It happened one year ago, but it's not in the past

One year ago, I was one of the last ones off the House floor on January 6. I watched every one of my colleagues in the House leave the room that day.

And I can tell you, that no one thought we were trying to get away from a "normal tourist visit" or a group of "patriots" or any of the other gaslighting nonsense Congressional Republicans have tried to sell us in the year since.

Here's what happened: We went to work to serve this country, and – thanks to the efforts of the brave officers and staff on duty that day – ended up narrowly escaping a mob that was calling for murder.

It's that simple. And that awful.

One year ago, I hoped that so many of my Republican colleagues would finally realize that their eagerness to spread partisan lies and fan hatred endangers the whole country, including themselves. I hoped they'd stand up to protect our democracy.

It didn't happen. Too many of my Republican colleagues have spent much of the last 12 months defending the mob that sent them running for their lives. They've parroted increasingly outrageous lies about our elections to justify attacks on our democracy. In just the last few months, Republican legislatures in 19 states have passed laws restricting access to voting through voter ID laws, rollbacks to mail-in voting, and closing polling places.

Here's the good news: Our democracy is still alive. We can stop anti-democratic officials by voting them out of the office and, more importantly, by voting in people who'll defend our elections and tell the truth.

Grassroots movements like ours have never been more important. The January 6 insurrection may have started one year ago, but it's not over. Let's make 2022 the year we save our democracy.

Jim