The little coalition that could have — but didn’t

In the wee hours of the morning of July 28, 2017 — as his colleagues waited with bated breath and with every eye upon him—U.S. Sen. John McCain walked into the Senate Chamber and delivered a thumbs-down (literally), squelching efforts to repeal Obamacare.

The bill had been killed by a coalition of just three Republican senators.

At a time of hyper-partisanship and near-lock-step partisan conformity, and in a legislative body where the two opposing parties are almost evenly represented numerically, it’s hard to overstate the amount of power that can be wielded by a small-but-steadfast non-conformist coalition from within the majority.

However, the prerequisite for such a coalition to succeed is: The members must understand the immense power at their disposal; they must also be willing to wield it irrespective of the firestorm that their actions and refusals to act are certain to unleash. It’s not an appealing path to walk.

Typically, moral outrage is the only motivator strong enough to provoke the unflinching resoluteness required to withstand the unimaginable pressures to which such renegades, dare I say mavericks, are subjected.

In the U.S. Senate, the late McCain and Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Flake and Bob Corker have come the nearest to resembling profiles in courage in their respective roles. To their credit, three of them stood on principle in the Obamacare vote. And they’ve all at times made strong statements about the repugnance of various presidential actions. But even this group of stalwarts has quite consistently fallen into line when the vote is taken. But it could have been radically different. Those five senators — or others — could have mitigated many of the excesses in which our president has enthusiastically indulged when he, as sources close to him have stated, acts on his “worst instincts”. They could have been the most powerful people in our nation — had they more fully understood the art of the deal, and had they had the courage to actually deal.

They could have said to President Trump, when his presidential modus operandi had become crystal-clear:

“If you want our vote — and without it, you have no chance of ever passing any legislation whatsoever — you must take a

HOME DELIVERY RATES crash course in human civility, honesty and ethics.

“Have no doubt about it: We will not tolerate the kind of trash talking that you so relish. It’s immoral. It’s uncivil. It’s inhuman. Not to mention that it sets a terrible example for our children, destroys the fabric of our society and diminishes our nation’s image abroad.

“A couple of examples: You must stop publicly emasculating your attorney general. And you must stop belittling the IQ of an African-American representative who has effectively fought for her constituents for some two decades.

“We won’t tolerate you playing fast and loose with facts. Truth counts. Make sure your information is correct before you go public with it. And when you discover that your statements are inaccurate, correct them.

“And don’t rip families apart at the border.

“Also, either stop trashing our highly treasured government institutions, or rest assured that we’ll block you at every step legislatively — not because we disapprove of much of what you’re trying to get passed, but because stopping your excesses will be dramatically more beneficial to our nation than passing your legislative agenda.

“Be assured: When decorum and civility and ethics prevail, we guarantee to be on board with you. But we can’t state too emphatically: There are prerequisites to receiving our support.

“Some of your most stalwart supporters try to excuse your totally unacceptable behavior by saying, ‘But he’s a different kind of president.’ Indeed you are.

“So we’re putting you on notice that you’re not the only different kind of operator in Washington, D.C. Our small coalition of senators represents a different kind of senator. And you’re going to have to learn to deal with that fact — because we put certain crucial values ahead of popularity and getting re-elected.”

Such a coalition hasn’t emerged. Such power hasn’t been wielded. And a tragic downward trend in our nation hasn’t been averted.

But is it too much to hope that it might yet happen?