Jan. 6, 2021: marking a dark day with fears for the future

This country’s citizens, with their short attention spans, need to be reminded over and over that we almost lost our democracy on that day.

Senator Mitt Romney, who is quoted in a New York Times story that appeared in the Globe’s Jan. 6 edition (“Biden condemns Trump as dire threat”), misses the most important point when he suggests that people have moved on from the events of Jan. 6, 2021. This country’s citizens, with their short attention spans, need to be reminded over and over that we almost lost our democracy on that day. Police were brutally attacked and lives were lost, the vice president’s life was threatened, the Capitol was overrun by marauders, and the lives of lawmakers and their aides were in danger. Even then, 147 Republican members of Congress refused to recognize the votes of the American people.

No, we should not move on. We should remember and be aware that this mob is regrouping and it could happen again. DIANE RILEY Durham, N.H.

Assessing President Biden’s Jan. 5 speech outlining the threat to democracy that another Donald Trump presidency would present, Utah Senator Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, said, “People have processed [Jan. 6] one way or another. Biden needs fresh material, a new attack, rather than kicking a dead political horse.” Perhaps that means Romney has “processed” the Jan. 6 security footage of heroic Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman directing the senator away from insurrectionists and possible harm. The image of Romney turning and running the other way is one of the many iconic images of that tragic day. GLENN BRODEUR Franklin

Often missing from the political debate over the 2024 presidential race is a question that too few seem to want to address: What would have happened in America if the Jan. 6 insurrectionists had succeeded? GERARD LONDERGAN Milton