shaping a healthy democratic process as a pressure-relief valve against the mob, that is, making factions compete against one another.The attack on the U.S. Capitol was not a fluke act carried out by a small band of misfits.
Roughly 23 million American adults believe force would be justified to restore Donald Trump to the White House.