One of the interesting aspects of academic political science today and more so the pundit class on our radio waves and television is the lack of the study of statesmanship. There is always a discussion of the latest poll numbers and who is up and who is down and what political maneuver one side is using against another. But all of those conversations are of politics and in particular the actions of politicians to try and shape elections to their favor. There is very rarely a discussion of statesmanship and what it means to pursue virtue in political affairs both as an activist and also as an elected official.
In terms of the academy you would be hard pressed to find a course in political science where there is an attempt to study what statesmanship is. To really understand the true meaning of the term you have to go back to the greatest philosopher in Western history to understand the philosophical foundation of the term. That philosopher would be Aristotle who wrote extensively on the subject and whose work stands the test of time. What can be concluded from reading Aristotle’s writings on statesmanship is that to be a statesman is about pursuing virtue in positions of power for the overall good of the people.
When it comes to examining historical figures who were statesmen and who defended the good of the people they served from the greatest harm the best example is Winston Churchill. He was the greatest elected official of the 20th century and he was actively involved in the largest armed conflict in human history. He was a man who lived an extraordinary life and who by the end of it was considered one of the greatest men of his time not to mention one of the greatest men who ever lived. One key moment in his statesmanship happened in May 1940 when he was chosen by his colleagues to become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. With the fall of France and the British Expeditionary Force stranded at Dunkirk he had to move quickly to save the men on the beaches to ensure that he could continue to wage war against Nazi Germany. The stand he took during that time saved Western civilization from a tyrannical death cult that ensured that freedom would not perish from the earth.
While Cathy Giessel is not someone in terms of personality similar to Churchill, she is a stateswoman who during the unprecedented times we live in has made important judgement calls on behalf of all Alaskans. The decisions she has made in the last two years will be remembered decades down the road for helping to have saved Alaska from fiscal ruin. Her road to becoming Senate President was not the one that most people within the Republican Party believe it to be. After the conclusion of the 2018 elections the Senate Majority went into a reorganization and her colleagues reached out to her to serve as the Senate President because she is one of the senior members of the Senate.
There was also a belief that because of her honesty and moral character and internal strength that she could handle the stress of the job. She made it clear to her colleagues that if it was their will for her to serve as the presiding officer then she would gladly fill that role. When she became Senate President and with the start of the 2019 session she sought to build a good working relationship with the Senate Minority Leader. Once she had established a good relationship with him she made outreach to the governor’s office to develop a good working relationship with the governor.
It became clear from the beginning that not only did the governor not want a good working relationship with her but rather pursue an insane approach to the budget process. When President Giessel made it clear to the governor and his staff that she and half of the Senate Majority could not go along with him on the fiscal policies he wanted the governor moved forward with his plans. Then, members of President Giessel’s own caucus decided to attack her and her colleagues over the decision they made. Things got heated fast.
Giessel worked in conjunction with Speaker Bryce Edgmon and rallied the legislature to resist the governor’s disastrous fiscal policies and tried and failed to override the horrific vetoes he imposed on Alaskans.
She continued to fight within her caucus to keep the Valley faction from attempting to create chaos within the Senate and refused to cave into the threats they were making against her. All the while she was receiving massive amounts of hate mail against her along with people calling her office and conveying their hatred towards her to her staff. On top of this she was getting emails and there were folks going on her official Facebook page attacking her daily and spreading lies and encouraging others to send her hateful messages. She responded to all of this by standing firm to her principles and by continuing to work with Speaker Edgmon on a path forward to the state’s fiscal crisis. To this very day she along with her staff are working on proposals to try and bring the state’s fiscal crisis to conclusion.
Her Valley faction colleagues have recruited a man named Roger Holland to run against her in her primary and despite the tough fight she faces she is not going down without a fight. In watching her leadership both as a staffer in the Senate last year and as a journalist this year I have been moved by the stand she has taken and her efforts to bring Alaskans together to address the fiscal crisis. She has acted in a bipartisan manner and has tried to ensure that when the legislature debates the fiscal future of the state next year it is about facts not ideology. For that reason she has defined herself as a great senator as well as an outstanding stateswoman. She is a Churchillian political figure for the times we live in and the entire state has benefited from her virtuous leadership. When her district goes to the polls this year it is my hope that people will consider her record in accordance with the insanity of the governor’s agenda and who stood in the breach.
Her opponent Roger Holland is an extremist who will pursue a course that will destroy the Senate as an institution and will impose the governor’s radical agenda on all Alaskans. If there are any doubts about her opponent, look who is supporting his campaign and there can be no doubt about what his intentions are for Alaska. In these times we live in, we need those who pursue virtue in public life and we need Republican elected officials who follow the path of Winston Churchill to save the things that make civilization great and good. This election cycle as in all others before it belongs to the people and as usual I hope and pray that virtue and the greater good will be on their minds rather than the siren song of short term desires.