Courage? Get over yourselves!

We have a misplaced notion when we use the word “courage” in the political realm. When I worked in local politics, I saw very little in the way of courage. Instead, I saw much in the way of pettiness. Being a casual observer of human behavior, even then when I was a boyish young idealist being robbed of my conviction, I was able to clearly see the blatant self-interest and posturing around me.

Nationally when we consider our leaders actions we are frequent to utter the word courage in reference to either an uncharacteristic act of honesty or one of common sense.

Hillary Clinton showed courage for staying with her cheating husband. She has subsequently showed courage on the campaign trail going after the president, confronting critics, and defending her husband’s record as president. Please spare us from this America and vote for anyone, anyone but her.

Like Clinton, John Murtha showed courage for saying that the war was a load of “crap” (Murtha’s term and not mine) even when the whole world already knew this to be true. Even the president shows “courage” in the eyes of the media when he lies about the war.

Finally, now that elected Republicans are running away from the president faster than wasps from Raid, the mainstream media with its penchant for hyperbole is lauding the courage of these senators and congressman.

It isn’t courage to state the obvious. Also (and this is directed to Mrs. Clinton) it isn’t courage to do something that a focus group is telling you to do. It’s one thing to have a sense of conviction but lets not cheapen the deeds of the truly courageous by ordaining politicians with words that should be reserved for genuine heroes.

Modern politics doesn’t have heroes anymore – it can’t because heroes are real people – and politicians aren’t real. They’re a product of biological humanoid tissue, injected with a mutated and inflated sense of self, and topped of with a limited vocabulary of sixty power words of which “Insurgency”, “Amiable”, and “Alternative Energy” top the list.

Here’s an experiment to prove this point. Listen to your local Congressman at a town picnic and count how many times he says “I” or “me”. Go home and try to give the same speech into the mirror. If you are not unbelievably embarrassed by three “me’s” into the speech, you should run for public office. The rest of us sheepishly look away or stop and say “Oh God that’s just awful” into the mirror.

There may be a lot of other things in politics but there isn’t courage. I live in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I went running past a monument this morning to the First Vermont Brigade. On July 2, 1863 the men of this brigade conducted a forced march of thirty-two miles in 80 plus degree weather, over half of them suffering from sickness, just so they could be shot at. Later in the war, half of these men would be lost in Grant’s final Virginia Campaign. That was courage.

Courage is the 61st Pennsylvania on May 31, 1862. Facing three thousand Confederates, the 580 men of the 61st held their ground against a murderous rifle fire from their front, sides and after being surrounded, from behind. They continued firing until they had exhausted all of their ammunition. The remaining survivors then turned their rifles into clubs and beat their way through the Rebels at their back. At the end of the day 263 men and 48 officers fell, the largest proportion of officers to be killed, wounded, or missing in any battle of the Civil War. They fell because the officers were leading from the front.

These were, like our soldiers now, men from families, fields, and furnaces, who volunteered for service and suffered routine abuses only to persevere. When we talk of courage we should look for the man with everything to lose yet who still risks everything, for little personal reward. This part is crucial. These men weren’t fighting for treasure and stood to gain very little. They fought because they thought it was the right thing to do. They didn’t need a focus group to tell them to go out and get shot at.

So when we talk of a politician having courage, let’s remember what an actual thing courage is, and what a powerful standard we are holding their trivial actions to. In short, a little perspective goes a long way. There are other words for what Mrs. Clinton and company is doing. Courage shouldn’t be one of them.