Unlike most college professors, I have been in the military. This was during the Viet Nam War and although I did not serve in combat, I met many brave people who did. I thus know first hand that they had strong backbones. While they did not want to die, they were prepared to put their lives on the line to protect our country.
I am also aware of the many heroic deeds of our first responders. We saw this during 9/11. We likewise see it in the news when the police rush toward the sound of gunfire. Despite the many insults they endure, they continue to function with honor.
Meanwhile, as a college professor, I witness the opposite. Many of my students do not want to be confronted with opinions they find loathsome. Instead they demand safe places from which to hide from what are now called micro-aggressions.
Lots of my colleagues are also reluctant to deal with uncongenial arguments. Hence, in the over a quarter of a century in which I have offered to publically debate political issues, only once have I been accommodated. Even then, there was no rematch.
Nevertheless, it is in politics that we find the most faintheartedness. Time and again we see politicians sidestepping difficult issues. They instead discover excuses for why they should do nothing rather than offend their constituents. Very few provide what president John Kennedy described as “profiles in courage.”
The immigration issue is a case in point. Despite the pressing nature of the problem and the many reasonable proposals on the table, a huge number of legislators prefer to blame their opponents rather than support bills some find objectionable.
Ronald Reagan, however, was a great president because he was prepared to take the heat. To wit, he brought a roaring inflation under control by being willing to raise interest rates. While others feared that voters would hate the short-term pain, he persisted in doing the right thing.
Reagan also had the mettle to stick to Star Wars even though he was subjected to withering ridicule. As it happened, he was correct about the fragility of the Soviet Union, whereas his critics were not. The Cold War was won because he had the courage of his convictions.
Today we again see a president with personal fortitude. Donald Trump has been depicted as a fool and a nitwit, but seldom has he been congratulated on his bravery. We all know that he has a thin skin. We see it in the provocative tweets directed against his critics.
What has been less remarked at is that he keeps going in the face of the most contemptuous derision any American president has ever received. Other chief executives, in contrast, have been so wary of reproach they caved even before a policy was set in motion.
Let us consider the latest kerfuffle over trade. Trump has accurately identified the imbalance in international commerce. Notwithstanding their many peons to free trade, foreign nations have erected numerous barriers to our goods.
The question is what to do about it. Trump has seized the nearest weapon at hand. He has not only threatened, but imposed higher tariffs on the worst offenders. They, in turn, have raised theirs. While the president describes this as the opening salvo of a serious negotiation, his detractors fear a disastrous trade war.
Whenever a new levy is put in place, politicians race to a microphone to complain that this hurts their voters. They instead demand immediate results. Having no will to endure the displeasure of the home folks, they recommend instantaneous capitulation.
Unlike Trump, they do not understand that negotiations take courage. Of course the other side does not want to give in. Those of us who have ever purchased a new vehicle realize that this does not call for raising the white flag. Sometimes we have to stand our ground, irrespective of our trepidations.
The mainstream journalists, no doubt, are the worst offenders. They scream to the heavens any time Trump does something that contains a risk. Like any college snowflake, they want a universe entirely free of peril.
What of the rest of us? Have we forgotten that we are supposed to live in the home of the brave? Will we run to the air raid shelters whenever we suspect that we might experience pain? If so, I guarantee that in the long run we will undergo a lot of it.
Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University
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