I am relieved to hear that Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, and her colleagues were safe after the siege of the Capitol on Wednesday. This was a horrific but, I must say, not unexpected moment, given the president’s incitement of the Trump mob. The congresswoman’s question, “Is this the America we want to give our children?,” is one I have been asking of her for four years now — in person on the day after Trump’s inauguration, in countless emails to her office, and in letters to this page.
I hope we can emerge on the other side of Donald Trump’s assault on democracy with little bloodshed in these waning days. But if, mercifully, we do, I want every Republican who has enabled this treasonous man either overtly or by their silence to take stock and ask themselves how much they value our democracy over their need for power.
Yes, time to really reach across the aisle, congresswoman, with some serious legislation — let’s start by addressing corruption and faithlessness to our Constitution at the highest levels of our government.
