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Following the lead of President Bush, I decided last
week to delve into Aristotle. What branch of Aristotelian philosophy the
president is interested in I have no idea, but I was poking around in the
works dealing with metaphysics and ethics, which have always been favorites
of mine. What is striking about Aristotle in these two works is
his intense devotion to the concept of the mean, or proportion. Whether he’s
talking about justice or the just man, he always comes back to the idea that
it is both an objective and subjective sense of proportion and moderation
that makes for a workable life or an effective system of justice. Extremism,
on the other hand, whether it be in politics, business dealings or plain
everyday life, is harmful and should be avoided. It was Aristotle, too, who said
that man is a political animal. We must assume, therefore, that whatever he
says about virtue and justice apply to all citizens, whether they be elected
politicians or not. But it is especially important that leaders of the state
avoid excess and hold to the mean. An interesting concept this,
and especially today, when extremism and ideology of all stripes seem to be
running rampant in our political system.
Take, for instance, the case of
state Sen.Tommy Norment (R-3rd). Norment, who by anyone’s measuring stick is
a moderate Republican, is in deep trouble with the right wing of his party.
Rumors persist that at least two contenders will try to unseat him, and one
of them, Linda Wall, insists that her campaign will go after Norment because
of his alleged liberalism. How Norment suddenly
metamorphosed into a liberal is anyone’s guess, but once you shuck the corn
and get down to the kernel of the situation, you realize that what the
conservatives are really worked up about is the fact that Norment had the
audacity to come right out and say that Governor Gilmore’s budget finagling
was, to put it mildly, inappropriate, if not suspiciously underhanded. Norment further stirred the
witches’ cauldron when he and other moderate Republicans purged 17 of
Gilmore’s appointees to state offices and educational boards. It was as a
result of a resolution sponsored by Norment that two recently appointed
members of William and Mary’s board of visitors were shown the gate because,
as Norment said, they lacked fund raising and corporate leadership
experience. As Senator Janet Howell
(D-Fairfax) pointed out, “The Republican Senate was appalled at the cronyism
of the Gilmore administration.” She
might well have added that Norment and other moderate Republicans were not so
much appalled as they were concerned about the injustice of Gilmore’s
subversion of the budget process and his inappropriate last minute
appointments. Obviously for Wall and the
conservatives she represents the Republican Party is a monolith devoid of
shades of meaning and hence devoid of proportion. There is no middle ground,
no room for moderation. Those, like Norment, who have the guts to criticize
what they perceive to be ill-conceived and erroneous, must be eradicated and
replaced by candidates who kowtow to the party’s extreme right wing. Only a
powerhouse like John Warner can swim unscathed in the waters of Republican
moderation, and even he has had to fight off a few angry sharks. Not unlike the case of Norment
is that of Andy Bradshaw. Bradshaw, another moderate, served for two years on the JCC board of
supervisors, and was praised by almost every member of the board for his
conciliatory approach to issues. He was eventually ousted from office because
he took an unpopular stand relative to the construction of an asphalt plant
in Toano. Rather than yield to those vociferously opposed to the plant,
Bradshaw, a local attorney, scrutinized the building and zoning codes and
decided that the plant met their requirements. Hence his vote in favor. Bradshaw admits that he knew
when he voted in favor of the plant that he might well be in political
trouble, and indeed he was. Nevertheless, he voted as he thought the law
required and took the consequences. As he put it, he didn’t vote for the sake
of re-election. And if that isn’t a refreshing point of view, I don’t know
what is. As he looks back on the last
few years, Bradshaw laments the fact that the present political milieu seems
to draw people from the ends of the spectrum, rather than from the middle.
This, he believes, leads to nothing but confrontation and an “in your face”
approach to issues. Aristotle couldn’t have said it better. The point is that there are
among us political leaders of good conscience, if not virtue. They are, to be
sure, few and far between, but they are out there, frequently risking their
political careers for the sake of proportion and rectitude. Far from
pillorying them for their courage, we should be lauding them and giving them
our wholehearted support. |
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lewleadbeater.com Copyright 2002 All Rights Reserved
email: LWL@lewleadbeater.com |
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