Facing up to the ‘Unthinkable’

Televised hearings start tomorrow night, Thursday, with the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol presenting their findings. Tune in with a stout heart, an open mind, patience and perhaps a bottle of bourbon. This is what democracy looks like. The question is, how many care to be small “d” democratic?

Have the fortitude to read “Unthinkable,” Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin’s (D-Rockville) 2021 account of the worst experiences a parent and a patriot can experience. For first, on Dec. 31, 2020, Raskin went to his 25 year old son Tommy’s bedroom to find his beloved and amazingly successful son had committed suicide. Raskin, his extended family, and friends were devastated. Tommy’s depression was a joint project, with Tommy working with a psychiatrist and taking medication and the family offering loving support. Tommy’s pain was too much for him to bear.

His note to his family: “Please forgive me. My illness won today. Look after each other, the animals and the global poor for me.”

Tommy was in his second year of Harvard Law School when the coronavirus pandemic descended. He had been managing his illness for years. When he returned to his parents’ home in 2020, he had their total support. It was not enough.

The family was devastated.

Then, on Jan. 6, 2021 Congressman Raskin went to the Capitol to vote to ratify President elect Joe Biden’s November election. His youngest daughter, Tabitha, and Hank, his son in law married to daughter Hannah, came to support Raskin. The whole family was barely functioning.

Raskin writes the certification “might have been humdrum perfunctory affair in ‘normal times,’ a historical period I can only somewhat remember now. But Trump and his operatives had worked to destroy every well-established constitutional rule, legal and ethical burn, and customary tradition that might have been an obstacle to imposing his will on everyone else.”

Democracy, normal life in the United States, was about to be turned upside down.

About Jan. 6, 2021: Whatever we saw or heard, whatever we think we know, whatever our lies and denials: the insurrection wrought by President Donald Trump as his forces sought to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election at the U.S. Capitol was more deadly and far more violent than we believe.

Ask your U.S. representative. No. Ask Democratic representatives. Or read “Unthinkable.” The photos in it capture the day, but his at-the-scene details of the day are grippingly scary. Indeed, he feared for the lives of his daughter and son in law both there, crouching under desks and behind locked doors in Congressman’s Steny Hoyer’s office.

Unbelievable. No totally believable. Read this true history. Watch the congressional hearings, best with others, and discuss the source of the insurrection.

Raskin praises Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who threw him a lifeline by asking him five days later, on Jan. 12, to serve as the lead manager of the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

This 425 page, first-person account is fast paced and readable – personable – an inside account of “trauma, truth, and the trials of American democracy,” as the book’s subtitle states.

It is vivid and heartfelt on a personal and societal levels. Take Jamie Raskin at face value. He is an old fashioned romantic American, a constitutional lawyer who loves the fundamentals of his country and wears his heart on his sleeve.

As Benjamin Franklin said, it is “a republic, if you can keep it.”

What will you do to keep it?

Watching the first hearing June 9 at 5 p.m. is an important step.