This is a deep cut. There’s a solo John Lennon track called “Remember” off the Plastic Ono Band album. He closes it by screaming “Remember the 5th of November!” followed by an explosion.

It was a reference to Guy Fawkes Day, marking an infamous plot to blow up the British Parliament in 1605 that ended with the perpetrator’s head on a spike.

But that lyric hits a bit different after last year’s presidential election. Because on November 5, 2024, America rewarded a man who tried to blow up our system of government by pushing election lies that incited an attack on our capital.

Seen through the eyes of history, it looks like an act of self-immolation by our nation. That’s exactly why we need to be firefighters rather than arsonists to counteract its impact.

American democracy is an outlier. We are the world’s longest-lasting large democracy and the first nation founded upon an idea rather than a tribal identity. We’ve always been imperfect people working to form a more perfect union.

Bold use of the present tense.