At a 30 percent approval, these days, few people have anything positive to say about Congress, or, for that matter, politicians in general.  Today, most people associate politicians with words like devious, greedy, and corrupt.  One word that's rarely associated with politicians is courageous.  Some might even argue that the phrase, courageous politician, would be considered an oxymoron, like idiot savant or human infrastructure.

Courage comes in many forms.  We're talking about moral courage.  In politics, it means putting aside personal ambition and party interests and doing what's right for the country.

Courageous legislators listen to their constituents and follow the conscience that each one possesses — at least in theory.  They hold fast in their commitments.  They're not swayed by threats or promises from political opponents or from their own party.

Politicians generally align with the party that meshes with their core beliefs, and yes, party loyalty is important in politics.  But too many elected officials these days seem to think party loyalty means surrendering their moral compass and their free will to party leaders.

It's not hard to see where legitimate party loyalty ends and moral cowardice begins.

For example, when lawmakers scramble to pass new legislation without taking the time to read the proposed bill, that's not moral courage.  It's blind loyalty to the party.

We see another clear example on our southern border.  That catastrophe can no longer be blamed on gross incompetence.  We've heard the reports and seen the images of countless numbers of illegal aliens being surreptitiously ferried to various destinations across the country.  There's no more room for excuses.  It's become clear that the situation on the border is a deliberate, malicious, and audacious defiance of our laws by the Biden administration. 

Congressional lawmakers know what national sovereignty means.  They know that the unrestricted flow of deadly narcotics across our border is killing vast numbers of Americans.  They know that the frenzied torrent of men, women, and children crossing our border illegally is hurting America.  They know those unscreened aliens are bringing with them crime, poverty, disease, and potential terrorism — all the problems they experienced in their home countries.  They know they will cause a profound economic burden to our welfare programs.  Democrat lawmakers know that Biden's open border policy spells potential disaster for our country.

But they say nothing.  By collectively ignoring the brazen lawlessness, Democrats are not just cowardly.  They're complicit.  Only one Democrat congressman, Henry Cuellar, has had the courage to speak out about Biden's border open borders.  A few weeks ago, Cuellar's home was raided by the FBI under vague circumstances.  This administration wasted no time using the FBI to intimidate parents protesting the growing radical curriculum in our classrooms.  In this environment, there's just no way of knowing if the raid on Cuellar's home was somehow justified or mere political retribution.

Two other Democrats, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, are now fending off real and vicious attacks by their own party because they showed the moral courage to speak out against Joe Biden's agenda.  

Biden blames them for the failure of his BBB plan.  In addressing the issue, he implied that the bill had universal support except for two — just two — people.  He displayed two fingers representing the malcontents.  He neglected to mention the 50 other senators who also rejected his plan.  Build Back Better was actually rejected on a bipartisan basis.  His agenda failed, not because of two obstructionist Democrats, but because of 50 rational Republicans and two courageous Democrats.  Maybe what the Democrat party really needs is more sheep in the fold.  

Politicians on both sides of the aisle have been guilty of moral cowardice, but loyalty in the Democrat party is not to be trifled with.  Democrats never let integrity stand in the way of party unity.  They mindlessly stand united, together embracing any radical idea they believe benefits the party — whether it's defunding the police, open borders, or Critical Race Theory.  They have no problem unanimously demeaning America as a systemically racist country.  They'll collectively label destructive riots peaceful protests, and they'll twist the term, voting integrity, to mean voter suppression, if they feel it will help them politically.  And they'll do it all in mindless unison. 

Mark Twain also had some thoughts about blind allegiance to a political party.  He voiced them succinctly: "Loyalty to the country always.  Loyalty to government, when it deserves it." 

Graphic credit: Jernej Furman, CC BY 2.0 license.