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POINT

POINT: Confronting the stain of an insurrection on American democracy

The chaos and fear wrought by the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, still stings fresh in the minds of millions of Americans � and particularly mine, as someone who served as a congressional staffer that day. But as a country, I don’t think we’ve adequately grappled with the gravity of what an insurrection means for our democracy. When future generations look back, how will they view our response? Will they see an America that languishes and yields power to tyranny? Or will they see an America that rose to meet the moment, working to refortify a democracy they stand to inherit?

At the time of the insurrection, I lived only a few blocks from the Capitol. I worked as one of fewer than 20 Senate Rules Committee staff members tasked with organizing the Jan. 6 joint vote-counting session. Many of my colleagues in the building that day � a structure that stands as the physical embodiment of our democracy � feared it would be the place where they died.



Greta Bedekovics is the associate director of democracy at the Center for American Progress. She wrote this for .



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