What Would Margaret Chase Smith Have Done?

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http://markanderson.bangordailynews.com/2019/07/12/opinion/what-would-margaret-chase-smith-have-done/

Opinion, Politics
By Mark W. Anderson

The first national election in which I voted was 1972, the year that Margaret Chase Smith lost her U.S. Senate seat to Bill Hathaway. I am sure I must have voted for Hathaway, largely because of Senator Smith’s dogged support for American policies in Vietnam.

My early political inclinations notwithstanding, I find the Margaret Chase Smith Library and Museum in Skowhegan to be one of the best historical sites in Maine. I visited in June and it is a place every Mainer should visit The museum is attached to the Senator’s home and is filled with mementos from an active political life. Much like the Roosevelt “cottage” on Campobello Island, the Smith home evokes the feeling that famous people are just about to come around the corner. More importantly, the museum has obviously worked hard to document Senator Smith’s legacy and ethic of public service. You understand this by the reminders of the Senator’s creed:

My creed is that public service must be more than doing a job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people and to the nation with full recognition that every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration, that constructive criticism is not only to be expected but sought, that smears are not only to be expected but fought, that honor is to be earned but not bought.

Central to the Smith story was her “Declaration of Conscience” challenging the demagoguery of fellow Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy. But this was just one example of her political courage; and one cannot help but wonder how she would act if she were a Republican Senator from Maine today. My guess from the story presented at the museum and in the history books is that she would have been appalled at the way in which Party has been put before country. It is always dangerous to play this game, but here are some examples of how I think she might have taken a stand today, even against her own Party in the Senate.

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