Quote of the Day: the Debt Ceiling Limit and the Demise of Political Courage

our political Quote of the Day comes from Walter Shapiro who in a CNN commentary asks whatever happened to political courage that once could be seen in Congress and at the White House. The key quote is at the end:

When it comes to policy, both Democrats and Republicans remain as stubbornly dug in as opposing armies in the trenches of World War I. Any glimmer of a compromise will never make it across the No Man’s Land of politics.

Sensible figures in both parties privately understand the folly of the current stalemate — and how it is risking the economy, the dollar and the credibility of American democracy. But, tragically, no one has the guts to step out of line, defy the partisan talking points and try to do what is right rather than merely politically expedient.

About the only place to find courage in Washington these days is in the card catalogue of the Library of Congress under John Kennedy’s name.

He effectively makes the case here that we are in a new era (I have alluded to that myself in THIS COLUMN). He begins it this way:

It is impossible to decide whether to giggle or weep over the debt-ceiling crisis. When it comes to clown-car politics, it is hard to top the temerity of House Republicans now demanding a constitutional amendment as the paltry price for approving government borrowing through the 2012 election.

But it also seems fitting to hang crepe over the Capitol as America faces the risk of becoming the first solvent nation ever to default because of the deadlock of democracy. The demolition derby on Capitol Hill makes you wonder about political courage — and why it has vanished from Congress and the White House.

Was the bravery necessary to vote your conscience and to defy the political fates ever really common in Washington? Or maybe the problem is with political ambition itself — and how hard it has always been for anyone in either party in any era to risk losing the next election.

What is particularly frustrating right now is that both liberals and conservatives who are not in politics understand the contours of compromise on the deficit. But major figures in Washington somehow lack the moxie to play against type and challenge the orthodoxies of party-line politics. But was there ever a time when Washington was filled with real Profiles in Courage?

In truth, there was never a golden age for political bravery in Washington.

But he notes that political life was different before the 24 hours political news cycle:
Back in the days of crisp white shirts and narrow ties, an outspoken senator who had angered his constituents — or a powerful interest group such as the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce — only had to fear letter-writing campaigns and mass meetings.

Yet even in this conformist Mad Men era, senators and congressmen boasted far more political independence than they do today. Both parties in Congress were broad coalitions with the Democrats, in particular, stretching from Hubert Humphrey liberals to Southern segregationists. Amid this ideological disarray, even masters of arm-twisting like Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson sometimes struggled to enforce party discipline.
He nails it: once up a time coalition building and aggregating interests was a priority. So was establishing at least some kind of consensus that could buttress even controversial policies that were enacted.

It is also worth recalling how amateurish electoral politics were in the 1950s. While some incumbents always ran scared, polling was a luxury mostly reserved for presidential races and the demands of fund-raising involved little more than picking up checks from party loyalists and interest groups.

Today, in contrast, it takes unusual gumption to be a free-range legislator in Washington. Both parties in Congress are narrow ideological groupings with little tolerance for internal dissent. In the House, moderate Republicans have become an extinct species, the political equivalent of the dodo.

What has happened?

But it is more than ideology that explains why Democrats and Republicans alike sound as if they were created in a robotics factory. Campaign consultants routinely lecture party caucuses on Capitol Hill about framing arguments, mastering poll-tested language and practicing message discipline. Senators and congressmen often complain that they are forced to spend half their time making fund-raising calls (even in nonelection years).

What this means is that they all know first-hand the potential financial cost of deviating from the party line.

The real damper to dissent on Capitol Hill is that almost everyone in Congress feels vulnerable from either the specter of an expensive primary or general election challenge.

Respected veteran GOP senators like Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, and perhaps Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, face the serious risk of not being re-nominated next year. In the last few days, Sarah Palin has used Twitter, Facebook and probably carrier pigeons to threaten the vengeance of the tea party movement on any House Republican who votes to raise the debt ceiling.

With re-districting still incomplete in many states, congressional incumbents are afraid of doing anything to jeopardize their safe seats. Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, who led this week’s right-wing revolt against House Speaker John Boehner over the debt ceiling, has already learned the dangers of apostasy. Republicans in the state legislature are talking openly about eliminating Jordan’s district as part of a redistricting formula under which Ohio loses two House seats.

Shapiro points out there has indeed been true courage shown…in spurts. For instance the 2000 incarnation of Senator John McCain. Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman (the Democrat the Democratic left loves to hate) and Wisconsin’s late Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone.

But after each recent election cycle, there seem to be fewer free thinkers on Capitol Hill — or thinkers of any kind. It is impossible to come up with a contemporary equivalent of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the Harvard professor who morphed into a four-term New York senator. Why bother to develop intellectual heft when you just need to memorize enough partisan attack lines to carry you through a three-minute interview on cable news? Small wonder that there has not been a single surprising sentence, let alone a full-blown original argument, offered by either side during the debt-ceiling fight.

And then he gets to the quote we put in boldface on top.

I would add another factor.

The popularity of talk radio and ideological cable shows have also served as de factor ideological whips to keep elected officials in line. These programs are hosted by personalities who become trusted friends to listeners who believe their (often biased and sometimes inaccurate) assertions, make the hosts’ outrage their outage and if you read and discuss politics a lot often puke up their riffs word for word as if its their own.

All of these factors together have made political courage as commonplace as pay telephones.

Read his piece in full.