(CNN)The revelation revealed by the Commission on January 6 continues to be shocking and awe-inspiring. Tuesday'sbomb hearing,featured former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson and provided a spectacular survey of what happened during the time surrounding the riots. The violence on January 6th was possible, but the riots could not be prevented.
This week, Hutchinson's allegations made under the oath succeeded in providing more disturbing details about the already annoying chapters in American history-many of which are us. I witnessed it with my own eyes.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland is currently facing pressure to take action. The Ministry of Justice (DOJ) is likely reluctant to pursue prosecution and set a precedent for prosecuting the former president, but on the question of how to approach the evidence presented by the House Election Commission. Certainly working.
Regardless of whether the DOJ decides to file an accusation, Congress needs to act swiftly to strengthen democracy through legislation. Without accountability, democracy could quickly decline, and Hutchinson's testimony was yet another awakening call to the sleeping leader while driving.
For clues on how to proceed, then President Gerald Ford's infamous decision to pardon for possible crimes committed by former President Richard Nixon on September 8, 1974Please look back.
Amnesty was one of the most controversial moments of the 1970s, when the commander-in-chief chose political healing over accountability and left the issue of presidential abuse of power unresolved. I made it.
However, despite Ford's decision, Congress investigated the institutions that allowed Nixon to do what he did after the Watergate scandal, introspecting the system and strong government reforms. After introducing the law during a rare period, he spent much of the decade.
Modifications to the political process have become a major feature of politics, and for organizations such as Common Cause (established in 1970), repairing the political system is just as important as accepting a "bad apple." Insisted that. According to John Gardner, the founder of the
group,"renewal of institutions and processes" was the key to regaining public confidence. A whole public interest movement has emerged to pressure legislators and presidents to tackle these issues.
In 1973, the public recognized how President Lindon B. Johnson and President Nixon continued to send troops to the Vietnam War, and Congress passed the War Powers Resolution, more. Restored the mutual relationship of. The balance of the branch over the decision to take military action abroad.
In 1974, after Nixon used methods such as flooding funds to avoid Capitol Hill's decision, theParliamentary Budget and Flooding Control Actintroduced the legislative budget process. Passed to centralize and strengthen.
In the same year, Parliament created a system of publicly funded presidential elections, set limits on contributions and spending, and, by a decision of the Supreme Court after the Federal Election Commission, politics. Many restrictions on donations have been lifted.
In 1978,Congress passed the Special Counsel's Provisionsas part of a broader ethical package endorsed by then-President Jimmy Earl Carter. This allowed prosecutors to investigate the prosecutor's allegations until 1999. Level cheating without fear of presidential retaliation.
Congress has reformed its own chamber of commerce with an ethical rule that imposes restrictions on conflicts of interestand a Nikko rule that opens the chamber to public surveillance. And there were more.
Indeed, many of these reforms have achieved their goals. Some, such as independent prosecutors, who were considered unaccountable, had unintended effects on the politics of our bodies that caused new problems. Others, such as the War Powers Resolution and the Sunshine Act, were not powerful enough to curb the weaknesses exposed by Nixon.
But at least Congress has tried. The House of Representatives and the Senate have made government reform a top priority and have promoted legislation that addresses the structural problems of our system. There have been reforms such as the publicly fundedsystem for the presidential election.This has had a positive effect for decades.
When the January 6th Parliamentary Election Committee finishes its work, Parliament must focus on reform. A few weeks ago, a bipartisan coalition reached aagreementon reforming the voter voting law of 1887 and is working on a textbook for legislation. The
reforms will clarify and limit the role the Vice President will play in the process of counting the votes of the electoral college, making the state's slate challenge more difficult. Voter. Of all the reforms, this is the one most likely to pass, and the work of the Commission on January 6 may provide public support for doing so.
However, reforming the voter voting law is only the first step. The crisis in the 2020 presidential election also reveals a broader risktovoting rights,. This is because many legislatures use the lie that there was widespread fraud to introduce more voting restrictions.
The allegations of large-scale voting fraud have been criticized many times, but senior officials such as former US Attorney General William Barr have raised the issue in thevideo- This continues to be central to the Red State's efforts to undermine the legacy of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
For the People Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act are promoted by Republican resistance and Democratic Senator's refusal Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema'srefusal to separate legislation from filibuster rules80} Legislation to strengthen voting protection is essential as many Red States step up their efforts to make it more. It's difficult to vote.
Finally, other reforms are controversial. In the early stages of the Commission meeting on January 6, the 1807 Rebellion Act { There was a discussion about rto enact 83}. ..
When Americans get together to celebrate July 4, they should take a break from beer and hot dogs to think about our state of democracy. To be patriotistic, all citizens need to devote their attention and energy to ensuring that our valued institutions are functioning.
The January 6 hearing once again makes it clear that this is not the case. It was too easy to do what the previous administration did, and it's clear how the January 6th event ended in another way.
If not yet clear, our risk to democracy was revealed by the Commission on January 6th. To quote Robert Redford's characters in the movie "Candidate,", Congress must now ask himself, "What are we doing now?" ..