Public Watchdog.org

4th Of July, 2016: A Rededication To Courage

07.04.16

Two hundred forty years ago the Founders of this country declared independence for the colonies.

It was not a safe act.

As many of us learned back in grade school civics, John Hancock reportedly signed the Declaration of Independence with so prominent a signature because he wanted King George III to be able to read it without his glasses. What many of us may have forgotten, however, is that Hancock’s signature was a declaration of war and an act of treason punishable by death – which Ben Franklin alluded to in his quote:

“We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”

Those 56 men who signed the Declaration knew that they were putting not only their own lives in danger but, also, the lives of their families. All for the sake of the liberty we’ve enjoyed for 240 years. 

But for how many more? 

What those Founders did took a virtue that seems sorely lacking in government today, especially here in Illinois: courage. 

The role of courage as central to freedom and happiness is a recurring theme throughout history. 

The Greek historian Thucydides observed that: “The secret to happiness is freedom… And the secret to freedom is courage.” Twenty three centuries later, Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis attributed the same philosophy to the Founders, stating that they “believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty.” 

To Harry S Truman, “America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.” 

Even America’s most well-known duke, John Wayne, weighed in with: “Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway.” 

Unfortunately, even back in the 1960s President John F. Kennedy warned that “a nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today – and in fact we have forgotten.”

He was right…and prescient.

Today, when it comes to government at every level, courage seems to have been replaced by the three “C”s: conformity, cowardice and compromise.

Conformity, as demonstrated by public officials whose first question when confronted by a problem is a rote request: “What do other units of government do?”

Cowardice, as demonstrated by public officials constantly holding their moist fingers to the wind and seeking informal “consensus” rather than proposing their own fully-formed ideas for an up-down vote.

Compromise, because those officials know that the more sets of fingerprints on a bad idea, the more people there will be to share the deniability and blame.

Conformity, cowardice and compromise are not virtues but vices. And as Texas politician Jim Hightower once said: “Even a dead fish can go with the flow.”

On this day that we honor the monumental courage of the Founders, we should also dedicate ourselves to proving worthy of their courage with courage of our own – and to demanding the same from our public officials, while remembering Thomas Jefferson’s encouraging words: 

“One man with courage is a majority.” 

To read or post comments, click on title.

9 comments so far

Great piece, kudos Bob.
And we saw our State’s “leaders” exhibit the exact opposite last week with their 6 month budget. I’m truly disgusted with what passes as “leadership” in Springfield.

Hoping November brings change…

EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks, alderman.

We know what to expect from Madigan and Cullerton, but Rauner’s caving – even partially – to those other two rogues was sad to see.

Agreed, but that means Republicans earning victories over Madigan’s puppets.

Courage has been lost except for our military people.

I’d like to see our representatives have the courage to stand up to the unions rather than give them whatever they want for no more work and no better work.

Another quote which supports what you’re saying is “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” Steve Jobs

You hit the nail on the head, and you picked a great day to do it.

One of the primary failures of the Baby Boomer generation was their own lack of courage (at least after college or military service during Vietnam) and the way they coddled their kids so that they have no courage either (other than those in military service).

We’ve become a nation of finger lickers.

Speaking of courage, not a lot shown by the head of the FBI. I always thought that if you intended to do the act, and the act was a crime, you had criminal intent. I guess Hillary is just too formidable to screw with.

EDITOR’S NOTE: National politics is above our pay grade.

Your 3 Cs are spot-on. They are the reasons why stupid and even corrupt conduct continues to be replicated from one gov’t unit to another.

Mayor Schmidt led the way on transparency and accountability, and “his” city councils have continued to follow in ways that the city’s former attorney called unique and unlike what the lemmings in other communities have been doing.

Death to the 3 Cs. Long live H.I.T.A.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Hear hear!

You overlook the courage displayed by the District 64 school board, which courageously continues to hide its activities in closed session despite your constant criticism, and which continues to disregard standardized test results and rankings while bragging about the schools and the great job the superintendent is doing.

What you call the “Borrelli Board” is a profile in courage. Somebody should write a book about it.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Where are JFK and Theodore Sorenson when we need them!

Courage begets honor, fear begets shame.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Hey, that’s pretty good. Who said it?

“Even a dead fish can go with the flow.”

Ain’t that the truth! But do dead fish float in schools? Or on school boards?

EDITOR’S NOTE: They sure do…just look at the floaters over at D-64 and D-207.



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