Jan 6 Day 1: The Law Strikes Back
/By Don Varyu
June 9, 2022
What makes a society? What holds people together? What is it that defines a nation?
Historically, there are two answers. The first is unilateral power—someone called a “king” or an “emperor” or a “sacred leader.” He decides. He alone holds things together.
The second is the law; a set of rules that the society voluntarily agrees to uphold together. If the laws are not to the people’s liking, new representatives are elected to write new ones.
The opening night of the January 6 committee hearings showed these forces—literally--in combat. The sides clashed (on new video tape) in bloody fighting outside the Capitol. They had different ideas on what our society would be. On the steps of the “people’s house” police were bruised and bloodied in order that inside, a successful transfer of power could occur—by law.
Halfway down the National Mall stood a silent and seemingly disinterested White House. Inside, an isolated man clung to a desperate plot that would maintain his authority—the law be damned.
The battle is not yet decided. Law struggled against raw power today, and it will again tomorrow.
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In a different sense, what is it that protects the law? In the simplest term: law enforcement. This is a phrase that half a century ago produced unanimous support. Soldier and cop and protectors of many stripes were there to keep us from the law-breakers. Simple as that.
Now, we’re not so sure. The murder of George Floyd exploded this mythology, once and for all. Who could you really trust? A U.S. military that serves defense lobbyists before the interests of the people? Police who can’t promptly respond to school massacres? An FBI that wouldn’t even listen to itself before than 9/11 attack?
Who or what could possibly come to erase at least some of our cynicism?
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The answer arrived in the human form of a woman named Caroline Edwards. She was among the Capitol Hill Police seriously injured that day in the attack on the “people’s house.” She was sprayed, shoved to the ground, hit the back of her head on a concrete step and was knocked unconscious. It was Carolyn Edwards who was nominated to represent all law enforcement as the opening witness in the hearings. The casting was pitch perfect.
I assume people on the far left could not fault her; this was not a white cop who killed a black teen. I assume that people in the middle, wary of a sob story foisted by a “liberal” committee, could not resist her valor and authenticity. People on the far right don’t matter because they didn’t watch anyway.
What those hearing boycotters missed was Edwards’ professionalism and her command and her pedigree (the granddaughter of a Marine who fought in Korea).
And with her testimony, she symbolized both the sacred importance of the law…and the irreplaceable necessity of law enforcement.
And she also implied one other important message: those who believe in laws over dictators are not done yet.
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