Sep 15

All Valuable Hearts

I just witnessed something fascinating; during Judge Roberts’ nomination hearings in the US Senate, a senator from South Carolina offered his views about the value of all human hearts.

He’s not a cardiologist. No - he’s talking about the inherent, inalienable value of a person, regardless of their belief system. Regardless of one’s value system, they have a good heart. No small idea, that.

Let ‘er Rip
Often in this kind of exploration someone (a little too) quickly rebuts, “What about Hitler? Did he have a good heart?” That question would move us way beyond what I can share with you in this blog. Plus, it’s an example so far outside what most of us would deal with in our middle- and upper-class lives that I won’t delve into it here. Senator Graham does hint at that question in his remarks, so I hope you keep reading.

By all means, let’s examine that question in rich dialogues with our friends and colleagues. If we do it well, we will learn a lot about each other and our individual selves. Anyone who wants to explore the subject via email, drop me a note. Start us off with some of your ideas.

The South Carolina Senator was in safer territory; he was talking about the hearts of US Supreme Court justices, and more broadly, everyone in the judiciary. No small idea, that, either.

Open Philosophy
Before I link you to what he said, I want to say what I think he was really doing. By saying that despite the fact you may have a different value system from mine, you have a good heart. I might consider your values wildly different from mine, or downright dangerous, but I still know that you are loved, and you love. I know you are lovable, too. So, I think Senator Graham was sharing with everyone a significant philosophy. It takes courage to do that - to share that sort of thing, especially when it’s controversial.

To view you as stupid or ignorant or a bleeding heart, or cold-hearted would be to view you with a hard heart. Naturally, I’m free to view you with whatever kind of heart I want…or already have. But, that doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that, in my worldview, you are inherently valuable.

A society, a company, a family won’t work if, as Senator Graham says, “the only way you can have a good heart is [for you to] Adopt my value system…”

No, your heart and mine, the heart of your stupid sister, the heart of your cantankerous coworker, your bossy boss’s heart, the heart of your sweetheart and the sweet heart of innocent newborn are all the same…equally good. In the context of a senate confirmation hearing, I love that Senator Graham had the courage to talk about something so un-hard.

For what it’s worth - Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is a Republican.

The Transcript
Here is the transcript of the senator’s interesting remarks:

Senator Graham Press Release
Date: 09/15/2005
Senator Graham Questions Judge Roberts on the Final Day of Confirmation Hearing

SPECTER: Senator Graham, you are recognized.

GRAHAM: Yes, Mr. Chairman, just for a couple of minutes.
I’m trying to compile questions from the past where the answers were very similar to the answers of Judge Roberts about, I can’t comment, I can’t give you — I can’t answer your question because it may compromise my integrity to judge in the future. And I would ask permission of the committee to get a chance to organize this because there are so many volumes.

And what I would like to be able to demonstrate to the committee is that the pattern that he has displayed in terms of saying, I can’t give you an answer because it may disqualify me is not unique to the Senate and very similar to past nominations. And we’ve got some examples of that.

But if I may, and I know we’ve been here and Lord knows this guy’s been through the wringer, I just want to comment a little bit an unhealthy area I think we find ourselves in [during] the last hour.

Most of us are lawyers, and I would hate to be judged by the people I’ve represented in the past totally.

I’ve represented some people that are not very nice.

(LAUGHTER)

But I gave them my all.

I’ve represented people on Air Force bases that were so unpopular, Judge Roberts, that no one would eat with me, because it was my job as the area defense counsel to represent that person.

Your heart — nobody can question your intellect, because it would be a question of their intellect to question yours…

(LAUGHTER)

… so we’re down to the heart. And is it all coming down to that?

Well, there are all kind of hearts. There are bleeding hearts and there are hard hearts. And if I wanted to judge Justice Ginsburg on her heart, I might take a hard-hearted view of her and say she’s a bleeding heart. She represents the ACLU. She wants the age of consent to be 12. She believes there’s a constitutional right to prostitution. What kind of heart is that?

Well, she has a different value system than I do. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a good heart.

And I want this committee to understand that if we go down this road of putting people’s hearts in play, and the only way you can have a good heart is, Adopt my value system, we’re doing a great disservice to the judiciary.

Thank you.

SPECTER: Thank you very much, Senator Graham.

Thank YOU Senator Graham.

Uncategorized