The question of this article is of what contribution an iconographic analysis can make to political reflection. The representation sought here takes the events at the Capitol in Washington as the occasion for an interdisciplinary examination. It is a confrontation between levels of contemporary political history. The value of the liberal way of life is under threat; the contemporary historical images show how fragile and sensitive this way of life is. The urgent question of how to counteract the long-term trend towards the devaluation of democratic cultures is dealt with here in a roundabout way. The aim is to point out the contradictions, but also the interplay between an upstanding "political culture" and the apolitical or "uncultivated" forces.