Courage

The 2004 election introduced a new word into the American vocabulary, a word that we see again in the news today, in a pattern that is starting to become all-to-familiar. "Swiftboating" is the act of denigrating a political opponent who happens to have a distinguished military record, by belittling the heroic acts for which his or her medals were earned. It's a tactic generally used when counter-arguments of substance have failed, and is taken as a sign of frustration. It happened to Max Cleland, a Democratic Congressman who had lost two legs and an arm in battle, but nevertheless was criticized for not giving enough. It happened to John Kerry, as we all know, and today it's happening to John Murtha.

What's interesting about the swiftboating phenomenon, which I have not seen widely understood, is the degree to which it separates the new majority Republicans from Democrats. Right-wingers are easily taken in by the denigration of courage, find it easy to appreciate an effort to bring down to size any person who has demonstrated what they believe to be an unattainable level of courage. Democrats, on the other hand, can imagine themselves in the shoes of a courageous person and are outraged that bravery isn't respected.

I think both personal courage and courageous policy follow this pattern. Democrats solve problems within their local sphere by getting personally involved, by joining local boards and councils, working with the homeless, educating children, showing their faces. Extreme conservatives wear white hoods when in public, send donations to out-of-state bigoted politicians, and lock themselves in their houses with guns and security systems fearing the "brown menace" they think is overrunning the country. Republicans who have demonstrated personal bravery often find themselves out-of-step and unwelcome in the Republican Party; many, like Bill Winter, become Democrats.

Courageous policy is also a hallmark of Democrats. Democrats were the only ones who could launch a journey to the moon, because conservatives would be too afraid of failure. Today it is Democrats who advocate engagement with all the nations and cultures of the world, as I've spotlighted with Bill Richardson and Jimmy Carter. Republicans are too afraid of failure, so they advocate policies such as bombing Mecca from across the ocean and building big walls to keep the world out. The invasion of Iraq was a pretense of courageous policy, sending the overwhelming force of the world's only superpower into a third-world country to overthrow a tin-pot dictator. It was done because conservatives were afraid economic sanctions and inspections, which had worked fine up to that point, might not continue to work in the future.

Democrats aren't afraid of people who are different, people whose skin isn't white, or who are gay, or disabled or gifted; we identify with them and support them as part of our diverse world. We touch and talk with them. Conservatives talk about them, from a safe distance, and try to persecute them by passing laws.

Courage is one of the big separators between Democrats and Republicans. When unscrupulous politicians build a mythology in the media about a "million-man army", weapons of mass destruction, and suspicious aluminum tubes, conservatives easily fall for it. They are open to a message of fear. Democrats recognize the ruse, and understand that the appropriate response isn't fear, it's engagement. Democrats boldly entered Colorado's complex and dysfunctional fiscal situation and took steps to solve it; the Republicans who had been in power and created the mess were afraid to try solving it, so they decided instead to focus on gay marriage. Democrats support scientific research and the business of technology, while conservatives promote "intelligent design."

I think we're finally starting to recognize that courage is a core Democratic value. If you're not afraid of tinpot dictators, or brown-skinned people, or change, or complex problems, yet you're registered as a Republican, you're in the wrong party. Click here to fix that.