The Washington Post on Sunday published an excerpt from an upcoming book foreword by the late Rep. Elijah Cummings Elijah Eugene CummingsBlack GOP candidate accuses Behar of wearing black face in heated interview Overnight Health Care: US won't join global coronavirus vaccine initiative | Federal panel lays out initial priorities for COVID-19 vaccine distribution | NIH panel: 'Insufficient data' to show treatment touted by Trump works House Oversight Democrats to subpoena AbbVie in drug pricing probe MORE (D-Md.) in which the congressman hails America’s civil servants.

In the excerpt, from Cummings’ foreword to “In Defense of Public Service: How 22 Million Government Workers Will Save Our Republic,” by Cedric L. Alexander, Cummings described his experience as chair of the House Oversight Committee, which oversees federal workers.

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“When people in the leadership of the nation attack our courts, the members of our Congress, our civil servants and our media, they are attacking the glue that holds our diverse nation together as the United States of America,” Cummings wrote.

“And when these attackers do so on the basis of factually unfounded opinion, rather than verifiable evidence, they are engaged in demagoguery of the most dangerous sort. This is why our civil service, committed to maintaining the rule of law and decision-making based on verifiable facts, is so important to maintaining the legitimacy of our government, both elected and appointed,” he adds.

Cummings goes on to describe how the nation relies on competent civil services to implement policies made by elected officials, and how, “if we wish to have a government that addresses the factual realities of our lives,” elected officials must rely on their expertise.

Cummings, who died on Oct. 17 at the age of 68, closes with a quote from his “congressional heroine,” former Rep. Barbara Jordan (D-Texas): ““My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, [or] the destruction of the Constitution. I hope and trust that all Americans feel — and will do — the same.”