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The boys discuss Matt's recent Dissent essay on the 845-page report of the "Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol." What did the Jan 6 report — and the committee's work — achieve? Was the report a missed opportunity? How should political actors navigate the relationship between historical constraints and contingency? And is there a way to wed the Democrats' eagerness to "defend democracy," as such, with a more robust program for social and economic justice? We puzzle it out.
Sources:
Matthew Sitman, "Will Be Wild," Dissent, Apr 18, 2023.
Jill Lepore, "What the January 6th Report is Missing," The New Yorker, Jan 9, 2023.
David Sirota, "The Long American Meltdown Led to the January 6 Insurrection" Jacobin, Jan 6, 2022
Sam Adler-Bell, "Is the January 6 Committee Really Saving Democracy?" New York Magazine, Jul 11, 2022.
Executive Summary of the Jan 6 Report
Where I land in this piece, it's kind of what I hope Democrats will do. I think there's a way in which you tie January 6 to dobs to their economic policies and say like work requirements for Medicaid. And the message is these people want to take what is not theirs. They want to take away your vote. They want to take away your rights. They want to take away your bodily autonomy and dignity. And they don't care what they smash up. They don't care who they hurt. They don't care about the consequences for what they want to take. Right? They're just going to do it. These people despise you. They are not looking out for you. Again, they want to take from you what is not theirs. And I feel like the critique of Republicans, the kind of putting together these different parts to have a message that includes abortion and economics and the democracy stuff, that's the kind of negative part. And then you can say, and here's what democracy really means. This is what democracy means politically. This is what it means economically in the workplace, as long as we're going to be talking about democracy and how imperiled it is, to me, my deepest commitments are, I think, to deepening and extending democracy politically, economically, and otherwise. And that's an opportunity that I think the left should take. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]
Matt and Sam discuss Matt's recent Dissent essay on the January 6th Committee report. Sign up on Patreon.com/knowyourenemy to hear the rest.
