The City of Charleston's response to the racist terror attack on nine African-Americans attending bible study at historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is an inspiring example of "people power" at its finest hour.

The magnanimous decision of family members of the murdered to forgive 21-year-old killer Dylann Roof shocked the nation, which had anticipated the usual cries for revenge or retribution.

charlestonSimilarly, local politicos removed blinkers from their eyes and called for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the Capitol.

SC Governor Nikki Haley and Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott dropped the flag's longtime PR cover that it represents southern heritage rather than the subjugation of black Americans.

The PR case for the flag flying on the grounds of the statehouse is hogwash. South Carolina began flying the flag over the Capitol in Columbia at the beginning of the 1960s as an act of defiance during the growing civil rights movement, which was more than a 100 years following the first shot fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. So much for southern heritage.

Gerald Seib, who does the Capital Journal column in the Wall Street Journal, penned a powerful piece today headlined "Families in Charleston Are Trumping Politicians."

He believes the reaction of Charleston's citizens who rallied around the stricken families provides a picture of the kind of nation that America wants to be. The columnist hopes they may have started a "potentially healthy national conversation about race and violence."

Seib contrasts what's developing in Charleston to the epic dysfunction that rules Washington, where more than 50 votes have been made to repeal a health program for needy Americans and money to fix the crumbling national infrastructure can't be found.

Things are so bad Congress can't even pass a resolution to authorize American military action against the Islamic State. Yet Congressmen from both aisles fall over themselves muttering empty phrases ("Thank you for your service") supporting US veterans.

Seib wrote: "Solving problems generally requires creating either compromise or consensus, and government leaders often seem to have lost the ability to do either these days. So solutions are starting to emerge elsewhere."

Americans understand Congress has marginalized itself. They have given up on leadership from either the Senate or House.

President Obama, who has been under constant Republican attack since he arrived in the White House, has turned off Congress by appealing directly to Americans with calls to work together to discuss the issues of the day. He's following a grassroots over grasstops PR strategy.

"As Charleston has shown, American citizens may have more answers nowadays than their political system can provide," concluded Seib.

Let's pray Seib's right.