Let’s start with a pop quiz: According to Congress, which of these two groups of people are more deserving of the Congressional Gold Medal?
- The firefighters who ran up the twin towers on 9/11 in an unselfish attempt to rescue others.
- The police who directed people into the Capitol building on January 6th, and then calmly stood by as the “violent insurrectionists” took selfies?
If you said “A”, like any reasonable person would, you’d be incorrect. Yesterday, the United States House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the police who “defended” the U.S. Capitol on January 6th against a blown-out-of-portion “violent insurrection”. It was decided, by a vote of 406 to 21, that the Capitol Police should receive the highest award possible for their actions on that day.
Congress has never similarly honored the men and women of the NYFD and NYPD for sacrificing their lives while saving others after an actual terrorist attack.
For those of you unfamiliar with it, the Congressional Gold Medal is the highest honor Congress can bestow on an individual or group. It’s the civilian version of the Congressional Medal of Honor, which is reserved for military personnel. The Gold Medal is awarded as an expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions. So, it’s supposed to be a really big deal.
On January 6th, the Capitol building should have been the most secure building in the world. Trump was somewhere on the national mall at a rally. The Vice President and every single member of Congress was inside the Capitol building, presumably deciding the fate of our nation. And millions of people, mostly Trump supporters, were outside.
One would think that security would be pretty high for a building that contained the first seven steps in the line of succession to the Presidency. But it wasn’t. The building that contained the Vice President, and every single member of Congress was protected by modern-day Keystone Kops.
All the people in charge of security for the Capitol, you know, the Capitol Police, had to do that day was their jobs. That’s it. If they had simply done what they were paid to do, no one would have entered the building. If they believe that fences were necessary, the time to put them up was before the event occurred, not after it.
But they didn’t do their jobs. Not even a little bit.
We’ve all seen the videos of the defenders of the Capitol removing barriers, opening doors and allowing the “violent insurrectionists” to enter the capitol. We’ve watched as they watched the people they let inside take selfies of themselves. We saw the video of one of their officers firing point-blank into Ashli Babbitt.
Think about that for a minute. The still-unnamed person who murdered Ashli Babbitt will not only go unpunished, he (or she) will be awarded our nation’s highest civilian honor for killing her.
And that, my friends, is really fucked up.
It appears that to win the highest award that Congress can bestow, you don’t need to do your job particularly well. All you need to do is show up.
The Congressional Gold Medal no longer means anything. It isn’t awarded to a group or individual because of their achievements or contributions. It’s not awarded for a job done extraordinarily well. The Medal has become just another political tool used by political tools.
Our nation’s highest civilian honor has been turned into the grown-up equivalent of a participation trophy, where everyone gets something just for stepping on the field.
I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the award ceremony is followed by a reception where Nancy Pelosi passes out juice boxes and orange slices.
