Standing tall

No one seems to desire, let alone deserve, a chapter in "Profiles in Courage" anymore.\nAs a rule, I don't ask what people's politics are. I ask what their principles are. On that basis, I will not be casting my vote next Tuesday for the candidate who calls for no sacrifice but for the one who makes my blood rush. I will employ not only my brain, but also my backbone, before I pull the lever. \nToo many don't look to these assets and perniciously see the role of our elected leaders merely as seismographs to record shifts in public opinion. I have nothing but abhorrence for this view, propounded by British statesman Benjamin Disraeli and adhered to by most in both parties: "Damn your principles! Stick to your party." \nNowhere is this sentiment stronger than Connecticut. To refresh your memory, this is where the "insurgent" candidacy of Ned Lamont ousted Joe Lieberman from Democrat ranks for ignoring all advice to be "prudent" in presenting his own unorthodox opinions. For that, and that alone, Lieberman stands (I employ the verb deliberately) for re-election as an independent and is likely to win on account of Republican (!) votes. Leading Democrats have lately decided to revoke their support for positions that might have become unpopular. They have cast calumny upon Mr. Lieberman for his deficiency of the political cowardice they have in such vast quantities.\nWorst of all was the role played by one of our most popular ex-presidents, Bill Clinton. Although the self-serving 42nd president originally campaigned for Lieberman, once the latter lost the Democratic primary, the former withdrew his support. Irrespective of the rightness or wrongness of Lieberman's stand, this must be opposed for the base practice of politics that it is. In the end, Clinton's "support" amounted to, "I will stand by Lieberman until at least 51 percent of Democratic constituents persuade me otherwise." What staunch conviction! I'm sure he would say with Groucho Marx that "These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others." \nAbsent from the conventional analysis is the state of our republican (small "r") virtue. So my purpose is to identify those frauds who strike encouraging chords about their "convictions" when it is easy but show very little courage in defending them when they happen to become controversial. Such dime-a-dozen charlatans insist that they are not selling out their principles but only deferring to "the judgment of the people." Don't believe it. They have sold out themselves. \nA conviction never exposed to challenge is not one worth holding. But too many people who harbor even passing political interest would punish those who sacrifice personal popularity at the altar of public principle. Courage is the first of the virtues, but for those who regard politics as show business, it is the last virtue -- the one that, for most Democrats and even many Republicans, negates all the others. This must change. We will know it does when we recognize Lieberman as the last courageous man.