Think Things are Bad Now? Try Living in a Post-Democracy USA
Views expressed in The Advocate’s opinion articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, Pride Media.I was 10 years old in 1974 when the Watergate hearings took place.
I can still remember them since they were broadcast live, and most of America tuned in. I was unusually political at that age, and because I didn’t know any better, I liked Richard Nixon, mainly because my great-great-grandmother received a letter from President Nixon honoring her on her 100th birthday.However, the little bit I did understand from the hearings made me change my mind about Nixon, and I moved his letter to my grandmother from the front to the back of my scrapbook about the presidents.It only made sense that my first career stop out of college was Capitol Hill.
Though I was a press secretary, I learned how to give tours of the Capitol and House and Senate office buildings to visiting constituents.
I remember going into the House Judiciary Committee hearing room in the Rayburn Building and telling groups of tourists, “This is where the Watergate hearings were held.”The Watergate hearings were a seminal moment in American history, and because of the passage of time, they mean very little to today’s generation, but back in the day, and even when I was traipsing tour groups around the Capitol grounds, it was a big deal.We have another “big deal” set of public hearings upon us, as the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S.
