Jennifer Rubin of WaPo has some harsh words for the media in connection with their coverage of the January 6th investigative House panel:
The punditocracy has repeatedly underestimated the House select committee on the Jan. 6 attempted coup.
When Republicans filibustered the formation of an independent commission to examine the monstrous act of domestic terrorism, many in the media chose to engage in a horse-race analysis (Pelosi loses! Republicans remain in Trump’s corner!), rather than focusing of the utter abdication of responsibility by Republicans, many of whom hyped the “big lie” about a stolen election.
When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided to reject two of the Republicans nominated for the select committee for having publicly denounced the role of the committee and fanning MAGA conspiracy theories, the pundits shook their heads. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), they insisted, had outplayed her. (Look how angry Republicans are! The committee will look too partisan!)
For all of her outrage at punditry’s omissions – and, if accurate[1], they’re very important – I think she missed a real duty of her own.
Implied in her commentary is the concept of civic morality: how we live and treat each other in the public square. This is a critical concept in the workings of a heterogenuous democracy such as the United States, because an agreement on the civic morality forms the basis for the democracy. Religions agree to abide by secular law and are, therefore, subordinate to the government in temporal authority; elections are respected; we treat each other with respect and honesty; and the other foundations of the liberal democracy, as we’ve developed it over time.
Morality was, and still makes appearances in, the lexicon of those purporting to be conservatives, and, for many of those still hesitant to leave the fold even while appalled by the behaviors of their supposedly conservative fellows, it is an important word. Often coming out of a religious context, it remains a controlling factor in their lives.
As it should.
So by focusing explicitly on the concept and phrase civic morality, we bring into focus the terrible implications of the January 6th insurrection: abrogation of such requirements of civic morality as respect for elections, honesty in communications, probity in conduct and judgment, equal standing before the law, and an allegiance to the liberal democracy which is the most basic aspiration of the United States.
And let that important, potent word, and the accusation that the actors and conspirators of January 6th are immoral persons, ring out to condemn them. The failure to understand the requirements of civic morality is what defines this incident, not only for those who actively assaulted the Capitol, but also those conspirators who planned the incident. That collapse of morality is of the greatest importance to the select panel, and to the electorate.
And the hell with the horse races.
