Gerson: Biden should use speech to defend democracy

"Biden's challenge in his first speech to Congress—apart from inspiring confidence in his pandemic response and creating momentum for his economic proposals—is to make a compelling, even poetic, case for procedural democracy. This is not an easy rhetorical task. Fanatics can easily appeal to rage, envy, or fear. Capturing the romance of self-government requires more craft and thought. The democratic virtues of civility, tolerance, decency, fairness, and empathy announce themselves quietly. The social bonds created by these virtues—respect for the rule of law, respect for the rights of political minorities, a sense of shared destiny despite large differences—are inherently vulnerable." —Michael Gerson in The Washington Post

Michael Gerson is a columnist at The Washington Post who formerly served as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and as the chief speechwriter for former President George W. Bush.

MORE: Cheney on fist bump with Biden: 'We're not sworn enemies. We're Americans' —The Hill

Ghitis: So many questions remain about Jan. 6

"What exactly was the endgame in this assault? What did the fervently pro-Trump mob plan? How much did Trump—who promoted the day's event on Twitter, where he wrote, 'Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!'—know about those plans? Who else was involved? These are not idle questions. ... The events of Jan. 6 demand an exhaustive, impartial investigation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has proposed one in the mold of the 9/11 Commission. The Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, however, says any commission should also look into 'violent disturbances around the country last year'—a mandate that would dilute the commission's work." —Frida Ghitis on CNN

Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist and analyst. She is the author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television."

MORE: Family of rioter killed storming Capitol on Jan. 6 plan to sue police over her death —Independent

Hasen: Suppression isn't the only voting threat

"A new, more dangerous front has opened in the voting wars, and it's going to be much harder to counteract than the now-familiar fight over voting rules. At stake is something I never expected to worry about in the United States: the integrity of the vote count. The danger of manipulated election results looms." —Richard Hasen in The New York Times

Richard Hasen is a professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of "Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy."

MORE: CNN Poll: Americans are divided on what causes problems in U.S. elections —CNN

Boot: Adopting Russia's worst tactics

"The Kremlin strategy is not so much to make people believe its individual lies as to make them doubt the very possibility of truth. As the old saying goes: In a world where nothing is true, everything is permitted. Russia brought this nihilistic mind-set to its covert efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 and 2020 elections in Donald Trump's favor. But the American right, which was effectively allied with the Kremlin in both campaigns, has so successfully internalized the secret of Russian disinformation operations that it no longer requires much—if any—help from Vladimir Putin." —Max Boot in The Washington Post

Max Boot is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

MORE: FBI warned Giuliani, key Trump ally in Senate of Russian disinformation campaign targeting Biden —The Washington Post

Page: Keeping our hope alive

"When fear and resentment of police undermines cooperation by crime victims and witnesses, the only winners are the criminals who go free. No wonder so many law-abiding citizens have lost hope. So we need some victories. We need faith in the criminal justice system to be restored. Community-oriented policing that focuses on developing working relationships between police and residents has had a lot of success in some communities. That's only a start for a restoration of trust, but little signs of hope can lead to bigger ones, if we don't keep our expectations too low." —Clarence Page in The Virginian-Pilot

Clarence Page is a member of the Chicago Tribune editorial board.

MORE: Andrew Brown Jr.'s relative disputes official account of the fatal police shooting —CNN

Askew, Lowe, Monaus & Cooper: The military can learn from its own history to defeat extremism

"[E]xperts have warned that this new crop of extremists is just the most recent manifestation of the white nationalist and far-right extremist threat that has been facing the U.S. military for over 40 years. The history of Department of Defense responses to domestic extremism needs to inform future policies, strategies, and bureaucratic structures to counter extremism in the military." —Simone Askew, Jack Lowe, Nette Monaus & Kirsten Cooper on War on the Rocks

Simone Askew, Jack Lowe, and Nette Monaus are first lieutenants in the U.S. Army and research fellows with the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the U.S. Military Academy. Kirsten Cooper is an assistant professor of history at the U.S. Military Academy and leads the West Point Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies research team as part of the New War Research Consortium.

MORE: 'White supremacy is terrorism': Biden urges vigilance against home-grown violence —USA Today

Douthat: The GOP could use a new faction

"Republicans running for the Senate (or the House, for that matter) could find in the Common Good Caucus a distinct identity in a primary campaign, a ready-made agenda to run on in the general election, and a built-in set of allies waiting in Washington if they win. In a legislative environment where many congresspeople seem to feel impotent and bored, a factional identity promises more interest, influence, and agency—especially for politicians who prefer the hope of actually legislating to the chance of becoming the next Matt Gaetz or Marjorie Taylor Greene." —Ross Douthat in The New York Times

Ross Douthat is a writer and an opinion columnist at The New York Times.

MORE: Some GOP lawmakers waited to talk with Biden after address—here's what they told him —CBS News

Seems like the geniuses are at work again, crafting anti-protest bills across the country. So much for that thing called the Constitution. Thanks to QAnon legislators, it will soon be open season for running down pedestrians and bicyclists. Think I am exaggerating? I encourage you to read some of the bills. Special immunity if you hit a protester with your vehicle. You just have to claim it was unintentional and you felt threatened. How will anyone be able to prove, or disprove, how a person felt?

How is a protester or a protest defined, you may ask? Read for yourself. You may be amazed. They haven't explicitly stated that the protesters must be Black or wearing BLM clothing, but I won't be surprised if someone blatantly states so in a bill.

With all the issues we face as a people, as a country, this is what they focus on. Mind you, this is from the people who claim to want less government and less regulations and to get government out of people's lives. —Bill T., Arizona

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.