{"id":82626,"date":"2020-02-05T17:31:46","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T00:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=82626"},"modified":"2020-02-05T21:54:40","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T04:54:40","slug":"remembering-atticus-finch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/remembering-atticus-finch.html","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Atticus Finch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Atticus<\/a>
Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) and Tom Robinson (Brock Peters) in the Maycomb County courthouse, in the 1962 film version of \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird\u201d
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I received a message today from one Katie Witt, who is evidently the mayor of Kaysville, Utah, and a Republican candidate for a seat in Congress. \u00a0Ms. Witt invited me to join her in a campaign to recall Mitt Romney from the Senate of the United States.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I replied to Ms. Witt, indicating that I would not join her campaign and that, now, I would certainly not be supporting her candidacy for Congress. \u00a0I am, I said, a lifelong and very serious conservative, and I do not confuse conservatism with the cult of personality that is Trumpism.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among the greatest American films ever made is the 1962 To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em>. \u00a0In 2003, the\u00a0American Film Institute\u00a0named Atticus Finch, magnificently portrayed by the late Gregory Peck, the greatest movie hero of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the most moving scenes in that powerful film comes in the courtroom, at the end of a trial in which Atticus, a mild-tempered widower not given to self-dramatization, grandstanding, or heroic poses, but a man of quiet and principled integrity, has unsuccessfully defended a black man, Tom Robinson, against the false charge of raping a white girl \u2014 an explosive matter, to put it mildly, in the racist rural Alabama of the early 1930s, and a deeply unpopular cause:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cStand Up. \u00a0Your Father\u2019s Passin'\u201d\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I witnessed an Atticus Finch moment today.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

While I believe that President Trump\u2019s behavior in the matter of Ukraine was, beyond any reasonable dispute, wrong and reprehensible, I also believe that good and honest people can disagree about whether Mr. Trump deserved acquittal by the Senate. \u00a0I myself am divided on the matter. \u00a0I don\u2019t fault Senator Mike Lee, the other senator from Utah, for voting against<\/em> conviction. \u00a0I like him. \u00a0I\u2019ve voted for him before and I intend to vote for him again. \u00a0For that matter, like Mitt Romney, I have probably agreed with Trump administration policies more than I\u2019ve disagreed with them. \u00a0(Sorry, my left-leaning friends. \u00a0I\u2019m serious. \u00a0I really am<\/em> a conservative.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But my admiration for Senator Mitt Romney today is enormous. \u00a0He voted his conscience, knowing full well the vituperation and disdain that will inevitably be showered upon him in this very divided and uncivil Age of Trump. \u00a0 (And, yes, before you raise the issue: Nancy Pelosi\u2019s ostentatious tearing up of the text of Mr. Trump\u2019s State of the Union address was indecorous and petulant; she was being a jerk.) \u00a0If I had a Romney<\/em> sign, I would put it out on my lawn today.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was impressed and even moved by his remarks on the floor of the Senate:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/videos\/politics\/2020\/02\/05\/mitt-romney-trump-impeachment-trial-vote-announcement-full-vpx.cnn<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFull Transcript: Mitt Romney\u2019s Speech Announcing Vote to Convict Trump\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some useful background and commentary:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Atlantic<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cHow Mitt Romney Decided Trump Is Guilty: Comparing the president\u2019s behavior to that of an autocrat, the Republican senator explains to\u00a0The Atlantic<\/em>\u00a0why he\u2019s voting to convict him.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Atlantic<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cA Profile in Courage: Senator Mitt Romney\u2019s decision to vote to convict President Donald Trump is an extraordinary act.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

National Review<\/em>: \u00a0\u201c\u2018Mitt Romney. Not One of Us.\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

New York Times<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cRomney, Breaking With Republicans, Will Vote to Convict Trump of Abuse of Power:\u00a0Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, grew emotional on the Senate floor as he pronounced President Trump \u201cguilty of an appalling abuse of public trust.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m proud of this, too:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump\u2019s Mormon problem continues, new study shows\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Will Utah pay a price for Senator Romney\u2019s vote, and for the (relative) resistance of Latter-day Saints to Trumpism? \u00a0Perhaps. \u00a0He is, umm, suspected of occasionally holding grudges.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If it happens, that will be unfortunate. \u00a0But it will be an honor to pay the price.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I received a message today from one Katie Witt, who is evidently the mayor of Kaysville, Utah, and a Republican candidate for a seat in Congress. \u00a0Ms. Witt invited me to join her in a campaign to recall Mitt Romney from the Senate of the United States. \u00a0 I replied to Ms. Witt, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8187,8199,2728,8184,8193,8205,8202,326,2361,8190,8196],"class_list":["post-82626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-atticus-finch","tag-congress","tag-donald-trump","tag-impeachment","tag-katie","tag-kaysville","tag-mayor","tag-mitt-romney","tag-senate","tag-to-kill-a-mockingbird","tag-witt"],"yoast_head":"\nRemembering Atticus Finch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I received a message today from one Katie 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