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December 20, 2005
Principled but practical
To those of us who were around for his father’s tenure as governor, it should not be surprising that U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu is cutting his own political path in Washington.
As New Hampshire’s governor for six years beginning in 1983, John H. Sununu talked a tough fiscal line and bullied the Seabrook nuclear power plant to completion. But he was in no sense an ideologue. He served in flush economic times, and when state revenue swelled, he used the extra cash to build a new state prison and a new state mental hospital. An engineer by training, he paid attention to detail. My favorite photograph of Sununu from this period was of the governor sticking his head in the door of a legislative hearing, like a parent checking to see that the kids were behaving.
The acorn did not fall far from the tree. Earlier this year, John E., a first-term Republican senator, became a sales agent for Social Security reform. His pitch was not ideological. He knows the country must face this issue squarely, and he did his homework on the individual accounts proposed by the president and others. That Social Security reform failed was no fault of Sununu’s. When the issue comes round again, as it must, Sununu will be in it up to his elbows.
What New Hampshire and the nation have in Sununu is something rare. Sure, he votes the party line most of the time, but he is also true to his principles. That is what we see unfolding on the USA Patriot Act.
Sununu studied the act in detail and decided that certain provisions unnecessarily violated the civil rights of Americans. He tried to persuade his party and the administration to amend the act to remove these violations. When he couldn’t, he opposed reauthorization. But he also favored leaving the act in place for three months while Congress and the White House tried to reach a compromise.
Principled but practical: What constituent could ask for more in a senator?
Taking a cue from the president, rightwingers are howling about what they see as Sununu’s apostasy. This is part of the administration’s full-court press to justify increasing power and secrecy in the White House.
As Bush mounts the bully pulpit, he brings a huge advantage to the argument: There have been no terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11. Of course, the nation appreciates the security this attack-free stretch of more than four years represents, and it gives Bush credit for it.
Nevertheless, Americans should take special care in considering the executive branch’s accrual of power and secrecy. The president says consitutional checks and balances are working. This is a dubious claim. As a constitutional check on his powers, the president cites periodic secret reports about extralegal infringements on individual liberties. Is this really enough?
Rather than react instantly in the established shades of blue and red, Americans need to think hard about this question. Our country, at great cost in blood and treasure, is seeking to create the conditions for democracy in a nation recently ruled through ruthless power and secrecy. It would be ironic if, in our own democracy, we did not recognize the threat of overreaching executive power.
As citizens consider the facts and decide what they think, may Sununu’s studied and responsible stance on the USA Patriot Act be an example to them.
Posted by Mike Pride at December 20, 2005 09:47 AM
Comments
Excellent commentary!
Posted by: fullert at December 20, 2005 10:10 AM
The Senate's defeat of the USA PATRIOT Act shows that the majority of senators believe that our nation's security and intelligence services are greater threats to public safety than are the terrorists.
How outlandish.
Posted by: brent at December 20, 2005 05:14 PM