Chick: Courage is not a valued quality on Capitol Hill

Many years ago, John Kennedy authored a best selling book entitled “Profiles In Courage.” It’s a good thing he wrote that book when he did. If he were writing it today, he’d have to look long and hard to find qualified candidates. But, thank goodness, occasionally we do witness an example of courage in the face of huge political pressure. In fact, we’ve witnessed a couple of examples in recent months, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming).

A few months ago, Rep. Cheney, a member of the Republican Party’s leadership in the House of Representatives, had the audacity (and courage) to disagree with House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy, voting in favor of pursuing a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 mob assault on the Capitol building. Republican Party retribution was fast and furious. She was summarily removed from her congressional leadership position, and the Republican Party now is actively working to defeat her bid for re-election to Congress next year.

This week, a plethora of Democrats came out swinging even more viciously at Sen. Manchin for not supporting President Biden’s Build Back America legislation. The group of far-left liberals known as the Squad, along with former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, appeared apoplectic in their denunciation of this senator who lost his patience with trying to negotiate a more reasonable piece of legislation and said “no dice” to the $1.7 trillion legislation.

While disapproving Democrats took time to hurl personal insults at one of the Senate’s most highly regarded moderates on television shows throughout the weekend, they spent little time explaining to we lowly voters why Manchin’s decision is a bad one. While I agree that some portions the build back America legislation is poorly conceived, that’s not the point here. The point at issue is that a severe political price will be paid by any elected official who doesn’t march in lock-step with his or her party leadership.

Chick: Honk if you're dumb enough to believe political ads

Political party loyalty has always been a reality for elected officials who hoped to have a long, successful career. But only occasionally has the political background of “you’re either with us or you’re against us” been as vitriolic as today. When virtually all major legislation is approved, or disapproved, with nearly unanimous party unanimity, something is wrong. The system is, at that point, not working. It defies common sense to believe 100% of elected Democrats favor any piece of major legislation...and that 100% of Republicans oppose it.

There was a time when there existed liberal and conservative Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives. Sen. Lowell Weicker of Connecticut and Jacob Javits of New York were staunch liberals, for example. Liberal House Speaker Tip O’Neill of Massachusetts and conservative President Ronald Reagan worked well together on numerous issues. And many of the senate’s most conservative members were Democrats at the time, i.e., Sen. Robert Byrd. Now, the political landscape is such that you either vote as you are instructed by Chuck Schumer (if you’re a Democrat) or Mitch McConnell (if you’re a Republican) ... or face serious consequences when seeking re-election.

Chick: It's time to get back to work

Equally disappointing is the silence from members of Manchin’s Democrat Party and from Rep. Cheney’s GOP for failing to at least support their right to present an independent position. Is it too much to expect someone to say, for example, I disagree with Sen. Manchin’s position but the man has a right to his opinion? Certainly one would expect at least a couple of other Democrats might have issue with a $1.7 trillion expenditure that will create dozens of new or expanded federal programs.

Remember, this legislation originally started out with a price tag over $3 trillion. It was one senator’s concerns (actually two including Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) that reduced the overall cost almost in half. But not one Senate Democrat has given even the slightest bit of public support to Manchin’s independence. Courage is not a valued quality on Capitol Hill.

Wayne Chick was vice-president/general manager of Foster's Daily Democrat prior to his retirement.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Chick: Courage is not a valued quality on Capitol Hill