Many years ago, a historian with an interest in conspiracy theories told me “Oh, there’s always been skullduggery around Washington, D.C.,” after breaking down some of the finer points of the Warren Report.
It’s true. That town has always run on secrets. You don’t need to be a political insider to have at least some knowledge of classified briefings, backroom deals and all manner of budget hostage negotiations that take place behind closed doors. There is one secret, however, that shouldn’t require the investigative skills of a Sherlock Holmes, and that is the health of the lawmakers entrusted with governing 340 million Americans.
But here we are.
The recent flurry of headlines about Mitch McConnell’s mysterious health status – is he in hospital recovering or is he brain dead? – has shed light on a disturbing trend among the ranks of the political elite but also has proven that We the People just don’t deserve to know about the state of our lawmakers’ health. Recently, a photo of McConnell, looking pretty well, accompanied by a statement about his recovery, has had many questioning its validity.
For years, we have watched the Kentucky Senator experience a series of episodes in public, from freezing-up mid-sentence, to falling down while en route to his office. Every time those incidents have been followed with carefully worded statements; assurances that everything is under control, and an invitation for everyone to just move along. But that’s simply not good enough.
As Senate majority leader for a record-setting 18 years, McConnell was going to retire after this term but still wields an enormous amount of power within the upper chamber of Congress. I’m not one of his constituents, nor have I ever been, but I have sat back and watched as McConnell has abused his office and made a career off the taxpayer dime for decades.
We’ve seen this sort of thing with other politicians in recent years, too. There was many a gaffe and slip-up from Joe Biden during his four-year term as president, and most recently, we’re seeing a visibly unwell and declining Donald Trump, with swollen ankles, bruised hands and talking about “the Islamic republic of Japan” on the world stage.
Now none of us are entitled to know every detail of the medical history of McConnell, Biden or Trump, and these men haven’t surrendered their rights to privacy by taking the respective oaths of their offices, but there is a line to draw between private medical information and the public’s right to know whether an elected official is physically and mentally capable of carrying out one of the most consequential jobs in the country.
For a month, the American people, let alone McConnell’s constituents in the Bluegrass State, heard not a peep from the senior lawmaker.
McConnell has been in the Senate for 41 years, and in that time he has voted on declarations of war; trillion-dollar budgets; SCOTUS confirmations and policies that affect every one of our households. We the People deserve more than just vague press releases that sound as if they were written by a committee of spin doctors aided by attorneys.
While attention is rightfully focused on McConnell at present and the mysterious state of his health, and with the sudden, shocking passing of his colleague Lindsey Graham, who at 71, was a spring chicken, comparatively, it shouldn’t matter whether a lawmaker is a Republican from Kentucky or South Carolina, a Democrat from California or an Independent from Vermont. The standard should be the same for everyone elected to office. Public office does not come with a lifetime warranty.
Unfortunately, our Congress and the White House has increasingly come to resemble a retirement community, and leaders within both major political cults often remain in office well into their 70s and 80s, and while they accumulate decades of institutional knowledge, they remind us that they are not immune to the passage of time, despite all of their monied connections propping them up.
If ever there was a case to bring up serious conversation on that subject that career politicians fear the most aside from campaign finance reform (term limits), this would be it.
The Constitution creates a clear case for limiting our presidents to two terms, because we came to realize that no one individual should indefinitely occupy one of the most powerful positions on the planet, yet members of Congress can remain in office for 40 or 50 years, if the voters continue to send them to Washington, D.C.
Now before I go further, I am not an ageist at all. I don’t care how old or young a person is, as long as they possess the ability to do the job put before them. My former colleague on this page, Jim Powers, once told me that we, as a country, needed to stop electing old, rich men to high office, and I definitely see his point.
Longevity and experience are valuable, but eventually, experience reaches a point of diminishing returns when it is accompanied by nagging questions about whether an officeholder can fully perform the job. Term limits would not eliminate all of the problems present in our government, like they wouldn’t magically get the two warring cults of Red and Blue to stop their inane theatrics, nor would they balance the federal budget, but they would guarantee a healthier rotation of leadership and reduce the cringe-worthy spectacle of political careers extending to the point of making voters wonder whether they are watching C-SPAN or activities hour at an assisted living facility.
As for Mitch McConnell, there has been a trope online for years comparing him to a turtle, and while his features certainly do lend themselves to that funny joke, even turtles eventually retreat into their shells when their time comes. Nature, unlike politics, understands that to everything there is a season.
We the People deserve something better than whispered rumors and carefully managed optics that lead to endless parlor games whenever an aging lawmaker has another troubling public health episode. Transparency builds trust, while secrecy breeds suspicion.
Chris Edwards is editor of the Tyler County Booster, a sister newspaper in the Polk County Publishing Group. He can be reached at cedwards@polkcountypublishing.com.
