by Eric Felten Print this article After a summer of rioting that saw much of downtown Washington boarded up, now it’s the Capitol that looks like the set of some film depicting a dystopian future. Where downtown’s distress was expressed in sheets of plywood covering storefront glazing, the Capitol’s plight is displayed in barricades, fences, police, and most of all, the presence of camo-clad soldiers from National Guard units across the country. Far be it for me to suggest that the Guard has been called up less as a show of force than just a show. Jan. 6 was an ugly day that will haunt Republicans for years. One can hardly blame Democrats for doing their best to keep the mob in the front of our minds. How better to do that than by maintaining the image of Washington as a city under siege, the seat of our democratic institutions so threatened it has to be protected by thousands of automatic-weapon-toting troops?