Impressions on a Visit to Washington D.C.

Last week Bonnie and I took three of our grandkids (Helena, 20, Marisa, 15, and Breanna, 12) on an America History vacation trip. We visited the Battlefield at Gettysburg and then spent 2 1/2 days in Washington D.C. We wanted to give the girls an opportunity to experience, first hand, the center of our great democracy. I will share some of my impressions and encourage any of you to make comments.

There were literally thousands of people here visiting with us. In the capital building, lines were long, but things moved at a reasonable pace. I thought at the time, that probably no other country on the planet allows its people the degree of access to its operations, that is allowed in the United States. This is the people’s government and the people were there to see it work.

First, the grandkids were overwhelmed by the size of the buildings. Those massive configurations with giant columns and great statues give one the impression that important things are happening here. The kids mentioned this several times as we walked on the mall.

I was more impressed by the fact that I was standing in places where the giants who conceived our great experiment in government of the people stood and debated their ideas. As a speech teacher, I felt a little flutter of excitement when I stood on the spot where Martin Luther King, Jr. stood as he made the speech that refocused America’s civil rights movement.

We visited Congressman Mike Pence’s office. Some of his staff took us on a brief tour of the Capital. In the Congressional chamber, we watched the proceedings for about a half hour. It looked like chaos. I was reminded to the quote attributed to the German statesman, Otto von Bismark. He supposedly said, “There are two things one never wants to see made, sausage and legislation.” As Congressman Pence said later, “It looks like a high-school cafeteria, but they were doing the people’s business.” Indeed, they were and it was a thrill to watch it being done.

Here’s an interesting fact about the House Chamber, I’ll bet you did not know. At least I didn’t. Spaced around the walls are busts of famous persons from history. Each of them faces to the side, except the in the center is a statue of Moses, facing directly at the Speaker’s desk. The purpose, I’m told, is to remind the Speaker that Moses was the law giver and others merely follow his lead. I wondered how often the Speaker actually entertains that thought.

The House Chamber also contains a statue of the three seminal historical figures in our woman’s rights movement: Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony. This statue, on which the three women appear standing side by side, also has a space and a blank chunk of marble, on which the figure of the first woman President of the United States will be placed. Although, it may not suite Congressman Pence, I thought perhaps we will see Hillary’s figure there in a few years.

We did not get to go into the White House. Some event taking place there caused our tour to be cancelled. Nevertheless, the kids seeing the White House from the outside learned what I hope is a valuable lesson. Across from the White House was a rather large demonstration advocating the impeachment of the President from some offense. One of my granddaughters asked, “They can do that?” I told them that of the almost 200 countries in the world, this was one of the very few where such behavior would be permitted. More important, in a democracy, they are ethically obligated to express their feelings about what their government is doing. “This is government by the people,” I told them. “If people don’t take part, by making their views known, we will soon have a different from of government.”

There is a great deal of space on the mall devoted to those who, in Lincoln words, have given “the last full measure of devotion” to their country. We saw the WWII memorial Vietnam Memorial and Arlington Cemetery. The thousands of honored dead, remind us of what a awesome responsibility it is to order a country to go to war. It seems to me that since WWII made the United States a truly world dominating nation, our leaders have not exercised the kind of mindful circumspection necessary when making a decision to send troops into war.

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