“Justice must flow like torrents of water, righteous actions like a stream that never dries up.” Amos 5:24 (NET Bible). Since the day the president announced his candidacy, I have been listening for words of integrity, authenticity, and decency. After this period of close discernment, my mind and spirit became thirsty for truth and transparency. When I heard Mitt Romney speak out during last week’s impeachment, his voice was the voice of a statesman taking a stand and speaking his conscience. The words from the Senator, the “minority of one,” felt like the stream of water needed to replenish a long dry spell with decency and eloquence. Senator Romney’s politics are not necessarily my politics. But I also speak for my father who would have applauded the Senator for his courage. This post serves as a tribute to Mitt Romney – for doing the right thing.
A Minority of One
Dad’s diagnosis was vascular dementia. In the final 18 months of his life, he was admitted to hospice care. Seated in his wheelchair at the kitchen table, I was standing beside him assisting him with breakfast. At this point, eating was a slow process requiring one hour of spoon-feeding at each meal. During Dad’s breakfast, we were listening to a morning show.
I posed a conceptual question which, for most people, would have very likely required a pause for some thought. It was not a typical “yes-no” question such as those asked throughout the day: “May I help you to the table?” or “Would you like another blanket tonight?”
It was more abstract, a higher-order question inspired by a personal circumstance occurring in my own experience. It was triggered by something discussed on the morning show we were watching.
“Dad, if you’re a minority of one, does that necessarily mean you are wrong?”
His immediate response without a pause: “Absolutely not.”
A Far Greater Understanding
Looking back, this moment in 2004 is only one moment of countless times at the ranch that contribute to a belief about my parents, both diagnosed with dementia. I have no doubt that their understanding of events surrounding them far exceeded what any of our guests would have surmised.
My Father: Do the Right Thing
As a younger man, Dad even had a physical resemblance to the handsome Senator who, this week, became the “minority of one” or, as described on a morning show, the right wing media’s “new villain.”
Throughout my lifetime, Dad’s public persona would have been perceived as outgoing, having a quick sense of humor and dry wit, and someone who did not know a stranger.
In my pre-college years at home, I often saw a side of Dad that was missed by many. During these formative years, I would hear expressions of support and understanding for what we, today, would call “social justice.”
Dad was a common man with strong convictions who used his voice and, in his early years, generously served his community in leadership roles. On more than one occasion as I was growing up, I witnessed his being overcome by emotion in public – not unlike the Senator from Utah who dared to vote his conscience last week.
Beyond his high school graduation, Dad was self-educated and well-read. Both parents took us outside our comfort zone at times to introduce us to diversity not readily found in our small town at the time. I could think of a myriad of examples: Hosting a science teacher from India through a church program for one year … Stopping to attend a Sunday morning service at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation as we traveled through South Dakota on a family trip … Hosting international guests from the college on tours of the farm, and so much more. Both parents encouraged our international living experiences and became international travelers themselves in their retirement years.
During this last unsettling week, when hearing the Senator speak with such conviction, I reflected on my father’s GOODness – and lessons learned from him about courage.
Profile in Courage
Following the acquittal, all the president’s men and women filled the room for the “celebration,” clapping and laughing on cue during a celebratory speech.
The Senator had distinguished himself on the previous day, becoming a profile in courage. Speaking against a tidal wave, the Senator was one of few statesman-like voices to be heard in a long while. The lone courageous Senator emerged from an otherwise cult-like following of this president.
The vicious attacks which began in subsequent hours that day felt pretty brutal. Having traveled in repressive, authoritarian countries where people who disagree simply disappear, I found it to be, well . . . quite chilling.
And then, having the Senator’s faith attacked during a prayer breakfast the next morning . . . this was about as low as we can go. No respect. No decorum. No civility. If you’re not “on board” with this president, you’re a target.
So, in all of the muddled, chaotic events of the week, my thinking became a bit muddled. I began questioning, “Is this simply blind adherence?” Had senators lost their ability to discern right from wrong? As was projected, the vote was partisan, except for one Senator – Mitt Romney.
When Mitt Romney was referred to by the media as “A Minority of One,” it triggered within me the memory of my conversation with Dad in 2004. It was Dad’s crystal clear clarity and finality when answering a conceptual question about “A Minority of One.”
GOP Senators – They Know…!
Dad – in his final stage of dementia care, months after being admitted to hospice care – could still respond with clear discernment regarding his higher-level values. He had appeared to be as clear about what it meant as when he had coached me in my childhood to adolescent years.
If my father could speak with such clarity in response to a conceptual question at this stage in his life, then surely, the roomful of GOP senators clapping on cue must also be very aware of their “reason” to vote for acquittal. Their actions were being driven by intimidation by the president. What appeared to be loyalty was fear.
A lesson from my dad: They do know right from wrong. They were choosing to act based on fear and lack of courage.
Are these the people we want representing us in our legislative body? Where are the profiles in courage?
This Is Not Politics as Usual
The retaliation, the bullying, the smear campaigns of diplomats, the demeaning comments – all have a trickle-down effect throughout our culture.
It’s not the time to tune out and close down. This is simply and very sadly, not my father’s GOP. Like the Senator, Dad would claim nothing of it. Of that, I am certain. 
From Powerless to Empowered – Becoming Informed
What does all this mean for dementia caregivers who typically see themselves as being far-removed from powerful government institutions – and even far-removed from those in their own chain-of-command up the organizational chart?
Here are some ways the acquittal and re-election could potentially affect dementia caregivers:
- Invisible demographic: Since 2015 when the president announced his candidacy before taking the down escalator, I have listened closely. I have yet to hear anything about people living with dementia . . . as though this huge demographic is non-existent. His solutions for every other demographic were covered in the recent State of the Union address – but missing on this topic.
- More catch-22’s: During the impeachment trial, the president and GOP senatorial voices claimed there was “no evidence.” But if relevant witnesses and documents were blocked during the impeachment, how could there be evidence? If he were innocent, why did he block all evidence? Being trapped in mindless “catch 22’s” can be exhausting and difficult to follow. So, we are busy with our lives. We dismiss it as “politics as usual.”
- Climate of fear and oppression: Can truly authentic voices of leadership survive this repressive environment when decades-long careers are smeared and prematurely ended? What quality of life is found under autocratic rule when this kind of fear and oppression are so pervasive?
- Confusion about what to believe: What about your social security benefits to which you have been contributing? Medicare/Medicaid? – when the president freely states in one week that there will be cuts – and in the State of the Union address one week later, he states that they will be preserved? Which week’s message do you dare to believe? And what will this loose-cannon behavior accomplish if re-elected in 2020? Just one clue: He cares more about building a wall with his name on it than preserving social programs. He will be unstoppable.
- “…Undt too late schmart”: The president has frequently said he can do whatever he wants – and indeed, he has. Will we be “too late smart”? Can the next election save us? What is to limit this president, now legally unleashed following his acquittal, in asking for help from other countries in rigging the people’s 2020 election? If he’s already asked for help from other countries – multiple times – and his behavior is now unfettered, what prepares us for an uncertain future in which he is re-elected?
Listen. To. Every. Word. 
Tuning out is not an option. We need more voices like Mitt Romney who have the courage to be a minority of one. Yes, that kind of courage.
These are sobering times. Will the truth – eventually – set us free? As painful as it is to listen, we must become informed – truly informed – and not blindly follow the “Trump Speak” voices leading the political rally. Don’t be fooled. These voices exist to serve only one person.
The stakes have never been so high.
Author: Susan Troyer
