What the Jan. 6 hearings really mean for the midterms

With the Jan. 6 committee hearings in full swing and with midterm elections four months away, it’s tempting to think about the electoral effects of the hearings. But reducing the impact of the committee’s work to the “game frame” of which party gains or loses in their effort to wrest control of Congress misses the bigger story — Americans will weigh in on nothing less that the preservation of our democratic system.  

Recent revelations from the committee detail allegations of just how involved former President Trump’s allies were in planning and promoting the events that led to the attack on the capitol. The attack wasn’t the result of a spontaneously incited mob. Rather, groups such as the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and other election deniers insisted that they came to the rally and marched on the capitol at the behest of the president, who wanted to join them.

The framers of the Constitution saw such uprisings as a natural occurrence plaguing democratic government. In The Federalist Papers 9 and 10, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison (respectively) addressed the dangers of faction and insurrection. Madison defined factions as “a number of citizens…united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” Hamilton asserted that such groups were to blame for the failures of “the petty republics of Greece and Italy” throughout history.

As Madison wrote in Federalist 10, the causes of factions (liberty and differences of opinion) ought not be controlled, but the consequences should. As revealed in the committee hearings, the Jan. 6 insurrectionists were compelled by the “big lie” of a stolen election. Social media and misinformation exist in the same media ecosphere as valid information and needed political discourse. And attempts to expose misinformation can backfire, as the Biden administration found out earlier in the year. But citizenship in a democracy carries the responsibility of informing oneself. Insisting that the election was stolen in the face of a total absence of supporting evidence reveals willful rejection of realty, it is not a mere difference of opinion. This is just as true for the former president as it is for his followers.

To manage the mischief of faction, the founders devised a system of checks and balances at the national level and a division of power (federalism) between national and state governments. But this system still relies on the election of government officials with a commitment to democracy and the peaceful transfer of power. Herein lies the problem we find ourselves today. One does not respect democracy if one does so only when one wins.

As Madison said in Federalist 51, “if men were angels, no government would be necessary.” Upholding our democratic system of government means a commitment to the fair casting and counting of the vote, as well as to the prosecution of those who would impede those efforts. Can we find and elect officials of both parties who can uphold democracy and the rule of law? This may be a tall order when the political environment in which they campaign is, to use Madison’s terms, less than angelic — characterized by outlandish views of the other party and an increasing approval of political violence. But the price of winning and losing at all costs is our democracy itself.

If Trump and his enablers pay no consequences for what they have wrought upon our democracy, they will, in the words of former Oath Keeper and Jan. 6 committee witness Jason Van Tatenhove, “see it as a win, and… be further emboldened.” The midterm elections are a tipping point: Will we elect leaders at the state and national level who will protect freedoms, including the right to cast ballots and have them accurately tabulated? Or will we elect leaders who allow the perpetrators of Jan. 6 to avoid sanctions for their crimes, and attempt to change the narrative by launching petty investigations for the sake of political damage to the other party?

Democracy isn’t easy, and democracy isn’t free. Many have paid the ultimate sacrifice to preserve it. Taking time to be properly informed is a responsibility that is menial compared to the sacrifices others have made. We can’t let our fellow citizens and leaders undermine democracy by trying to hide behind the excuse of being misinformed and living in a world of “alternative facts.” In a democracy, we settle our divisions at the ballot box. The Jan. 6 committee hearings show that the midterm elections will be nothing short of a test of whether we can keep the republic. The real choice on the ballot is democracy versus tyranny.

Todd Belt is a professor and the director of the Political Management Master’s Program at the George Washington University. He is the co-author of four books, including “The Presidency and Domestic Policy” (2^nd ed.) with Michael Genovese and the late William Lammers. Follow him on Twitter @todd_belt.