History has its eyes on us.
Our political crisis is a moral opportunity.
My favorite moment in Hamilton, the one that gives me chills, every time, is when Washington gives Hamilton a command and says, “Remember, from here on in, history has its eyes on you.”
My friends, that’s where we are. Right now. History has its eyes on us.
I’m not a grandiose guy. My default position is to assume that, however important something might feel in the moment, it has happened before and will happen again. But for the last nine years, ever since Trump, that default position has been inoperative. We are living through a hinge moment.
For the first time since Reconstruction, one of America’s two political parties is admittedly, openly anti-democratic. It sees voting as merely the starting point in its quest for power. If it can win at the ballot box, great. But if not, it tries to alter the outcomes through the use of institutional, legal, and sometimes physical leverage.
This isn’t some dark secret. It’s been on display for everyone to see. They practically brag about it. Elon Musk is gutting the federal workforce, Trump says he could serve a 3rd term, and FBI Director Kash Patel has a literal enemies list.
Authoritarian attempts don’t just happen once. They happen until either
Something fundamental changes, or
They succeed.
So, like I said, history has its eyes on us.
Someone smart—maybe it was Churchill—said that history presents us with its great challenges only once. And we must either answer them, or diminish.
When I came to Washington 28 years ago, I never expected—or wanted—to see a great challenge. I thought I was joining an intellectual salon. That people would debate and argue about how to improve American life at the margins from the safety of a bedrock liberalism. I never imagined that I would see a day when the continuation of our democracy was conditional.
But that’s what has happened. History has presented us with a great challenge. And it’s on us to meet it. That’s what The Bulwark is for. Every day, we help make you smarter, with dozens of podcasts, newsletters, and videos. It’s not just a media company, it’s a community—real people who care about this stuff and, and support one another, and want to defeat the authoritarian project.
So here’s my ask: Stand with us. Join The Bulwark.
History has its eyes on us.
-JVL
