Editor’s Note — The following was written by Eric Coonrod, a government teacher at Ellsworth JuniorSenior High School. The reaction of his students to the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol can be found on Pages A9 and B2 of this week’s IndependentReporter.

As I watched the U.S. Capitol being invaded a couple weeks ago by a mob of people carrying Trump flags I wondered to myself, “Is this what it means to make America great again”? As I see Washington D.C. turned into a military zone for the first time since the Civil War, I wonder again, “Is this what it means to make America great again”? The divisiveness of a win-at-all-costs mentality of our political parties ... is this what it means “to make America great again”? Demonizing your opposition for not being exactly like you ... is this what it means “to make America great again”?

I’ve had to remind my students (and maybe myself) over the last few days that this isn’t supposed to happen in America. We have elections, we have peaceful transfers of power, we do things differently than Venezuela, Turkey, Syria, etc. The 45th President had recounts, and had his days in courts around the U.S., had his opportunity to prove a stolen election. Out of 62 lawsuits filed, he lost 61 times for lack of evidence of fraud or no standing to sue. This includes a denial by the Supreme Court to hear his case for lack of evidence. The U.S. Justice Department found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. To say the election was rigged or was stolen is a lie, and undermines the core principles of our country, whether it’s the President who sells the lies or his devotees that perpetuate those lies or insurrectionists who act because they’re believing those lies.

I had to remind myself that even though some people seemed to have forgotten their oaths of office, their pledges of loyalty to the U.S., their allegiance to the U.S., there were many, many more that day who remembered that their loyalty was to the U.S. and the U.S. Constitution. Not only the Capitol police force, but also some of the members of Congress. Joe Biden’s election as President has been proven to be legal, and he’ll be sworn in Jan. 20. Two members of Kansas’ congressional delegation, Jerry Moran and Sharice Davids, remembered their oaths to the Constitution and voted to certify the electoral votes as official the night of Jan 6. Arguably, the votes of senators and representatives against this legal election indicate where their loyalties lie.

In 1787, when a Philadelphia socialite asked Ben Franklin whether he and his fellow Constitutional Convention delegates had created a republic or a monarchy, Franklin is said to have responded, “A republic, if you can keep it:’ Over the last several months, the United States resolve to keep that republic has been tested. What is supreme in America, elected officials or the Constitution? Who holds the power in the United States, elected leaders or American voters? We were reminded a couple weeks ago of the danger we face in NOT remembering the founding principles of our country, when loyalty is expected to be pledged NOT to the country, but to a party or to a man desperately clinging to power. That is not making America great. It is our responsibility as voters to remember the Constitution, to remember our founding principles, and to expect honesty and integrity out of those we vote for, locally, statewide, and nationally.

Eric Coonrod

Ellsworth Jr-Sr High School Social Studies