The forces that animated the events of Jan. 6 did not spring from nowhere. Nor did they disappear into mist when the clock struck midnight. We face a clear and abiding danger, one we ignore at great peril. With all due respect to Rice, if we don’t treat this with the seriousness it deserves, we won’t have a “better America” to move on to.

America is fragile. Its values must be renewed in every generation, or we risk losing them. What is happening at what used to be our southern border is a scandal and a disgrace. Administration officials need to enforce the laws they took an oath to uphold.

Colin Powell’s death has produced an outpouring of sadness reminiscent of the passing of McCain and Bush. They represented a Republican Party that embodied decency, respect for democratic institutions and fiscal rectitude. Their party would not tolerate racist sentiments. It would have ostracized any member who threatened school board members over anything.

Did Vice President Kamala Harris just violate the Hatch Act? The Hatch Act says of employees of the federal government: “an employee may not use his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.” I’m sure “getting out the vote” for Democratic candidate for Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe qualifies.

Anyone in Maine can appreciate Mike Shaffer, a lineman in the snow belt above Syracuse. “What makes me tough as nails is working in any type of weather and playing with electricity in my hands every day. Being away from my family for long periods can be very hard at times, but I’m doing it for them.”

We are once again discussing a “Sputnik moment,” a nuclear arms race, and a missile gap — all throwbacks to the 1950s-1980s — thanks to China’s aggressive pursuit of military capabilities designed to deter and defeat the United States.

Shall we embrace fidelity or surrender to the storm? For some of us, that’s no choice at all. Hence, “you people” — less a call for division than a belated recognition that division has already come, that some of us have seceded from common cause, common ideals, common hope — and that the rest of us must recognize that, if only so that we can be clear-eyed about saving ourselves.