1950 – Maine Sen. Margaret Chase Smith’s Declaration of Conscience:
“It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques – techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.”
2020 – Utah Sen. Mitt Romney’s “Declaration of Conscience”:
“I will only be one name among many, no more, no less, to future generations of Americans who look at the record of this trial. They will note merely that I was among the senators who determined that what the president did was wrong, grievously wrong. We are all footnotes at best in the annals of history, but in the most powerful nation on Earth, the nation conceived in liberty and justice, that distinction is enough for any citizen.”
Just like Margaret Chase Smith has been remembered as a prominent voice of conscience and integrity, so will Mitt Romney be remembered for his bravery and moving honesty. And even though most of us do not know or remember the names of her fellow senators, we know that it will most likely be many years from now when we will have forgotten the names of those who so blindly, or not, joined the Trump cult.
I fervently hope that after Nov. 3, 2020, the entire cast of “The Apprentice” will disappear into the annals of American history. They and their views are the antithesis of what both these senators stood for.
Ineke Schair
Freeport
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