A vote for Kevin McCarthy is a vote for cowardice

There are heroes and cowards all around us every day. Each of us carries the DNA for heroism and cowardice. Each of us has the capacity to rise to the occasion, as each has the capacity to shirk duty and obligation. Courage comes in many forms. Cowardice is singular.

Both are contagious, and that is why the character of men and women matter in political life. Societies that lack courage and bravery die. Societies led by cowards perish. There have always been cowards in America. They have never prevailed. Yet, they have never been defeated.

Heroism and cowardice will always exist. Neither is possible without the other. Each is a measurement of strength and weakness that must be accounted for because without the accounting there can be no moral gravity. There can be no great deeds or transcendent moments without courage.  Without courage, no ordinary day can ever become an exceptional one. Without courage, there can be no Rosa Parks. Without courage, there is no love because both are inexorably linked.

Kevin McCarthy is a coward. In fact, he is an exceptional coward. What political figures across our 246 years of history exceed his abasements and shirking of duty, responsibility and commitment?  Perhaps the answer lies in the astonishing number of Republican Members of Congress who have sworn to support the ambition of Kevin McCarthy to become Speaker of the House.

I defy anyone to put forward an example of similar obeisance and capitulation towards any individual across 117 Congresses. What type of person could conceivably vote for such a callow, shallow, obedient, transactional, disloyal, arrogant, dishonest and weak man as Kevin McCarthy?

The answer is the only politician more craven and less than the astonishingly perfidious McCarthy. In other words, the person staring at himself in a mirror before a vote for an unworthy man.

Governor Greg Abbott of Texas is a coward. The police of Uvalde, Texas, are cowards. Texas law enforcement is filled with cowards. It is filled with cowards who are covering up for the cowardice at Robb Elementary School where the police stood still and out of danger as children were slaughtered. Like I said, cowardice is contagious.

The cowardice of Uvalde matters because it is lethal in a democracy. It marks a level of decay and unraveling about which it is hard to speak. It stands opposite the bravery and sacrifice of the 9/11 first responders who ran into the Twin Towers — not away from them. It stands opposite the sensibilities of the generation that answered the call to service.

American politics has become the playground of moral cowards who place ambition and advancement above any sense of duty, responsibility or obligation.

American media has become the playground of moral cowards who place ambition, access, advancement and money above any sense of ethics, obligation or responsibility.

American business has become the playground of moral cowards who place power, money, and preference above any sense of ethics, obligation or responsibility.

Cowardice is a rot. It is a lethal virus. It is the lowest of vices. It is the most selfish of instincts. It is loathsome.

America is the most complex society in the history of human civilization.

Cowardice exists within it, but until it prevails, there will be hope that heroism will triumph. With the victory will come the achievements of justice and wisdom. Until that day, the struggle for the right is fueled by heroism, while the darkness is sustained by cowardice.

The choice of Kevin McCarthy isn’t just a choice for corruption, which a nation can endure. It is a vote for cowardice, which no nation can long endure.

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