Shocked. Dismayed. Saddened. Ashamed. Horrified. Disgusted. Outraged. Those are just a few of the words flooding through my mind to try in vain to describe my feelings about the brutal violation of our nation, our democracy, our culture, our character and our pride as Americans that was inflicted on us on Jan. 6 — a day that will undoubtedly be recorded as one of the saddest and most shameful in our history.

And while some may feel that it’s not my place as executive director of Southeastern Vermont Community Action to say it out loud, it must be said that this violence — both physical and spiritual — and the national tragedy and disgrace it has caused, is the responsibility of President Donald Trump.

Who else but the imposter who masqueraded as a president for the last four years (which feels like 40), and who embraced Nazis and white supremacists as “fine people,” dog-whistled the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” swore that the only way he could lose the election was if it was rigged, still can’t concede the reality that he lost by a landslide, intimidated and threatened state election officials to “find” enough votes to overturn the election, incited his lunatic fringe supporters to come to Washington, D.C., to stop the vote certification on a “historic day” that he promised would be “wild,” and declared his support and love for them after they stormed the Capitol and perpetrated their seditious acts?

Sure, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Pompeo, Michael Flynn, Sean Hannity and all the other collaborators who’ve played to his superego and egged him on deserve their well-earned share of blame for this attempted coup — including his reckless and reprehensible abettors in Congress who concocted the charade of objecting to the certification of the election results that threw gasoline on the fire Trump started. But none of them could have caused or enabled this brazen act of terrorism if Trump hadn’t set it in motion and incited his minions.

What they carried out is a pathetic insurrection built on a shaky foundation of unfounded fears, baseless conspiracy theories and outright lies — a bad déjà vu of Hitler’s infamous 1923 Munich Beer Hall “Putsch.”

Many people predicted that Trump’s increasing monomania and break with reality resulting from it would inevitably lead to a situation like we witnessed on Jan. 6. But many more refused to believe that, as the cliché goes, “it could ever happen here.” Yet it did. And we need to acknowledge that although the putsch failed to achieve its violent and treasonous goal in 1923, its leader never forgot his humiliation over that failure and kept pursuing his odious vision for another decade until he was able to seize power and carry out his hateful and deadly mission.

Even after the sedition of Jan. 6, Donald Trump showed no remorse or even recognition of the horror his words and actions wrought. And we can be confident that he never will, based on his words and actions over the course of his presidency, and his life. That responsibility rests with all of us; in fact, it’s our obligation to recognize and understand it so we can make sure nothing like it ever happens again.

That requires that we all commit ourselves to respect and defend the election process that is the bedrock of our democracy, in all its glory, complexity and messiness, and never allow anyone to take it away from us. That means we must never take it for granted. We must vote in every election and get others to vote. We must support expanding everyone’s right and ability to vote, oppose voter suppression, challenge lies and conspiracy theories about the integrity of the electoral system and speak up against any attempt to overturn a valid election result.

And it requires us to reject the cynical notion that politics is dirty and all politicians are corrupt. That’s a classic self-fulfilling prophecy: If all the good, competent, responsible people who would be exemplary public servants if elected refuse to run, it leaves the field to the dirty politicians and perpetuates the vicious cycle. The turnout and results of the 2020 elections, and especially the Georgia runoff elections, should dispel our cynicism about the significance and benefit of elections and prove just how much every vote counts.

To escape that potentially endless loop, we all need to become engaged in the political process in whatever way we feel able to. Speak truth to power about the issues that affect your life and those of your families and neighbors; become engaged in the civic life of your communities; advocate for or against good or bad legislation and public policy; work for candidates who reflect your views and values and are serious about governing; and become one of the exemplary public servants yourself. We need more of those at every level, and always will.

The more good politicians there are, the more good alternatives voters will have to future Donald Trumps.

The more engaged and informed voters there are who can vote for those good alternatives, the more likely it is for them to be elected.

In the long run, that’s the best strategy to make sure nothing like the Jan. 6 putsch ever happens again.

Steve Geller, of Springfield, Vt., is the executive director of Southeastern Vermont Community Action.