Remember Jan. 6 — and Kevin McCarthy’s role in it — as if your democracy depended on it

This country is struggling to sustain a sufficient measure of horror at the destruction and desecration of the assault on the U.S. Capitol a year ago, let alone the less visceral but more ominous outrage that unfolded in the immediate aftermath. Lest we forget, mere hours after the seat of American democracy was ransacked by a mob propelled by lies about the presidential election, 147 members of Congress, all Republicans, voted to perpetuate those lies and the violence and chaos they entailed.

This treason caucus, which voted to challenge President Joe Biden’s legitimate, decisive election by the American people amid the wreckage and carnage, included nearly two-thirds of House Republicans and seven of California’s 11 Republican U.S. representatives. Chief among them was Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, who is poised to become speaker if, as seems all too probable, his party gains the few seats it needs to seize the majority this year.

It could do so thanks not only to significant Republican advantages gained through manipulation of voting districts but also owing to mass delusion and amnesia. Driven partly by frustration with Biden and his administration’s difficulties in taming the pandemic and reviving the economy, the overall electorate narrowly favors Republicans in next fall’s congressional elections. Meanwhile, less than a third of voters polled by Politico and Morning Consult last month said the events of Jan. 6 would have a “major impact” on their decisions in November; nearly half said the insurrection would have no effect.

We don’t need to debate whether the resulting House Republican majority led by McCarthy would go against its political interests for the sake of the once-hallowed principle that the same voters should continue to choose our leaders. We learned the answer a year ago.

Nor do we have to dredge up last winter’s history, ancient as it is by the standards of too many Americans, to discern where this is headed. In just the past few days, McCarthy has reprised his defense of one of his caucus’ most unhinged conspiracy theorists, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and used a statement about the Capitol riot to attack Democrats — an acrobatic attempt to turn the truth on its head that was worthy of the Georgia congresswoman.

Following a perfunctory expression of disapproval of “those who broke the law” a year ago, McCarthy added, “Unfortunately, one year later, the majority party seems no closer to answering the central question of how the Capitol was left so unprepared and what must be done to ensure it never happens again.” This is the same McCarthy who killed an independent, bipartisan commission on the riot under terms negotiated by his own handpicked representative.

It’s also the same McCarthy who privately pleaded with Donald Trump to call off the rioters and publicly blamed the then-president for the assault shortly afterward. His subsequent stark reversal illustrates the abysmal depth of the congressman’s willingness to betray not just the responsibilities of his office but also the safety of his colleagues, his staff and indeed his person in the name of power.

It should be enough that McCarthy and company have shown no allegiance to democracy. In case it isn’t, however, they have revealed as little interest in acknowledging the seriousness of the pandemic, the climate crisis and persistent racial and economic inequality — let alone addressing any of the above. Biden and his party’s evident difficulty in living up to their promises to do so, hampered by a thin majority and its most conservative-leaning members, are certainly part of the problem. But it won’t be solved by relinquishing one of our most important democratic institutions to barely frustrated authoritarians.

Jan. 6 is a case of the past not even being past. If we forget it, it will be our future.