It’s a little dusty, but there’s this book on my shelf that won a Pulitzer Prize way back in 1957. It’s called Profiles in Courage, written (ghostwritten?) by a dashing soon-to-be President. A democracy, JFK asserted, depends upon “faith that the people will not condemn those whose devotion to principle leads them to unpopular courses, but will reward courage, respect honor and ultimately recognize right.”
Ah, them were the days. This last decade or so, we’ve actually had examples of courage and integrity in our public life. Problem is, there appears to be no long game to it now. Stand for integrity today in the face of an aggrieved and low-information electorate, and you might be looking for a cushy lobbyist or TV talking head job tomorrow.
Remember how Liz Cheney defiantly stood up to the Trump mob? We were all, like, You go, girl, and then her constituents turned her out in a landslide. Other public servants of decent character like Adam Kinzinger and Charlie Dent saw the electoral handwriting on the wall, and had no choice but to become network bloviators. The trend knows no ideology; whether you agree with him or not, it’s incontrovertible that Senator John Fetterman has courageously stood up to progressive dogma and now faces online invective and rumors of a primary challenge from his left. Integrity is so yesterday, as, most recently, the white-flag waving Washington Post avers.
That’s why, when we see green shoots of integrity, we should call them out. We need to remind ourselves that principle in an ever-transactional world might still mean something, and we need to say I see you to those who put reputation at risk for the sake of values bigger than the mere holding of power. In the last couple of weeks, three members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation chose that honorable bigger picture path. Let’s delve into these latest laudatory acts by Democrats Chrissy Houlahan and Brendan Boyle and Republican Brian Fitzpatrick.
Chrissy Houlahan defends decorum
If you needed Exhibit A in the political malpractice trial of the Democratic Party, look no further than the Congressional caucus’ dour countenance and its ham-handed protest during Trump’s recent speech to a joint session of Congress. There was the desultory body language, those silly handheld placards as though they were bidding at auction, and — most egregiously — Congressman Al Green’s cane-waving tirade, resulting in his expulsion from the chamber.
First, let’s be clear: This was not that Al Green, the silky-smooth 70s soul singer and man of God, though one wishes it had been. I can say this with some confidence, having once attended the good Reverend’s Memphis, Tennessee church, where he sings his sermon and parishioners catch the spirit: That Al Green would have bathed the room in pure unadulterated love.
Contrast that with the downcast vitriol Congressman Green and his fellow Dems consistently conveyed. When Trump recognized 13-year-old cancer survivor DJ Daniel and realized the kid’s dream by making him an honorary member of the Secret Service, prompting DJ to wrap his arms around the neck of Secret Service Director Sean Curran, it was a tearjerker moment. For everyone, that is, but the Democrats in the room, who sat stone-faced while Republicans chanted “USA! USA!”
We need to remind ourselves that principle in an ever-transactional world might still mean something, and we need to say I see you to those who put reputation at risk for the sake of values bigger than the mere holding of power.
Can you be less emotionally intelligent? Fetterman called the display of his brethren “a sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance,” and he was right, as was Chester County’s Houlahan, who was one of only 10 Democrats to follow up on Green’s shameful display by voting to censure him. As she explained to The Inquirer, Houlahan agreed with the substance of Green’s protest, but “we have standards of decorum that we all presumably agree to, and we all need to agree to those standards so we can get the work for the people done and so we can not be a banana republic.”
Someone, Houlahan seems to be saying, has to be the adult in the room. Which, not coincidentally, just might make for smart political strategy: Voters appear to be waiting for leaders to finally cut through all the numbing whataboutisms and put their interests first. But never mind all that. For her principled defense of high-mindedness and class in public affairs, Houlahan — a military vet — was rewarded with teeth-clenching opprobrium online. “Get your courage together, lady,” read one post. “You’re about to be out of a job.”
“Oh, look, a white woman upholding white supremacy by censuring a black man exercising his freedom of speech,” wrote another.
And those were the less vituperative posts. What Houlahan realizes, and Trump-like leftists refuse to see, is that, done right, politics is an argument, and you persuade precisely no one to your point of view by mimicking MAGA incivility and mean-spiritedness. If that’s your playing field, you’re always the away team. The way to beat the most unprincipled president this side of Andrew Jackson? Being principled. Integrity is Donald Trump’s kryptonite.
Little noted is that Houlahan didn’t just vote to censure her Democratic colleague; she also introduced a resolution to censure MAGA Republican Lauren Boebert, who, in a subsequent TV interview, said of Green: “For him to go and shake his pimp cane …” Houlahan called Boebert’s comments “disparaging, derogatory, and racist toward another colleague, and are a breach of proper conduct and decorum of the U.S. House of Representatives.”
See what she did here? By voting to censure Democrat Green and in proposing to censure Republican Boebert, Houlahan rose above team colors and is banking that JFK’s long ago prose still holds. Her actions likely won’t fly with MAGA extremists or leftwing yahoos, but being the adult in the room might just appeal to enough Chester County voters who just want the madness to end.
Brendan Boyle keeps his word
In December, I caught up with Congressman Brendan Boyle after I’d seen he’d received an award for civility in politics. He was highlighted among a handful of lawmakers who “bridge partisan divides and foster respectful debate.” We touched on a number of topics, but I couldn’t help but chide him on one front.
Back in 2017, Boyle tried to pass a campaign finance law — basically, a restoration of former Republican Rep. (turned MSNBC pundit) David Jolly’s proposed Stop Act, which would free elected representatives from spending hours each day doing nothing but dialing for dollars.
He’d seen a 60 Minutes segment about Jolly, who said that, the day after he was elected, his party’s leadership told him his job was to raise $18,000 a day on the phone in secretive congressional call banks. For congressmen like Jolly, who, unlike Boyle, found himself representing a district that would always be electorally in play, it is expected that they spend four hours a day dialing for dollars. Four hours.
The Stop Act would prohibit members of Congress from asking for money — period. Their staffers still could, but at least our elected representatives could spend their time legislating. Of course, Jolly only got six co-sponsors, the bill went nowhere, his party felt betrayed and didn’t help in his reelection bid, and — quite predictably — Jolly was voted out of office.
“I didn’t know about the Stop Act until I saw 60 Minutes and I want to make sure that, now that he’s left Congress, the bill doesn’t die,” Boyle told me at the time. “It’s a really interesting idea. Understandably, we always look at whether a politician is conflicted because he received $2,500 from X and then votes the way X wants. But no one stops and says, Wait a minute. We’re paying 435 people to legislate, does it really make sense to have them all in a call room spending a high percentage of their time not studying policy but being a telemarketer?”
Boyle proposed the legislation once to no avail, but never again. I wondered why. “Boy, I’m glad you reminded me of this,” he tole me. “I actually have to talk to my LD [legislative director] about this.”
Well, lo and behold, for all you cynics out there, a congressman has kept his word. There it is — the Stop Act, introduced on January 15 of this year. Boyle reintroduced the bill after I reminded him of it and he’s currently in search of co-sponsors. It sits in the House Administration Committee, where it probably won’t get acted upon by the Republican leadership. But here again is a congressman refusing to play the purity game, carrying forward a Republican former colleague’s idea, because it would clean up our filthy politics.
Boyle’s Stop Act probably goes nowhere in this session, but it’s certainly on point, now that a tech bro-ocracy is taking the reins of government, no? “This is a commonsense bill that will stop members of Congress from personally soliciting campaign donations,” Boyle emailed me through a spokesperson this week, noting that it’s high time to “reduce the influence of big money in our elections.”
That’s a message that just might resonate with Boyle’s base — those middle-of-the-road multiracial working-class voters Democrats have shed these last 10 years, who feel they’re always getting the shaft by a consortium of shadowy interests, including elected officials who always have their palms out.
Brian Fitzpatrick stands with Ukraine. MAGA freaks out
After Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance overturned 80 years of post-World War II human rights values by turning on Ukraine Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy as though he somehow was to blame for Russia’s brutal invasion of his sovereign country, the hypocrisy was overwhelming. Republicans who three years ago were full-throated in support of the Ukrainian freedom fighters were now silent — at best. (Some, like Sen. Lindsey Graham, dutifully obeyed Dear Leader and utterly flip-flopped.)
But not our Brian Fitzpatrick, the former FBI agent and federal prosecutor who has represented Bucks County in the House since 2017. He immediately posted this on social media:
It was heartbreaking to witness the turn of events that transpired in today’s meeting regarding Ukraine’s future. It is time to put understandable emotions aside and come back to the negotiation table. This can and will be fixed. A strong, sovereign Ukraine is essential for global stability in the face of Putin’s ongoing aggression. Lasting peace can only be achieved through unwavering strength.
Mind you — this is after Trump had falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war and called Zelenskyy a dictator (though he’d won 73 percent of the vote in a free and fair election sanctioned by the European Commission).
“If we reward dictators for invading sovereign, freedom-loving democracies, we are sending a message to every other dictator and every aspiring dictator across this planet that if you do do that, you will be rewarded. That cannot be the message coming out of this.” — Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick
Nonetheless, Fitzpatrick went on Face The Nation and deviated from the cult’s talking points. “What victory means to me is that Vladimir Putin regrets his decision to invade Ukraine,” he said. “Because if we reward dictators for invading sovereign, freedom-loving democracies, we are sending a message to every other dictator and every aspiring dictator across this planet that if you do do that, you will be rewarded. That cannot be the message coming out of this.”
Was Fitzpatrick heralded for his straight talk? His defense of national security values? Nah. There was silence from his own party leaders inside the Beltway. And then just check out the geniuses hitting him up on X. Among them:
“Go fight in Ukraine then,” reads one post. “Give up your easy, cushy lifestyle and head to the front lines of Ukraine and face the Russian meatgrinder. Americans are finally waking up to you war loving politicians who send OTHER people’s children to die in senseless wars.”
Needless to say, no one is proposing American troops on the ground in Ukraine. Here’s another: “This RINO definitely deserves a primary. Ukraine war proponent and FBI politicization apologist.”
And then Fitzpatrick gets it from the left, who, rather than applaud a courageous Republican for standing up to his party’s formidable base and president, lambaste him for not doing exactly as they’d do. “Stop trying to not offend the MAGA weirdos” reads one post. Yes, Fitzpatrick did not vote to impeach Trump, co-sponsoring censure instead. But he’s consistently rated the most bipartisan member in Congress by the Lugar Center. If you believe in the power of solutions — rather than the continual playing out of performative politics — how can you not applaud one of the few Republicans unwilling to gulp down the autocratic Kool-Aid?
Donald Trump and his minions are waging war on long held norms, but perhaps our most dangerous value at stake is integrity itself. Here, we have three examples of members of Congress engaging across the aisle out of a sense of duty and conviction. Are they three Don Quixotes, tilting at windmills? Here’s hoping we’ll awaken from this fever dream and their belief in the power of common things will come to be seen as tonic once again.
Keep in mind: Quixote may have been self-deluded, but he was, against all odds, on a mission to civilize. We used to call that idealism, and admire it.
