I paused the “We’re Better Than This” platform series yesterday in recognition of the seditious insurrection that will forever mark January 6, 2021. After order was thankfully restored, Congress sent a resounding message by returning to the business of certifying the election last night.

There will be a lot to unpack from yesterday’s events in the coming days and weeks, including accountability for the President and other “leaders” who incited the attemped coup and every treasonous individual who participated in it. The same goes for the police response and lack of preparation in securing the Capitol in advance, and the stark differences in the police response yesterday compared to the protests and riots we saw last year. As we do that, we should never forget there were some truly heroic actions by many police officers on the front lines yesterday.

We will see if this was finally the wakeup call to the Republican Party to look in the mirror and decide if they want to return to being the party of Lincoln or continue down this dangerous path. There already have been some promising signs on that front over the past 24 hours, and it will be interesting to watch how that develops in the coming weeks.

As we confront the sobering issues that led to yesterday’s events, the best way we can respond going forward to this or any other attack on our institutions is to lead by example and show we will not be cowed from going about the important work of our country. Congress sent that message last night (and into early this morning) even as some individual members continued to disgrace themselves. We all have that same power to lead by example in our own actions.

On that note, the “We’re Better Than This” platform series will resume tomorrow. And with props to Richard Milne on WXRT earlier today, I’ll stay true to form and end this post with a song recommendation: America by Simon & Garfunkel.