GOP: To thine own self be true
Published 1:30 am Saturday, December 18, 2021
During the Trump era, there was a proliferation of books on how our political system has deteriorated with alarming threats to our democracy and rule of law and how our next leader may resemble authoritarianism.
Today, inside the U.S. Capitol and across America’s heartland, the new threshold is more about fear and anger, which is wrapped firmly around a form of nationalism and paranoia that has all but abandoned the core values of our origins.
How does one describe or identify today’s America? Whether it’s becoming a bellicose political culture or the radicalized social media – the intolerable is being tolerated. Championing bigotry, hatred, even violence is fueling the cruelty of influence and power that is becoming the new norm in Washington, D.C.
If former President Kennedy were still around and did an update on his Profiles in Courage (received the Pulitzer Prize) that featured eight U.S. senators for their courage, that was perilous at the time, he would no doubt add another chapter on Rep. Liz Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger. Both certainly measured up to the ultimate sacrifice of their distinguished careers and even reputations by simply doing what’s right for our country.
The new poster child of the Republican Party is being portrayed by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar and Lauren Boebert. Each is gleefully doing performances around the country while filling their campaign coffers with online donations.
Today in the nation’s capitol, where is the moral compass? Morality should be unifying among our elected leaders, not division or partisanship. That is why the bipartisan House Ethics Committee was set up in 1967 to render judgments based on the facts and assessment of a congressman’s behavior. Today any such action would be denounced as a political witch-hunt.
Political survival is the elephant in the room. Today, House members must cope with threats and reprisals, even if the vote is on an infrastructure bill that would greatly benefit their constituents.
On the House floor, Republican self-proclaimed evangelicals should be reminded of a passage from Psalms 15: “He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth of his heart. He does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor. He who does these things will never be shaken.”
The Republican Party has been shaken, far beyond what President Reagan ever imagined.
During my years in Congress, I greatly respected the Republican leadership in both the Senate and House. Indeed, among my three role models were two Northwest Republican Sens,, Dan Evans and Mark Hatfield.
Is it possible to move beyond today’s hostile partisanship and the upheaval of our political system? Our leaders need to be more reflective, maybe take note of William Shakespeare’s sage words of Polonius in the third scene of Act I of Hamilton. “This above all: to thine own self be true.”
Don Bonker is a former U.S. congressman for the state’s 3rd District.
