Evening Capitol Tour

Garret Graves (R-La.), who represents Louisiana's sixth congressional district, sometimes gives nighttime tours of the United States Capitol to his visiting constituents in Washington. Our group, along with some other visitors from Louisiana, had the opportunity to take part in one of these special tours, and it far exceeded expectations. Admittedly, having just been to the Capitol two days before, I thought we may be getting a repeat of the same thing. That notion proved to be entirely misguided, as Congressman Graves showed us places we otherwise certainly would not have seen. To begin, he let us walk onto a balcony off the Speaker's Lobby, where he pointed out many buildings in view and explained the history of the Washington skyline. When we returned inside, we sat in chairs on the House floor and learned about the history of the chamber and the deliberation process, and we were able to ask questions. We also stepped inside the Democratic cloak room to get a peek at what less formal discussions probably look like when congresspeople take a break.
Following our walkthrough of the cloak room, we went down to Statuary Hall and saw figures of many prominent Americans. One of the coolest parts of the trip, we walked through Majority Whip Steve Scalise's office and saw the Lincoln Room, where Abraham Lincoln is said to have had fireside chats. We then ventured to the Capitol rotunda and talked about some of the historic paintings and statues. The painting of George Washington resigning his commission as general is important because he had to do so to be eligible to be the president.

General George Washington Resigning His Commission¹

Another painting depicted the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. An interesting fact about that painting that I did not know is that Cornwallis felt that George Washington was not worthy of Cornwallis' surrender so Cornwallis sent lesser soldiers to surrender. Washington reciprocated by standing back and sending his lower men forward to accept the surrender.

Surrender of Lord Cornwallis²

Yet another impressive piece of art in the Capitol Rotunda is the Portrait Monument to Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, which was left unfinished to symbolize that the fight for women's rights was not over.

Before the last stop on our tour, The Crypt, we went down to see the real crypt where George Washington's remains were to be buried before his will revealed that he did not want to be entombed in the Capitol. He felt that it was kinglike and royalty was one of the principal things they had come to the United States to escape. He was also very attached to his home at Mount Vernon and wanted to be buried there with his wife Martha. Finally, we went up to The Crypt and learned a few facts about it before concluding our tour. We also rubbed our feet on the center of the city for good luck and then we parted ways after a truly enriching and informative experience for which I am very grateful to Congressman Graves and his staff.



1: https://www.aoc.gov/art/historic-rotunda-paintings/general-george-washington-resigning-his-commission
2: https://www.aoc.gov/art/historic-rotunda-paintings/surrender-lord-cornwallis

Ethics of Fake News

The ethics of fake news can be a quite polarizing topic. Many are entirely against spreading fake news intentionally, while some believe that an audience gullible enough to fall for outrageously fabricated information deserves to be deceived. I have found myself of the latter opinion before, but was that inconsistent with my belief about the ethicality of fake news? A concrete example of this fake news dilemma arose when Kam Harris wrote about fraudulent votes for Hillary Clinton found in an Ohio warehouse. I have a hard time shaking the belief that I have always had about that instance - Kam Harris was an independent journalist and he could publish any story, true or false, and feel ethically sound, unless it slandered or defamed innocent people. Additionally, I have felt that anyone who would be so careless to believe his story without checking its sources or considering critically all of the invented facets of it, ought to be fooled. This opinion so begs the question: Does a journalist have an obligation to his/her readership to publish only accurate news?

As damaging as fake news can be, I still believe that an independent journalist, who does not have to answer to any sort of supervisor, should be able to spread fake news and feel at peace with it ethically. If the people have a problem with it, then we should be responsible for recognizing it and not giving it undeserved attention. More clicks lead to more readers - the first readers must squash it. Although I would personally feel remorseful setting out to deceive, someone who is not writing for any news organization beyond his/her own self is not inherently unethical for writing fake news.

The Netherlands Carillon

An often overlooked historical landmark, the Netherlands Carillon lies just a few hundred feet west of the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. I had some free time to venture that way, and although my destination was the aforementioned War Memorial, the towering carillon caught my eye. The front of the carillon simply reads, "From the People of the Netherlands to the People of the United States." Regretfully unaware of the significance of this gift, I sought to learn of its origin.

During World War II, the United States came to the aid of the Netherlands, especially in Operation Market Garden and Operation Aintree. Operation Market Garden, although largely unsuccessful, opened the door for liberation from German forces in the Netherlands. In Operation Aintree, the Americans and the British worked to rout other German forces west of the Meuse River. In addition to this aid on the battlefield, the United States helped the Netherlands recover after the war ended.¹²


As a result of the United States' brotherly support, the people of the Netherlands felt an extreme sense of gratitude. A Dutch government official named G.L. Verheul proposed the idea of a gift symbolizing friendship with the United States. Queen Juliana backed the proposal, and even travelled to the United States in 1952 to present President Truman with a small bell, which represented the greater gift to come. In 1954, some 49 bells arrived to supplement the original one and were placed in a tower before a permanent one was constructed adjacent to the Marine Corps War Memorial. In 1960, fifteen years after the Netherlands had been freed from the Nazis, an official dedication took place. Presently, American patriotic music can be heard coming from the Carillon twice daily (once on Sundays), and the Dutch National Anthem plays once a year on Dutch Liberation Day.³  Next time you find yourself in Arlington, take an extra minute to check out this special symbol of brotherhood.



1: http://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5222.htm
2: https://worldhistoryproject.org/1944/10/18/allied-forces-liberate-the-town-of-venray-battle-of-overloon
3: https://www.nps.gov/gwmp/learn/historyculture/netherlandscarillon.htm