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Here’s what it’s like to work in the Capitol — a building that means so much to me because I visited my dad working there when I was a kid, I worked there for more than a decade, and I got engaged on a West front balcony. 1/x
Every day, 535 people who come from all over the country meet to hash out solutions to the problems of the nation. They represent rich and poor; highly educated and less educated; every race, ethnicity, orientation and national origin — most of them represent a mix of subsets 2/x
They come to compete for power and parts of the pie, but they learn fast that they can’t get anything done without each other. Well, some of them do. 3/x
The Congress is the unique aspect of the American republic—the action that proves our theory of pluralism, democracy, rule of law, republicanism & accountability to the public. It’s exciting and feels like it’s always evolving—until you realize the beauty is in the stability 4/x
You walk up to the building every day and marvel at its majesty. Not just because of its architectural grandeur, which is enough to marvel at, but because it represents the seed and the sprout of our republic. 5/x
It’s often been said that the day you don’t marvel at it is the day you should stop working there. 6/x
A lot of ugly things happen inside. But it is in the moments of crisis — and who knew it would face a domestic threat? — that the internal architecture of the Congress becomes so apparently beautiful. 7/x
Two houses — one closer to the people, one ready to cool the fires of the moment — just hundreds of feet away from each other and almost worlds apart at the same time 8/x
You walk through the mags and empty your pockets of metal and electronics—keys, phones, a lighter, maybe—and the officers see your badge hanging around your neck or clipped to your jacket. You get the sense something important must happen here, something worth protecting. 9/x
You walk through the corridors, which are a museum to our shared history. Tiled floors, scenes from the Revolution on the walls, marble pillars. The artistry of the building, its living paean to who we are as a people, is breathtaking. 10/x
It takes years to familiarize yourself with each of the statues—the ones you love, the ones that sicken you—and the intricate detail of the various paintings in the Brumidi corridors. 11/x
You walk up marble steps to the second floor—isn’t that the step where there’s supposed to be a blood stain from a fight between lawmakers? — and pass right by one of the chambers where the business of the nation is being conducted. 12/x
You see a tour guide telling visitors — some in collared shirts, others in tank tops — that the chandelier outside the old Senate chamber originally came from a New Orleans brothel. Someone check me, but pretty sure that’s not actually true. 13/x
You see, the Capitol is open to the public. that’s who we are. It is the people’s house. You can no longer just wander in with a date late at night, as I did sometimes when I was in school and didn’t want to spring for dinner. But everyone is welcome in their own home. 14/x
You stride into the Rotunda and gaze up at the impossibly high painting of the Apotheosis of Washington painted around the top of the inside of the dome. More statues. King and Eisenhower among them, if I recall correctly. 15/x
And eventually you make your way to your desk. For me, that was in several places — I’ve skipped through a few news outlets. 16/x
You make phone calls and send texts and wait for votes. That’s when you get to talk to the lawmakers, the elected officials who come from the 50 states and 435 districts, and press them on why they are doing what they are doing — or stopping things from getting done. 17/x
They are different from each other. They have different mandates from their constituencies and different priorities for themselves. But until recently, you could count on one thing unifying them: the believed that our form of government is the best. 18/x
Because it is in that building—that people’s house—that certain unalienable rights are protected. Not by the members themselves—though most of them are allegiant to that idea—but by the architecture of the founders. 19/x
It is our government that protects our liberties. Our government is our bond. It rewards the winners of elections with temporary power and protects the losers of elections from the tyranny of the majority — or worse yet, the tyranny of a heavily armed faction. 20/x
The Capitol is the main house — the first branch — of our republic. So while it is awesome in its splendor externally and internally, it is exponentially more beautiful in what it represents. 21/x
It is a privilege to work in that museum to the American experiment. Every time you enter the building, you feel a familiar wave of fortune. It is a place to be honored and respected. It is our house, our inheritance. I am lucky to be an heir to it, as are we all. 22/22
