The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Terry Bracy
When the three active American Catholic Cardinals urge lawmakers to vote against funding ICE operations and condemn Trump’s brutal immigrant sweep, we have arrived at an unusual moment in American life.
Suddenly, the political is being judged through a moral lens. The tactics employed by Trump’s personal army are not just civil violations but a breach of the principles of human behavior taught by America’s largest established religion.
Politics and morality should not be mutually contradictory concepts. In a celebrated essay on the subject a generation ago, Congressman Mo Udall raised the bar far higher than is visible today. Udall addressed the responsibility of elected officials to lead and inspire with integrity and civility. He scorned the notion of Members of Congress profiteering in office and helped lead the effort to establish a House Ethics Committee to address dishonorable conduct. Prior to each of his Congressional campaigns he exchanged letters with opponents pledging to avoid personal attacks.
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Importantly, Udall was not a naive idealist. In surveys taken annually by Washingtonian Magazine, colleagues regularly voted him the most respected member of the House.
The scandals of that era aren’t even misdemeanors by today’s standards. There was misuse of House Banking loans, an FBI bribery sting called ABSCAM, Members caught turning stamp allowances into cash. Powerful congressmen and senators went to jail, and reforms were adopted. Then came developments that generated chaos, breaking our political institutions today.
The first occurred in 1977, when television coverage of the House proceedings began. Soon, the debate turned into a performance and, over time, attracted candidates more interested in publicity than legislation. Second, a young radical named Newt Gingrich turned after-hours televised speeches on CSPAN into nightly attacks on Democrats, whom he treated as enemies rather than colleagues and opponents. Gingrich preached that politics is war and led a revolt in GOP ranks that eventually landed him in the Speakership. Bipartisanship disappeared completely when his successor, Dennis Hastert, instituted a rule that no legislation could be considered on the House floor unless it enjoyed the support of a majority of his fellow Republicans.
A third development was the Watergate scandal, which cost Richard Nixon the Presidency and thrust the country into a year-long televised drama exposing a series of crimes committed by his senior advisors in an unnecessary attempt to secure an election Nixon won in a landslide.
Ironically, campaign reforms adopted in reaction to the scandal resulted in the first of a series of Supreme Court decisions that were to completely deregulate American elections. Less than five years after the reforms were passed, the Supreme Court in Buckley v. Valeo ruled as unconstitutional the new law’s limitations on individual contributions.
Over the next three decades, efforts were made by reformers such as Senator John McCain to write laws to place constraints on the sea of money drowning American democracy, but the courts would not cooperate. The Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United case flatly equated money with free speech, ending any pretense that U.S. elections could not be bought.
The final straw was the election of Donald Trump. The conditions were all there: an obedient Congress, loyal Supreme Court, and all agencies of the Executive Branch under tight control. These conditions were not unique. Five other recent Presidents have enjoyed congressional majorities, at least for a time: Carter, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Biden. Some even worked with friendly courts. But none arrived in office with the express intention to exploit the weaknesses of our system to divide and conquer. Only Trump did that. Moreover, he proved that it is now possible for a sitting President to violate not just the prohibition on private gain but every promise in the Bill of Rights without facing criminal prosecution.
Every political system produces a predictable result. The descent into current American governance began when civility disappeared, performance became the objective, and money became king. It only needed the right instigator to completely break the system.
The three Catholic Cardinals are the canaries in the coal mine, warning that a line has been crossed from the political into the moral. They are telling Americans that silence is no option in the face of systemic evil.
Terry Bracy has served as a political adviser, campaign manager, congressional aide, sub-Cabinet official, board member and as an adviser to presidents.
