Compassion and Compromise--Some Thoughts

In recent weeks, Rush Limbaugh has had some absolutely brilliant monologues regarding compromise.  Typically, we are led to believe that compromise is a noble, desirable event and the natural implication is that compromise is the goal in every confrontation.  This simply cannot be true.

As Rush so astutely observed, "Compromise is not a core believe.  It is a tactic."  Compromise is a frequent result, but it should come after a long and hard-fought battle over core beliefs.  It should never be the goal and the outset of debate and discussion in our political system.  The Founders envisioned a society with many competing interests and ideas, vigorously arguing for their point of view.  The more debate and argument, the less likelihood that one group would rise to unassailable power.  This notion should give the lie to the demands for immediate and thoughtless compromise as the desired ideal at the onset of any debate.

In our present political scene, we have conservatives--desperately clinging to the ideals of our founding as described and set forth in our founding documents--and liberals seeking to chip away at all aspects of our society and institutions.  Within this scene, we can see that any compromise by conservatives is a victory for liberals.  Any ceding of principles is a win for the progressive statists.

Now, that said, I return to the question of our individual civic duties.  Years ago, I began a career in law enforcement and determined to the best of my ability and understanding at the time that I would treat everyone the same--regardless of their position in the community, their last name, etc.  I did so with some inkling of the social costs that would be incurred.  I knew that I would likely be vilified, slandered and harshly criticized.  I had no idea, however, how brutal reality would be.  But I have never regretted that commitment and my efforts to live up to that high ideal, despite periodic failures and errors.

I now find myself engaged in a battle of principle--striving to communicate and drive the pursuit of high ideals precisely because I now know that striving for excellence is the path of real happiness and contentment.  As one observed, "Our lifestyle should be comforting, not comfortable."

My commitment has led me to engage my opponents and to demand that they cease dishonorable practices and behaviors.  I have engaged politicians locally, in the State and nationally, with varying degrees of success.  I have admittedly been clumsy in many instances and ineffective in communicating.  However, when I see something blatantly wrong, I feel duty-bound to engage and exert every effort to stop it.  

Well meaning friends and family have counseled me to stop, to compromise, to "move on," and a variety of other sheep-like solutions.  But I have made a commitment and a practice over the last decade and more to be a sheepdog--to confront wrong-doing and stand on the line and declare to those who would harm the flock, "You will not cross this line; not on my watch."

Now, it is a difficult task to assert bad acts without the implication of hatred or anger directed at the bad actor--indeed, it may be impossible.  Hence a war of words and emotions is likely to erupt and feelings are bound to be hurt.  But we have been warned that our Republic depends upon a populace committed to virtue and the pursuit of lofty ideals. 

 

It was John Adams who averred: "We have no government armed in power capable of contending in human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."

So the question then becomes, when, where, why and with whom do we compromise?  Where is the time and place for it?  Should Moses have compromised with Pharaoh?  Should Christ have compromised with the Sanhedrin and Pilate?  Should the Founders have compromised with King George?  Should we have compromised with Hitler?  When and where is the place to compromise our individual honor and integrity--our commitment to our core beliefs?  When do we countenance evil actions and say, for the sake of compromise that, "It's all good."?

Bill Bennett declared, "Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for?" (William J. Bennett, In a lecture to the United States Naval Academy, November 24, 1997, emphasis added.)

Where is the line?  What does it take for us to say, "No more.  This line you will not cross!"?  Charles Peguy correctly observed, "Freedom is a system based on courage."  I take that to mean that my freedom requires and demands courage on my part--that I stand for what I believe in my pursuit of excellence; that you have an equal duty to pursue your absolute best and stand firm in the principles you hold precious to that pursuit--that you and I are bound by duty to oppose everything from overtly evil acts to acts of rank mediocrity, especially in positions of power in our government.  We have that perpetual duty.  

Sadly, those with the will and courage to oppose the powerfully corrupt are most often called upon to stand alone.  As Mark Twain said, "In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."

 While there is certainly a cost to engagement, as I can personally attest, there is a far greater, crushing cost of cowardice in the face of corruption.  And sadly, our cowardice is not a personal anonymous shame.  It is a cruel slap in the face of those who have gone before, willingly sacrificing their "[lives, fortunes and sacred honor.]"  

We need to be aware of the efforts of the unscrupulous to declare themselves to be full of virtue, particularly when they are lacking any clearly observable evidence of the same.

For example, "compassion," in my recent experience, has been used as a blanket excuse and cover for cowardice, corruption, and incompetence.  We cannot be deterred.  There is no lack of compassion in the pursuit of lofty ideals.

I am reminded of a scene in the movie, 300, a fictional depiction of the true story of the 300 Spartans who stood against the massive Persian Army and successfully preserved the Greek experiment in Democracy that had such a powerful position in our founders' bank of political thought.


The Spartan king, Leonidas, was approached by a deformed and twisted Ephialtes, who asked to take part in the coming battle with the Persians.  Leonidas explained that the Spartan method of fighting required that Ephialtes be able to stand tall, with his shield interlocking with that of the man beside him.  This formed the phalanx that was the essence of Spartan combat success.  Ephialtes was bitterly disappointed and turned traitor to the Spartans.

The treasonous Ephialtes, in submitting to Xerxes, the Persian king, was assured of the king's "compassion."  He was told, "Leonidas demands that you stand.  All I ask, is that you kneel."


Beware the compassionate would-be tyrant that demands loyalty to him above all else, including true principles.


Again, Rush observes, "...the single word that has been used to create the most damage in this country is compassion..."

It is this twisted version of "compassion" that leads to catastrophic compromise of principle and truth.  We must be vigilant and never compromise ourselves to our knees before a tyrant.

"Let the American youth never forget," said Justice Joseph Story, "that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors; and capacity, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to their latest posterity all the substantial blessings of life, the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, property, religion, and independence."  

John Stuart Mill declared:  "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things.  The decayed and degraded state of moral patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."  Wars of words can likewise be ugly, but the same principle applies.

Finally, Daniel Webster correctly declared, "God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it."

I will close with yet another call to act; not in violence or hatred, but with sincere conviction and willingness to extend ourselves in a worthy cause.  We need not be perfect to engage, only willing!  We need to be willing to demand high standards of those we elect regardless of office.  We need to rid ourselves of the tendency for shoulder-shrugging acquiescence to circumstance.  We need to strive daily for individual excellence and demand it of those who would make themselves our masters.  

_________________________

"FAR BETTER IT IS TO DARE MIGHTY THINGS, TO WIN GLORIOUS TRIUMPHS, EVEN THOUGH CHECKERED BY FAILURE, THAN TO TAKE RANK WITH THOSE POOR SPIRITS WHO NEITHER ENJOY NOR SUFFER MUCH, BECAUSE THEY LIVE IN THE GRAY TWILIGHT THAT KNOWS NEITHER VICTORY NOR DEFEAT...

"IT IS NOT THE CRITIC WHO COUNTS, NOR THE MAN WHO POINTS OUT WHERE THE STRONG MAN STUMBLED, OR WHERE A DOER OF DEEDS COULD HAVE DONE THEM BETTER......

"THE CREDIT BELONGS TO THE MAN IN THE ARENA WHOSE FACE IS MARRED BY DUST AND SWEAT AND BLOOD, WHO STRIVES VALIANTLY, WHO ERRS, AND WHO COMES UP SHORT AGAIN AND AGAIN, WHO KNOWS THE GREAT ENTHUSIASMS, THE GREAT DEVOTIONS, AND SPENDS HIMSELF IN A WORTHY CAUSE.

THE MAN WHO AT BEST KNOWS THE TRIUMPH OF HIGH ACHIEVEMENT AND WHO AT WORST, IF HE FAILS, FAILS WHILE DARING GREATLY, SO THAT HIS PLACE WILL NEVER BE WITH THOSE COLD TIMID SOULS WHO NEVER KNEW VICTORY OR DEFEAT."

~Theodore Roosevelt~