More Than You Can Handle: An Ode To Murkowski (and Others)

Observers are rightfully hammering Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski for admitting she didn't like Trump's catastrophic budget bill right after her decisive vote in favor of passing it.

Murkowski's actions, as has been noted by others, symbolize all that's wrong in American politics. But it did inspire me to write a little missive about people like her, in situations like this.

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They say "God doesn't give you more than you can handle."

But we know that's not true.

Sometimes, the weave of fate thrusts people into situations where to do the right, necessary, and crucial thing demands great moral courage, or great physical courage -- a fortitude that some people simply do not have.

They're tragic figures, in a sense (not quite as tragic as the millions of lives they destroy, of course). For they might be perfectly adept in other domains: kind parents, skillful administrators, prudent negotiators, incisive analysts. And these are virtues too! Nobody is great at everything, and most of us should be so lucky to not have to demonstrate great moral or physical courage in order to fulfill our most basic civic duties.

Unfortunately, for some, fate demands of them this specific virtue, and they do not have it.

But the tragedy, to be clear, is not an apologia. To the contrary, the tragedy is that this will be their sole legacy, and rightly so. The same person who, in a different role or in a different time, might be memorialized as a kind parent, skillful administrator, prudent negotiator, or incisive analyst, will instead be remembered for their terrible failure to rise to the moment. They may deserve pity, but they don't deserve forgiveness; understanding, but not salvation.

(Feel free to apply this John Roberts as well).