On a wet-snow-covered day , yet very pleasant afternoon, recently, I visited with my cousin Ken Cox. He showed me his renovations around his old home place and a new airplane hanger, Ruby’s Place, lovingly named in memory of his mother. There his two pristine Cessnas were waiting for a fair-day’s flight.
On this visit, I was reminded of one of the great disparities within families which parallels what’s happening in Washington DC between opposition Parties. Ken and another Cox cousin, Lynn, have much in common; each is a retired commercial airlines pilot. Yet they are so far apart on politics, respectively Left and Right. Not that they would be polarized beyond civil conversation; however, they without a doubt represent the boundary of political opposites.
I believe my two cousins, in their backgrounds, similar raisings, faiths, family and careers, have much on which to find common ground. Likewise, Washington DC, with just a little effort, could find solid footing to work together on many crucial issues facing our Nation, notwithstanding many legitimate differences. It’s “the effort” that possibility seems being proven by South Carolina’s Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. In Healing America –Part II I mentioned Graham as “a politician trying to display some sense of decency who mustered courage to refute and admonish those who spew the venomous verbiage of ill-will, hate and fear-mongering falsehoods toward our president.”
Of recent my estimation of Senator Graham continues to grow even more substantially.
Thomas Friedman writes How the G. O. P. Goes Green: Graham says, “I have been to enough college campuses to know if you are 30 or younger this climate issue is not a debate. It’s a value. These young people grew up with recycling and sensitivity to the environment — and the world will be better off for it. They are not brainwashed. ... From a Republican point of view, we should buy into it and embrace it and not belittle them. You can have a genuine debate about the science of climate change, but when you say that those who believe it are buying a hoax and are wacky people you are putting at risk your party’s future with younger people. You can have a legitimate dispute about how to solve immigration, but when you start focusing on the last names of people the demographics will pass you by.” “Cap-and-trade as we know it is dead, but the issue of cleaning up the air and energy independence should not die — and you will never have energy independence without pricing carbon,” Graham argues. “The technology doesn’t make sense until you price carbon. Nuclear power is a bet on cleaner air. Wind and solar is a bet on cleaner air. You make those bets assuming that cleaning the air will become more profitable than leaving the air dirty, and the only way it will be so is if the government puts some sticks on the table — not just carrots. The future economy of America and the jobs of the future are going to be tied to cleaning up the air, and in the process of cleaning up the air this country becomes energy independent and our national security is greatly enhanced.” “The Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers need to tell my colleagues it is O.K. to price carbon, if you do it smartly,” he says. “We can’t be a nation that always tries and fails,” Graham concludes. “We have to eventually get some hard problem right.”
From the Wall Street Journal on closing Guantanamo Prison: Graham say, it is “the pragmatic thing to do in the overall war [on terror]. It’s an image problem for the United States and a practical problem, having a jail where presidents don’t want to send anyone. But a solution has got to be bipartisan. There’s no way the Democratic Party is going to walk off a political cliff here without Republican support, nor should they.” In addition, Graham , along with Kenneth Starr and others, has rebuked Liz Cheney’s outlandish accusations of the Department of Justice choosing defense attorneys for terror detainees.
After failing to find common ground on anything in a meeting with 30 tea partiers, Graham comments to Newsweek, Learning to Love Lindsey: "At times, elements of the base have a mentality that 'I can't win if the other guy gets anything,?" Graham laments. "It's not enough that you agree with them on the issue. You have to hate the other side."
We Cox boys don’t hate anybody. We have some different views, but our roots and commonalities lift us to common ground. Graham has regained the common-ground message, i.e. try to work together where possible, a most important lesson for our congress from both sides of the aisle.
Graham’s praxis is in stark contrast to his fellow SC Senator, Jim DeMint, another anomaly . It will be interesting to see which of these two sides win out come election time in South Carolina. Indeed, for the south, which of these contrasting views win out? Will our nation go forward or continue taking steps back?
While Graham has been harshly critical at times about this administration, he has come to a new reality over the last several months. He returned to his roots, his raising, and recovered his gentleman status. And, that’s the lesson and test for our country and all its citizens.
On this visit, I was reminded of one of the great disparities within families which parallels what’s happening in Washington DC between opposition Parties. Ken and another Cox cousin, Lynn, have much in common; each is a retired commercial airlines pilot. Yet they are so far apart on politics, respectively Left and Right. Not that they would be polarized beyond civil conversation; however, they without a doubt represent the boundary of political opposites.
I believe my two cousins, in their backgrounds, similar raisings, faiths, family and careers, have much on which to find common ground. Likewise, Washington DC, with just a little effort, could find solid footing to work together on many crucial issues facing our Nation, notwithstanding many legitimate differences. It’s “the effort” that possibility seems being proven by South Carolina’s Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. In Healing America –Part II I mentioned Graham as “a politician trying to display some sense of decency who mustered courage to refute and admonish those who spew the venomous verbiage of ill-will, hate and fear-mongering falsehoods toward our president.”
Of recent my estimation of Senator Graham continues to grow even more substantially.
Thomas Friedman writes How the G. O. P. Goes Green: Graham says, “I have been to enough college campuses to know if you are 30 or younger this climate issue is not a debate. It’s a value. These young people grew up with recycling and sensitivity to the environment — and the world will be better off for it. They are not brainwashed. ... From a Republican point of view, we should buy into it and embrace it and not belittle them. You can have a genuine debate about the science of climate change, but when you say that those who believe it are buying a hoax and are wacky people you are putting at risk your party’s future with younger people. You can have a legitimate dispute about how to solve immigration, but when you start focusing on the last names of people the demographics will pass you by.” “Cap-and-trade as we know it is dead, but the issue of cleaning up the air and energy independence should not die — and you will never have energy independence without pricing carbon,” Graham argues. “The technology doesn’t make sense until you price carbon. Nuclear power is a bet on cleaner air. Wind and solar is a bet on cleaner air. You make those bets assuming that cleaning the air will become more profitable than leaving the air dirty, and the only way it will be so is if the government puts some sticks on the table — not just carrots. The future economy of America and the jobs of the future are going to be tied to cleaning up the air, and in the process of cleaning up the air this country becomes energy independent and our national security is greatly enhanced.” “The Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers need to tell my colleagues it is O.K. to price carbon, if you do it smartly,” he says. “We can’t be a nation that always tries and fails,” Graham concludes. “We have to eventually get some hard problem right.”
From the Wall Street Journal on closing Guantanamo Prison: Graham say, it is “the pragmatic thing to do in the overall war [on terror]. It’s an image problem for the United States and a practical problem, having a jail where presidents don’t want to send anyone. But a solution has got to be bipartisan. There’s no way the Democratic Party is going to walk off a political cliff here without Republican support, nor should they.” In addition, Graham , along with Kenneth Starr and others, has rebuked Liz Cheney’s outlandish accusations of the Department of Justice choosing defense attorneys for terror detainees.
After failing to find common ground on anything in a meeting with 30 tea partiers, Graham comments to Newsweek, Learning to Love Lindsey: "At times, elements of the base have a mentality that 'I can't win if the other guy gets anything,?" Graham laments. "It's not enough that you agree with them on the issue. You have to hate the other side."
We Cox boys don’t hate anybody. We have some different views, but our roots and commonalities lift us to common ground. Graham has regained the common-ground message, i.e. try to work together where possible, a most important lesson for our congress from both sides of the aisle.
Graham’s praxis is in stark contrast to his fellow SC Senator, Jim DeMint, another anomaly . It will be interesting to see which of these two sides win out come election time in South Carolina. Indeed, for the south, which of these contrasting views win out? Will our nation go forward or continue taking steps back?
While Graham has been harshly critical at times about this administration, he has come to a new reality over the last several months. He returned to his roots, his raising, and recovered his gentleman status. And, that’s the lesson and test for our country and all its citizens.
