That is a saying that my parents drummed into my head as I grew-up, and it remains one of those rudders in my conscience keeping me on as even a course through life as possible. I was reminded of this rudder as I tried to comprehend the latest developments in the Republican Primary run-off race between David Dewhurst and Dan Patrick.
I have been critical of members of my own party when I felt they have not lived up to their political promises or the trust we put in them with our votes. Sometimes I have used very forceful language when conveying my criticisms.
For instance, I have made my political distaste for Senator Patrick and his tactics very public over the last few years, and I’ve even satirically likened his antics to the old comic strip character “Fearless Fosdick”. Recently, I described what I viewed as “the discord Senator Patrick has sown as he has blown like an ill-wind through Republican Party politics in this county”:
… From his abuse of his radio station to attack fellow Republican officeholders and candidates as they have had to pay him for advertising, to his declaration of “RINO hunts” against anyone he deems unworthy within the party, to his support for the failed status quo in our party administration in order to try to obtain and maintain political control over its apparatus, to his abusive demagoguery of the immigration issue in his latest campaign to savage his fellow Republican candidates without regard to how such vitriol will impact our party’s relationship to the Latino community for years to come, he has shown me, once again, that while he may have the political skills to win elections, he does not yet have the temperament to be Lieutenant Governor.
But my argument with Senator Patrick always has been political—his political tactics and strategy, his political judgment, his political rhetoric, and his political temperament and character—not personal. And I have supported his opponents in this primary because of what I perceived as their political strengths and his political weaknesses. Had his opponents verbally bludgeoned Senator Patrick with the consequences of his own political demagoguery, I would say that he had reaped what he had sowed.
However, that is not how this race is ending. No matter how wrong I may feel Senator Patrick has behaved—and continues to behave—politically, nothing justifies the recent personal attack on him over his bout with an episode of depression 30 years ago.
Nothing! Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Have we learned nothing about depression and its treatment since the embarrassing Eagleton episode 42 years ago?
Have we learned nothing about mental health generally over this time?
Most importantly, is this any way to treat a neighbor, or the message we wish to send to all of our neighbors who may have struggled, or be struggling with personal or family mental health issues?
I will not be voting for Senator Patrick in this primary—I’ve made that clear. Unfortunately, I can no longer say that I will be voting “for” David Dewhurst. I simply will hold my nose and vote for the lesser of two political evils in this race—and that is the saddest statement I can make about the state of this race.