By Edwin Cooney
July has been a difficult month for me emotionally, sentimentally, quasi-professionally (as a columnist) and even as a citizen. No, I’m not asking for anyone’s sympathy - to paraphrase what Jimmy Carter said of his presidential responsibilities, tough times “…go with the territory!” Still the discomfort is real even as part of the “territory.”
Just the other day, a good friend of mine (one of the two smartest men I know) told me that he’s lost respect for the Congress, the courts and the institution of the Presidency of the United States. Exactly how the other smartest man I know feels is something I haven’t yet discovered. I’ll consult him soon.
The two men, although very knowledgeable about a number of topics germane to the survival of 21st Century America, are very different personalities. While both are highly logical, my friend whom I’ll call “The Piper” is rather flinty when expressing his opinions or conclusions in that he shows little sentimentality in his judgments, but he’s scrupulously fair and non-personal in his social and political pronouncements. The second “Mr. Smart,” whom I’ll call “The Terabyte,” is more of a renaissance kind of a guy. He’s more combative in debate than is The Piper, but he’s less rigid in his pronouncements. He, I think, might have lost respect for the three institutions referred to above, but his loss of respect is probably more conditional and less final than is The Piper. (Note: both gentlemen will without doubt immediately recognize who they are. Although they’ve met on at least one occasion (my 2013 wedding), whether or not they’ll recognize the other one from this description, I’m not sure. Come to think of it, they may well not even recognize themselves after reading my description of them!) Both of them know that I consider them the two smartest men I know and my regard and respect for both of them is considerable and ongoing. My guess is that even after I’ve consulted Mr. Terabyte I’ll still be a believer. If The Terabyte strongly agrees with The Piper he’ll be more combative in trying to convince me to take his position than The Piper has been, but all will be well in the end.
Since the main focus today is on the presidency of Donald Trump, I’ll address that problem here. The presidency, even as it was founded during the 1787 and 1788 constitutional convention and ratification process, was founded with the name of one man alone who would occupy it: General George Washington. Washington was a man of both pride and discipline — pride in himself and his sense of national service and yet disciplined in his capacity to restrain whatever ambition and belief in his own personal authority he possessed. Thus, even as he assigned authority to cabinet members, to officers of the judiciary, and even to the presidency, President Washington limited, sometimes subtly, the scope of their authority. (Note: he suggested limited presidential terms by example rather than by a directive or amendment to the constitution.)
The ages of Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, the two Roosevelts, Wilson, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and Reagan, to name only a few, are part of our history. Their greatest glory was the expectation of achievement; that, whatever were the down sides of those achievements, they were designed to benefit the largest number of Americans possible. To paraphrase President Truman: Most Americans can’t afford to send lobbyists to Washington to do their bidding. There’s nothing wrong with lobbyists except they’re expensive. Thus, the president has a special responsibility to be the people’s lobbyist keeping the broadest number of people’s legitimate needs in mind.”
As things stand today as we enter the eighth month of Donald Trump’s presidency, the office he solemnly pledged to “…faithfully execute…” has been temporarily but severely tarnished, in record time, largely by the president’s personal behavior. Even worse, rather than a legacy of achievement, he’s left a legacy of conflict that encompasses the whole American body politic. Having asserted this, I hasten to offer a significant historic reminder.
On the evening of Tuesday, March 9th, 1954 Edward R. Murrow (who to me remains the greatest reporter and broadcaster of all times) broadcast a documentary on the behavior of Republican Wisconsin Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy. The documentary demonstrated in both pictures and Senator McCarthy’s own words the shallowness of his charges of Communist associations against his fellow Americans who appeared before his committee on investigations, the crudeness of his treatment of witnesses, the weakness of his evidence, and the unjustifiable damage done to their careers and to their persons. Having laid out his case against Senator McCarthy, Murrow reminded his fellow citizens that the ultimate fault for all of this was not Joe McCarthy’s. “He didn’t create this situation of fear, he merely exploited it — and rather successfully.” Then he ended with that famous admonition: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves.”
Later in 1954, the United States Senate with its Republican majority still intact although functioning as lame ducks in the wake of the recent congressional elections, censured Joseph McCarthy for conduct detrimental to the United States Senate. In that instant, except in the minds and hearts of his most devoted supporters, Senator McCarthy’s political influence was gone.
As damaging and hurtful as Senator McCarthy’s conduct was, the Senate lost little prestige. Since then four Senators, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Obama, have gone from the Senate to the White House. Historically, almost every sin you can imagine — disloyalty, incompetence, thievery, and even murder — have originated in many of the most revered and even sacred offices throughout western civilization. Neither the British monarchy, the presidency of the United States or even the papacy have been conducted in such a way as to avoid humankind’s most horrific sins. Sins have marked and marred the papacy - especially the medieval papacy. Yet, these three institutions have been and are the most continuously sought after and revered institutions for the last thousand years. (Perhaps not by my friend The Piper, but by many other respectful personages.)
I am second to no one in their increasing repulsion of President Trump’s behavior including his disloyalty to others while expecting absolute loyalty from those he employs, his crude tweets, his failure to study and thus grasp the assets and liabilities of the office he worked so strenuously to achieve, and his absolute narcissism. However, to empower him with the capacity to permanently disgrace the presidency to me is a flawed assessment. Flawed, as are all humanly created institutions, their misuse is totally due to the acts of their individual occupants. Their usefulness is totally dependent on the capacity to do good.
For every Henry the Eighth there was a Victoria, for every sinful pope there was a Pope Paul the Sixth, a Pope John Paul the Second and a Pope Francis. Vulnerability to imperfection is the lot of us all regardless of the human-made institution we occupy: king, queen, pope, governmental official, husband, wife, parent teacher or preacher. Remember that old adage, “The sins of the father should not be visited on their sons.”
Earlier this month, I was sharply reminded that I lack any academic or professional standing as a columnist. I’ve yet to be hired by a single institution of learning or newspaper publisher. Nor am I an historian. Thus, as a mere student of history with perhaps just enough knowledge to be a tad dangerous, I offer my perspective on national and international issues of interest to stimulate thought. How seriously you consider or take my perspective is strictly up to you. My friends The Piper and The Terabyte, who are much, much smarter than I, have thus far genially tolerated my perspective. I’m grateful to both.
You’d be lucky too if you knew them!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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