Stand for Principle First: Reflecting on Trump, Compromise and Resistance

Guest Commentary: Stand for Principle First

Forty years ago, old Congressman Michael J. Bradley was honored for existence a politician who was honest and decent. His grandson calls for more of that

Feb. 03, 2017

Equally the President's ane-sided executive orders pile up, Republicans are decrying Democrats' push back against his various appointments as, in the words of PA Senator Pat Toomey, "an unprecedented level of obstruction."

Should Democrats acquiesce? Are they threatening the notion of proficient government?

Having just unearthed a transcript of a 1977 Metropolis Council ceremony honoring my grandpa, I'grand wondering what he would think.

Michael J. Bradley represented Philadelphia'due south Port Richmond neighborhood in Congress from 1937 to 1947. The son of Irish and Welsh immigrants, he quit loftier school to get to work, educated himself through voracious reading and made his way to the U.Due south. Capitol. After Congress, he stayed in public life in various capacities, prompting Council to accolade him when he retired at age 80.

At that anniversary, he alleged, "Regime is compromise. Now that doesn't mean you take to cede principle; quite the contrary." For him, compromise was a route you lot took within the larger map of your principles, on the way to the destination of the greater good.

My gramps was no stranger to working alongside those with unlike views. An ardent New Dealer when Republicans ruled the city, he forged close friendships in Congress with many Republicans, including Everett Dirksen, later a bourgeois Senate ability broker.

He stood for a government that didn't just posture only actually worked. Nosotros need a regime that works.

Just I think the principles have to come up first. What we're seeing now isn't near normal fence betwixt parties. With a President who has no feel in government, and has shown little regard for its complexity or process, at present is the time to stand up for values and principles.

Under the banner of "America First" (a phrase tied to isolationism and anti-Semitism when my grandfather was in Congress), the new administration has repeatedly lied to the American people, taken steps to undercut healthcare at home and away, threatened to "take names" at the U.North. and airtight borders to certain refugees and immigrants in a ban explicitly privileging one religion over others.

When my grandfather was honored for his service, his long-time friend Judge Sydney Hoffman lifted up the same qualities Due west did. "You've been a fighter for honesty and decency all your life," Judge Hoffman told him. "Yous never backed down." That'due south what it meant, and must still mean, to exist a leader in government.

These actions become against the values of our country and the principles of our authorities.

There is no compromising with lies about voter fraud, which undermine faith in our balloter procedure.

At that place is no compromising with a healthcare plan that offers but repeal with no vision for something better.

And there tin be no compromising when the President closes the borders of a nation of immigrants in a blunt assertion of bigotry over reason.

At his inauguration the President pledged "We volition make America potent again …wealthy again … proud again." Since then he'south imposed restrictive controls on our borders and scientists, supported a proposed cabinet of billionaires and boasted of erroneous crowd sizes and victory margins. Posing as a populist, he's operating as an authoritarian. That's a deeply cynical manipulation of government of the people.

We take to enquire: Strong in what way? Wealthy for whom? Proud of what?

Last week, at the same hotel where the President and GOP leadership gathered in solidarity two days earlier, I heard Harvard professor Cornel Westward speak. Quoting W.E.B. DuBois, he posed 4 challenges: "How shall integrity face up oppression? What does honesty do in the confront of deception? What does decency do in the face of insult? How does virtue meet brute strength?"

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Integrity. Honesty. Decency. Virtue. The qualities heralded by DuBois and Westward, one writing in Reconstruction'south shadow, one speaking the twenty-four hours after the signing of the refugee ban, might not seem muscular plenty for the times. Only these ceremonious rights advocates show that they tin can exist the bedrock for principled resistance when the animal force of executive order and the deception from public podiums (and Twitter accounts) insult borough virtues and oppress the vulnerable.

When my grandfather was honored for his service, talk of legislative process took a back seat to principles. His long-time friend Judge Sydney Hoffman lifted up the aforementioned qualities West did. "Y'all've been a fighter for honesty and decency all your life," Judge Hoffman told him. "You never backed downward." That'south what it meant, and must however mean, to be a leader in regime.

Integrity. Honesty. Decency. Virtue. An unprepared and autocratic administration threatens these principles. But they must stand up as the pillars of our democratic practice. That'south how the people tin trust that the government is for all of us. Only then tin can nosotros fifty-fifty begin to consider the compromise my grandfather proposed.

By leaning into these pillars, and the wide spectrum of people for whom they tin stand up, we push back with ability against the strength, wealth and pride of cynical forces that exploit patriotism to suppress decency, and populism to undercut the integrity of our democratic values.

David Bradley is a Philadelphia-based theater manager, arts producer and educator specializing in how the arts combine with civic appointment.

Header photo: Michael J. Bradley, existence honored by City Council, in 1977.

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Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/david-bradley-stand-principle-first-michael-j-bradley/

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