Danger in demagoguery, hope in collaboration
Posted by Debilyn Molineaux on January 07, 2021 at 1:25 PM
January 6, 2021 is 
a day that will live in infamy.
The Capitol Building of the United States, for the first time in our lifetimes, was attacked and overrun by violent extremists during the ceremonial counting of the Electoral College’s votes to certify Joseph R. Biden’s victory in the 2020 Presidential election. As the nation watched, many of us feared that the very foundations of our democratic republic were in peril.
Many Americans want things to return to “normal,” but democracy is not a spectator sport. We the People are responsible for upholding the freedoms that define who we are as citizens of the United States.
We must invest our time individually and with one another to thwart the demagoguery that has overshadowed our nation, fueled by our adversaries with disinformation and conspiracies. We must strengthen our resolve to heal the wounds and bridge the divides that separate us.
The Bridge Alliance is dedicated to bridging the many divides that separate us by finding common ground, building understanding, and healing the wounds that have ripped us apart. You can find organizations doing so here.
In our lifetime, the United States has been heralded for our peaceful transfer of power and dedication to the rule of law. Yesterday, our reputation was greatly damaged by an attempted coup. Our inability to see the threat among us has been eroding our reputation for several years.
And yet, our belief in the Constitution was strengthened by the rebuff of yesterday's attack upon it. Members of Congress came back to the same hallowed Chambers that they had been forced to evacuate just hours before, and finished their Constitutional duty to certify the Electoral College’s votes.
The future will require our vigilance to advance towards the more perfect union that was promised in the Constitution. We thank the elected officials who turned away from the demagoguery and affirmed their commitment to our nation and the Constitution.
Our work is now beginning a new phase. What the Bridge Alliance began six years ago, with the idea that no single organization is sufficient to meet the needs of our time, has evolved. As a nation we must recognize that the richness of the American identity grows from our ability to accept our differences and embrace our cultural, ethnic / racial, and political diversity with dignity. We must root out demagoguery and extremism from our communities by embracing our differences. That is the work We the People must now focus on.
Together, the members of Bridge Alliance represent ideological differences, work in all 50 states, and are dedicated to being inclusive of all Americans.