Chuck Schumer’s astonishing flip flop to vote for the Continuing Resolution to fund the government through the remainder of fiscal year 2025 was if anything predictable. It highlights Democrat’s Achilles Heel: No convictions. What do they stand for? Nothing, it appears. Nothing they are willing to sacrifice for.
As America struggled with Trump’s blitzkrieg against liberal democracy during the first weeks of his presidency, I was disappointed in the silence of Democratic leaders. A lack of any coordinated response. I asked myself, “does America have a Navalny?” We used to. Folks like Martin Luther King Jr. or Euguene Debs or Lucy Burns. Folks willing to go to jail for a principle or closely held principle. If you don’t know who Navalny is, or was, you should. He was a Russian opposition leader and Putin’s nemesis. Jailed and poisoned, he managed to leave Russia for medical treatment, and then returned, facing imprisonment and almost certain life in prison or death. He was arrested on arrival, subjected to a show trial, convicted and imprisoned. He died in 2024 at age 47.
I was unaware of his last letter. While watching “Letters Live” on Youtube, and by chance, I stumbled upon actor Benedict Cumberbatch reading Alexi Navalny’s last letter. Chance being a weird word in a world of algorithms deciding what you see online.
Navalny starts the letter by explaining why he returned: “It’s actually very simple,” he wrote. “I have my country and my convictions and I don’t want to renounce either my country or my convictions.” He added, “If your convictions are worth anything, you should be ready to standup for them, and, if necessary, make some sacrifices. And if you’re not ready, then you have no convictions at all. You just think you do. But those are not convictions and principles, just thoughts in your head.” Navalny’s words about conviction and principle struck home. They were the confessions of a dying man. They weren’t trivial academic utterances of someone sitting in a leather chair, safe, and on a third scotch. This was real.
Chuck Schumer’s words ring hollow, he has no conviction or principle. And he is 79. Neither it seems does the other Democratic Party leaders. While I disagree with Trump and his party on most everything, they at least have some sort of driving conviction and principle and are willing to take risks, make mistakes, even make sacrifices.
Americans can at times lose their ways, but deep down they have an innate common sense. They know Trump is a con and a grifter, but to many he’s their grifter. On another level, they hate spineless shits who are afraid of their own shadows even more. They lose respect for those who don’t stand up for their own, don’t stand up for their convictions or principles, however, tainted or screwed up. That is an unforgiveable sin. The Democratic Leader are just such spineless shits.
