February 5, 2020: Your Father's Romney, From The Shadows, His Father's Son

“Romney wrestled with his conscience and his conscience won”.

           ----from “The Quotations of Chairman Joe”

It was a desperate struggle, and by all accounts a close thing. But in the end, the inner soul of the Mormon from Utah finally pinned 'Mitt' to the mat. Mitt Romney then rose and stood in the well of the senate and announced that he would be the first Senator in the history of this republic to vote to convict a sitting president of his own party. At long last, the well-greased weather vane had found true truth, and it was a majestic sight to see.

Willard 'Mitt' Romney is the former Governor of Massachusetts and now Republican Senator from Utah. He is also the son of former Governor of Michigan, George Romney. George came to national prominence as the Chairman and CEO of American Motors which, in the late 1950's, was the third largest manufacturer of automobiles in the United States. He parlayed that profile into a political career, first leading the convention that re-wrote the Michigan constitution and then becoming Governor of the state by defeating the Democratic incumbent in 1962. By 1968 he was serving his third term when he announced that he would seek the Republican presidential nomination. At the time he was considered to be the most serious challenger to former Vice President Richard Nixon. He had the backing of Nelson Rockefeller and the 'eastern establishment'. He was rightly seen as a heavyweight contender for the nomination.

Then, a reporter asked him about Viet Nam. He had growing doubts about the war and didn't see it ending soon. He didn't accept that the 'corner had been turned', that there was 'light at the end of the tunnel.' He responded not with the stock soundbites of assurance, nor the call for greater military action but instead told the nation that he had been misled; that he had been 'brainwashed' by the war hawks, diplomatic establishment and the pentagon. The remark, genuine and true, provoked a firestorm of ridicule and drove him from the national stage. But in the aftermath, there has always been this nagging doubt that weren't we all brainwashed?

George Romney always had the courage of his convictions. He knew when he said it what the response would be. The country lifted the word brainwashed from it's context and a firestorm of ridicule ensued. His best defense was that it was an unfortunate choice of words, but what other words would have sufficed? Had he said that he was misled made any difference? For the nation asked, incredulously, how can a man who has been brainwashed be president? Asking the same question by substituting the word 'misled' would hardly have made a difference.

You see, George Romney knew that to speak the truth required that the truth be confronted. There is no way to sugarcoat it. One must recognize when mistakes have been made. There are political risks involved, especially on the high wire of presidential politics. But George decided, in the wake of The Tet Offensive, to do the honorable thing. He declared that he had been misled.

George's son Willard, now known as 'Mitt', witnessed the calumny visited upon his father's head. He saw up close the cost of principle. He knows the vituperation and abuse that will almost certainly follow.  He had  watched the firestorm consume his father's career; he watched helplessly as his father was driven from the forum. Nevertheless, George has cast a long shadow, for as the din of battle receded a nagging doubt emerged that perhaps all of us were misled, perhaps we all had been brainwashed.

For each of us it is a long journey to emerge from the shadows cast by our fathers, to stand outside the comforting shade of convention, to find ourselves alone in the sunlight.

At long last, 'Mitt' has emerged from beneath the shadow of his father: a man who refused on principle to embrace the madness of Aynn Rand fictions and throw his arms around Goldwater; a man who campaigned on principle against the troglodytes of his own party in order to fashion a platform upon which he could govern his home state of Michigan; a man who could on principle admit a mistake and further admit that he could be and was misled on Viet Nam knowing that ridicule awaited; A man who could on principle put the interests of the polity ahead of personal ambition. George Romney was a statesman, his son a mere politician.

Until today. As Mitt struggled with himself his conscience whispered “what would your father do?” and therein Willard knew his answer. Today, 'Mitt' found his bearings and moved out of the shadow. Today, 'Mitt' became his father's son.

It is and will remain an act of extraordinary valor; an act for which he should and will be long venerated. To date we have had three impeachments and hundreds of votes for and against removing a president from office. Mitt Romney stands alone as the only Senator to oppose his own party and vote to convict. In a process wherein the Generation of Swine once again vandalizes our constitution and the institutions that it created, Mitt Romney stands alone, a true profile in courage.

Willard is your father's Romney. It wasn't the voice of his conscience or his god that he heard as he struggled. It was the voice of his father whispering in his ears.  George would be proud of his son.