Inaugural visit

You can tell by the car models in the above photo that it’s not a recent shot of the U.S. Capitol. In fact, it’s from October 1985 – more than 35 years ago – when I traveled to Washington, D.C., for the first time. My inaugural visit, so to speak.

Back then, I was 25, thin and working at my first real newsroom job in Miami, barely earning $300 a week. Life was good.

Little did I know that in less than a year, the company I worked for would grow tired of losing millions, close up shop, and I’d be out of a job. Then every day would be a day at the beach. Ah, youth.

I can still remember what it felt like walking down East Capitol Street, the U.S. Supreme Court Building on my right and the Library of Congress on my left. A slight autumn chill was in the air, but the leaves on the surrounding trees hadn’t changed yet. I felt so proud and lucky to be there.

At 26, my good friend and former co-worker Jean Brodshaug was a woman of the world who had left Florida that summer to take a job as assistant press secretary and legislative aide for the Democratic senator from North Dakota. A Fargo native, Jean lived in Alexandria, Virginia, worked on Capitol Hill and was the coolest person I knew.

She’d probably laugh at that now, but it was true. Even though I worked my way through college and lived at home, I was pretty sheltered. Moving 1,400 miles away to Miami was a big deal. My mother cried when I left. So did I.

To this day, it remains the best move I ever made, even though I still despise high humidity and the thought of palmetto bugs makes me shudder.

In 1987, my friend Jean was promoted to press secretary, later met her future husband, Joe, an ice cream lobbyist (for real!) and had their first son in 1994.

By then, I was in a low-wage job, struggling with a crumbling relationship and living in Delaware, the home state of our incoming president-elect, Joe Biden. Then in 1995, I moved back to Michigan for a new job and life.

Talk about full circle. For me anyway.

My point, and I do have one (as Ellen used to say) is that on January 6 when our current president sent an angry mob of radicalized citizens to attack, loot and sack the U.S. Capitol, I was shocked and angered.

Their purpose: to delay or prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election. Their ultimate mission: to assassinate the speaker of the House and hang the vice president.

Go back and re-read that previous paragraph, and then explain to me how it is not an impeachable offense. Or insurrection and sedition. Or treason.

As Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), someone whom I suspect would agree with me on virtually nothing politically, said last week in a statement before voting to impeach the president: “There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”

Our country’s National Mall has never been closed to the public. Today, it is boarded up and looks like a war zone.

The current president has already announced he will not attend Wednesday’s inauguration and will leave for Florida that morning, just a few hours before his term expires. That will make him the first modern president to skip his successor’s inauguration.

Rumor has it that he would like a “dear leader” sendoff, fit for, well, a king. One filled with flattery, a red carpet, military parade and 21-gun salute.

I hope not. He is neither dear nor a leader.

Like a cheap boxed wine, our former president’s legacy will age very badly.

How about we just sing “Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Goodbye” and call it a day?

No military parade for you, buster. But there will be up to 25,000 National Guard troops deployed to protect the Capitol and keep peace during the inauguration. That’s twice as many than there are now in Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

I hope and pray for the health and safety of our incoming administration. A part of me wishes they’d do it from a secure, undisclosed location. Or just use 3-D holograms.

Despite my apprehension, today when I look at those fading photos from my inaugural visit to Washington, I still feel proud and lucky to be an American. And confident we will get through this with our democracy intact.

To quote Abraham Lincoln, “The ballot is stronger than the bullet.”

(Main photo: A view of the U.S. Capitol’s East entrance in 1985. Below, clockwise from top left: The Capitol’s Rotunda dome, a beautifully ornate chandelier, and a couple of 20-something tourists.)