Where to find today’s profiles in courage for our young people to model

Throughout American history, the United States Senate stood as a pillar of our democracy where the titans of American politics did verbal battle over civil rights, government spending, foreign policy and a host of other issues facing the nation. It’s where senators sometimes put their own careers on the line as they chose to put country above party. President John F. Kennedy recognized such senators as “profiles in courage” when he wrote his book about eight U.S. senators who cast aside political considerations and voted their conscience even though it would end their careers.

Whether a legislator votes his own mind or the will of his constituency is grounded in the writings of Edmund Burke, the British statesman and theorist, who argued that those elected by their constituents are nothing but delegates, bound to vote the interests and views of those who elected them. The counterpoint to Burke’s “delegate” theory, British philosopher James Mill’s “trustee” theory, held that elected representatives should have considerable leeway in voting, based on his or her unique understanding of the issues and insights sometimes based on information not available to constituents. In common parlance, we refer to this as a public official voting or acting out of “conscience” rather than the whims of the electorate reflected in polls.

From my personal experience in a state legislature, my colleagues exhibited a hybrid or more practical model of voting that both considered their constituents’ views and also employed their own political and moral calculus to decide their ultimate vote.

However, in our increasingly hostile and bitter partisan divide where threats of career-ending tweets have walled off most efforts at bipartisanship, Senate Republicans willing to speak out, much less vote their conscience, are few and far between. These days you can count on one hand Republican members of the U.S. Senate willing to stick their necks out and vote against the prevailing political winds.

To the extent that you can find members of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Republican caucus willing to question Trump’s lies and differ with the Republican consensus, they will more likely choose the path of least resistance and decide not to run for another term. That’s how Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee chose to deal with their disagreements with Trump. Corker may be a textbook case. He expressed concern over Trump’s foreign policy ventures and found himself losing political ground back home as Rep. Marsha Blackburn decided to challenge him in the upcoming primary. The easy way out: He decided not to run.

Why is it so important to speak out against a president who seeks to overrule the will of the people in an election? Aside from the obvious of assuring the integrity of the electoral process, it is important for our public officials to set an example. Role models do make a difference in any profession or vocational calling. It’s not unusual for students to credit a doctor, teacher, police officer who first inspired them to think about their chosen major. It’s no different in politics and government where students are influenced by a particular public servant they wish to emulate in their own lives and careers.

How public officials comport themselves can be a major influence on young people aspiring to be the next generation of public servants. How can we expect future public officials to uphold the Constitution and the outcomes of free and fair elections if Senate Republicans shrink in fear of a president and refuse to speak out against the lies and misrepresentations Trump and his allies have leveled at the recent election?

If a revised and updated version of Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage” were to appear today, it would bypass the U.S. Senate and highlight presidential appointees, state and local election administrators and judges who have stepped up to serve as role models for young people aspiring to take up the mantle of leadership in the years to come.

The table of contents would list Chris Krebs, the Republican cybersecurity expert in charge of improving the nation’s election systems after Russia’s attack on the 2016 election, who attested to the fairness and the outcome of the election and publicly denounced Trump’s claims of election fraud.

Next would be the Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger who denied similar claims in his state. Then Philadelphia’s Republican City Commissioner Al Schmidt did the same and got death threats as a result.

The two Republican leaders of the Michigan House and Senate were called to the White House by Trump so he could convince them to throw the Michigan vote to Trump. Immediately upon leaving the White House, they issued a statement they would not interfere with the certification process that found Biden the winner in Michigan.

Over and over again, state election officials, including many Republicans, and judges, including Republican appointees, could find no fraud and publicly attested to the integrity of the electoral process. In doing so, they incurred the wrath of Trump and his base, but they set an example for young people considering public service.

Until the United States Congress is once again populated by Republican men and women who have the integrity to uphold the election laws of their states and are who are unafraid to express them publicly, our young people can look to the states for Republican officials who demonstrated the independence of mind and judgment worth emulating in a democracy that depends on free and fair elections.

As far as the spineless Republican majority in the U.S. Senate is concerned, it has forsaken the youth of our nation who deserve role models who will uphold the United States Constitution and confirm the actual results of a presidential election.