I was like many other Americans last year on Jan, 6, going about my life and not paying much attention to events that morning in downtown Washington, DC. Donald Trump, by all the results of a national election run by tens of thousands of honorable local volunteers, had lost. Many of us expected Washington’s legislative apparatus and protocols to perform a formality and certify the results. 

But early that afternoon, headlines hit our smartphones with reports of a mob of Trump supporters attacking the Capitol Building. The development, to me at least, prompted surprise and dismay, then some shock and shame – and a degree of horror. Where were the Capitol Police? How organized and planned had the attack been? And who set these people off?  Over the past year most of those questions have been answered – at least to me, and to millions of other independents.

One not-so-small question about that day gnaws at me: Why didn’t, why couldn’t, one of our lawmakers among hundreds on the Hill that day recognize the moment for what it was? 

Because beyond the chaos and foolish violence, I still think Jan. 6 was perhaps – for one single intrepid politician –  the greatest missed opportunity of the century. All one courageous pol had to do was disobey the instructions of his or her security detail, ask for a megaphone, and ease out on one of the west-facing Capitol balconies.

The message to the restive mob? “See this building? Our Capitol? It represents our best chance – and your best chance – for all the things you want, all the things you want to preserve, all the things you want to see improved. It is the same for all of us, for everyone on every place on vast our political spectrum. To abandon the democratic process sends us to the inevitable dead-end of authoritarianism.” 

Funny thing is, it would have hardly mattered who delivered such extemporaneous remarks. It could have been OAC or Nancy Pelosi,  or Mitch McConnell, or Liz Cheney. Whoever, that person would have earned the instant respect and admiration of millions. Someone who didn’t cower – to the mob or to their party doctrine. It would have defined their political careers, made him or her the statesman we’ve been looking for in this fraught era.

Would any of us have had the guts to risk our life before an assaulting mob? Most of us, no. But every now and then someone comes along, someone who shows the courage of their beliefs, who can, Lincoln-like, articulate what it’s all about, what is at stake. I just wish that person had shown up on Jan. 6.