Over the last year and a half, the United States has experienced a series of significant events that will inevitably shape the country for many years to come. One of these momentous events was the storming of the United States Capitol. In New York Times, published on January 7, 2021, by Larry Buchanan and other nine authors, the news article briefs on the storming of the U.S. Capitol by the Pro-Trump mob (Buchanan et al.).
I selected this event because it has been one of the most critical events in the U.S. over the last year. Specifically, it is significant for two reasons: first, the event entailed human casualties, including 56 police officers and five civilians being injured and five people dying. Secondly, more importantly, the event served as an embodiment of the growing political polarization of American society and the democratic decline in the United States.
The event relates to the study of the American government in several direct and indirect ways. Due to the limited space, I will emphasize two major ones that directly relate to the American Government and Politics Today discussion. First, the event can be referred to as the contention authors mention between liberty and order in Chapter 1 (Bardes et al. 1-3a). On the one hand, Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol believe that their action is justified since liberty is the fundamental value of democracy. On the other hand, their effort entailed severe human losses and instability in society. Secondly, the event illustrates the partisanship and polarization mentioned in Chapter 1 (Bardes et al. 1-4f).
Growing partisanship, the division between democrats and republicans, progressives and conservatives, reached the point when it incited political violence (Kydd 9). Thus, the event reflects the liberty vs. order and polarization aspect of the American government.
Since the news article comes from a reputable news platform, and ten authors have covered the story, the coverage is likely credible and reliable. Nevertheless, one might contend that the range illustrates the liberal bias mentioned in the textbook. Namely, the article refers to Trump supporters as mobs while these groups themselves as merely executing their democratic right to contest the election results. Whether this event was indeed a mob activity is the topic of another discussion. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the interpretation and coverage of the event are highly driven by political background and the motivations of the media.
Works Cited
Bardes, Barbara A., et al. American Government and Politics Today: The Essentials. 19th ed., Cengage, 2020.
Buchanan, Larry, et al. “How a pro-Trump Mob Stormed the U.S. Capitol.” The New York Times, The New York Times. 2021. Web.
Kydd, Andrew H. “Decline, Radicalization and the Attack on the US Capitol.” Violence: An International Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, 2021, pp. 3–23. Web.