This year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner was marred by a shooting incident that was most likely an act of political violence. Any act of violence in a democracy is totally reprehensible and unacceptable.
The beauty of a democracy is that leadership is determined by the People through civil political discourse and voters at the ballot box. Sadly throughout our history, this ideal has not been realized. A few days after the cancelled dinner, I was reminded of this sad repeated failure when I heard these words from a mournful old song Abraham, Martin and John, sung by Dion:
“Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed lotta people but it seems the good they die young
I just looked around and he’s gone.”
Dion continues in his song to list the first names of three other esteemed leaders in our American democracy, Abraham, John and Bobby, whose identity is seared into the American memory which needs no last name to remind us of our tragic losses. Yes, political violence against any leader of any party is never ever to be condoned.
The dinner is an annual event which, among other benefits, is a celebration of our democracy’s freedom of the press. Sadly, President Trump, on the very next day no less, took the opportunity after this horrific shooting incident to attack the press. While being interviewed by CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell, he lashed out at her in a disgusting manner by responding to one of her questions with these words: “I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would, because you’re horrible people. Horrible people.”
This leader, instead of trying to bring people together after an act of violence where innocent journalists and politicians could have been murdered, fanned the flames of division in our country by painting with a broad ugly brush the members of the free press. And these champions of our democracy’s sacred freedom of the press had just survived a gun attack! No, they are horrible people, our leader said. Well, this is the beauty of a democracy. There are term limits for some of our leaders and also the People can vote out leaders who fail to speak with common decency about the class of people who practice our sacred constitutional rights.
I was also struck by the words our Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick said after the shooting. What words people say during a crisis can be quite revealing of their character. Speaking about his fiancee who was at the dinner, Congressman Fitzpatrick, our leader, said: “Honestly, I was worried about Jacqui, you know, she was at the head table.” He added, “That was all I cared about, you know. And I tried to get back, but the Secret Service had assured me that she was OK.”
It was my wife who was upset by these words our Congressman uttered after an act of violence threatened a huge number of journalists, politicians and workers who would be serving his meal. Honestly, he cared only about his fiancee? Yes, of course he should have been concerned about her, but only her? My wife asked, did he care about anyone else then?
Her disappointment then suddenly reminded me of another act of political violence we all suffered through on September 11, 2001. I was working as an information systems manager for the IRS in a large building on Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia that employed over a thousand federal workers. It was early morning and a fellow manager Mark and I were walking past the public affairs office which had a TV screen showing the collapse of the World Trade Center. Soon we heard of another attack on the Pentagon and then about a plane headed to Pennsylvania. Panic spread throughout the building since in the initial confusion, we didn’t know if the attacks would come to federal buildings like ours. Soon top management indicated by word of mouth that we were authorized to leave the building.
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Mark and I returned to our work areas and contacted our families to make sure they were okay. But then we knew we had a responsibility to our employees and to our mission. We decided to scour the entire building and make sure employees knew that it was okay for them to leave. We then entered our secure data center and made sure proper shutdown steps were taken to ensure no loss of critical taxpayer financial data. We then went to another secure computer location where we met Bill. We told Bill it was time to leave, but he refused. He said that he wasn’t going to leave until his critical daily data processing was done. We tried to tell Bill that we could be attacked. He said he didn’t care; he had important work that had to be completed. I never forgot his courage and determination to complete his mission for the People he served. He did not care only for himself or his fiancee. He served a greater goal for the People.
I wish I had a Congressman who was like Bill. Instead, I have someone who cares just about himself and his fiancee. Someone who calculates how to act just to get reelected. Someone who is afraid to meet constituents to answer tough questions in a town hall. Someone who is silent about and complicit in the unconstitutional acts of our current president. Someone who was silent when the criminals who attacked his Capitol Building workplace and the Capitol Police were pardoned by our current president.
I’d rather have a person like Bill who fearlessly stood by his post and continued to do the People’s work. So I am looking forward to November when our democracy allows us to peacefully elect a new and better Congressperson for our district. And maybe one day a song will be written about our new leader we all could be proud of with such lyrics as Dion’s:
“Didn’t you love the things that they stood for?
Didn’t they try to find some good for you and me?
And we’ll be free
Some day soon, it’s gonna be one day.”
