Also available at The Politicizer
My political hero is an almost unknown Democratic Senator from Texas named Ralph Yarborough. Senator Yarborough, an unabashedly progressive Senator, was a political anomaly in a state dominated by an extremely conservative wing of the Democratic Party. Although Senator Yarborough only served two terms from 1950-1971, his time in the Senate coincided with one of the most turbulent eras in American history.
Yarborough was the only Senator from a former confederate state to favor every important piece of civil rights legislation. Despite the interests of big business back in Texas, Senator Yarborough was an emphatic supporter of the domestic programs that President Johnson’s Great Society established. To borrow the complement that John F. Kennedy often bestowed upon politicians he admired, Senator Yarborough’s career in the Senate was a "profile in courage."
As you’d expect in a conservative state like Texas, Yarborough’s road to the Senate was difficult. From Senator Lyndon Johnson to longtime conservative governor Allan Shivers, Yarborough and his faction of progressives wielded little power within the state’s Democratic Party. Before he was elected to the United States Senate in 1957, Yarborough lost three consecutive runs for governor. Few, if any candidates, have the tenacity rebound from what appeared to be a moribund political career.
I write about this unknown, two-term Texas Senator of a previous generation because he epitomizes political courage. In politics, courage is the virtue that offsets the all too common impulse of political expediency. When Ralph Yarborough voted for Lyndon Johnson’s civil rights legislation, he did so in spite of the legislation’s unpopularity among many in his white constituency. At the White House, Yarborough’s onetime rival in Texas politics displayed the same virtue in his pursuit of civil rights legislation. Upon its passage, Johnson famously noted that the Democratic Party "had lost the South for a generation."
This willingness to legislate without an obsessive mindfulness of the next election, however, is not the revered virtue that it should be and the ongoing fight for health care reform reflects this tragic reality. This past week, a video of New York Congressman Eric Massa, a supporter of President Obama’s healthcare proposal, went viral in which the Congressman declared that he would vote against the popular opinion of his constituents for the sake of doing the right thing with regard to health care reform. While I applaud Congressman Massa for his unapologetic declaration of political courage, people have reacted angrily against the Congressman.
According to many opponents of health care reform, Massa’s comments epitomize political tyranny. In the wake of a bestselling book titled Liberty and Tyranny by conservative radio host Mark Levin, tyranny has become the label of choice that opponents of health care reform ascribe to pro-reform elected officials. This sign, from a participant in a tax day teaparty, illustrates this notion of tyranny: It reads: "When the government fears the people there is liberty...When the people fear the government there is tyranny."
This notion of tyranny parallels the thoughts of C.S. Lewis who writes that: ""Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive... the robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
Lewis’s notion of tyranny renders Senator Ralph Yarborough a tyrant. According to Lewis any legislator who casts a vote against the popular will of his constituents is a tyrant. This outline of tyranny that binds our political leaders to the will of the American populace would have endangered the passage of some of the most critical pieces of legislation in our country. The most poignant example I can think of is the civil rights legislation that Senator Yarborough so courageously voted for.
In order for society to progress, unpopular legislation must be passed and it takes courageous politicians like Ralph Yarborough to ensure its passage. The tyranny that Lewis condemns discourages the type of courage needed to offset our elected officials’ politically expedient impulses. Without courageous leaders like Eric Massa and Ralph Yarborough, our elected political leaders are captive to the tyranny of public opinion.
As Democratic Senators like Max Baucus and Kent Conrad water down President Obama’s health care proposal, let us revive the virtue of political courage. Legislators should always consider the preferences of their constituents when it’s time to cast a vote but those preferences do not have to override his or her personal convictions. Senators Baucus and Conrad could learn a lot from Senator Yarborough’s legacy. Congressman Eric Massa clearly has and I hope his learning curve carries over to the chamber that Senator Yarborough used to grace with his courage.