Essay: Profile in Courage - 10/17/07
It remains a powerful book that fully deserved the Pulitzer Prize. It is the story of eight U.S. senators who took brave and unpopular stands on matters of principle. All of them paid a price. In some cases, it meant their careers.
What was also notable about them is that they were mostly little-known figures, not great or famous or even morally pure. They were just men who, at one critical moment, did the right thing.
We didn’t see a lot of courage last month in Lansing, when the state came close to a shutdown. This was especially true among Republicans, who seemed far more interested in scoring political points than in solving our very real budget problems.
The Republicans, in fact, reminded me of an old-style left-wing political party in the way they marched in lockstep, bleating their mantra, “no new taxes” instead of offering constructive solutions.
Daily ideological e-mail blasts from Saul Anuzis, the party chair, were meant to keep any wavering members in line. The GOP knew the state would have to raise taxes in the end. The more intelligent Republicans knew there was no alternative, that not doing so would mean destroying the state. But they wanted Democrats to take all the blame, to give them propaganda for the next election.
But there was one unlikely hero who broke that façade. Chris Ward, a 33-year-old state representative from Brighton, is all about politics. He’s had nothing but political jobs since he became township clerk at age 25. Prior to the budget crisis, he had done little to impress me. He did the legislative bidding of the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesales Association, his biggest contributor.
Last year he introduced a package of campaign finance “reforms,” most of which were clearly designed to boost the GOP.
But his conscience got to him this time. He knew that it was irresponsible to pretend the crisis could be solved without new revenue. And he became exasperated with his colleagues. He became the first and only Republican to vote to return the state income tax to 4.6 percent.
His fellow members acted as if he had embraced Communism. He helped save the state, but couldn’t save himself. This week, now a pariah among his colleagues, Ward stepped down as minority floor leader. He said that if his fellow Republicans didn’t like the budget solution, they have only themselves to blame, “due to a lack of Republican leadership in seeking to find solutions and offer difficult votes for alternatives."
Ward’s stand may cost him dearly. He is in his last term in the legislature. He has a wife, three small children and no other career. Nevertheless, he can be proud. “To be courageous requires no exceptional qualifications,“ JFK wrote in his book. “It is merely an opportunity that sooner or later is presented to us all.”
A test that this month, Chris Ward passed.
great essay!
Posted by: Milt Rohwer | October 19, 2007 at 12:13 PM
Funny you should mention JFK. Wasn't he the one who reduced taxes to lift the economy. Yes. Yes. I'm certain he was.
As far as Rep. Ward is concerned he should step down. If the majority of his lifes work has been in politics, then it is time for him to go home now and try to find a job in the economy he helped to make worse. Let's see how well he does giving more money to the state then he takes out. My guess is he will have to leave the state to find a job that will support his lifestyle.
Rose Bogaert, Chair
Wayne County Taxpayers Association, Inc
Posted by: wctaxpayer | October 20, 2007 at 05:39 PM