As I was walking through the neighborhood recently, I was just hoping and praying for some inspiration to find a way to talk about how we as North Carolinians and Americans can come together under a common set of beliefs and principles by which we can live together in peace for our next 250 years.
As I turned a corner, I came across a front yard covered by a flat tile monument dedicated to the memory of former U.S. Sen. Sam Ervin Jr. A Democrat, no less, but wipe away political affiliation, and his words should resonate today with anyone who is concerned about the future of our nation. They give rise to the question as to whether either major political party can fully recapture the broad middle of the political spectrum for decades to come or we’ll see a new majority party emerging perhaps to combat the strident partisanship of today.
Close to 40% of North Carolina voters are not registered Republican or Democrat. Some don’t feel their party has moved far enough left or right to their liking. The vast majority are just aching for elected leaders to come together to get things done over a beer and stop fighting so much and blaming the other side for not getting anything done, as one young lady said recently.
As I read the inscription of his pithy quote on the yard monument, I felt like an archaeologist going back in time only to discover one of the giants of North Carolina political leaders is almost completely forgotten by current Democratic leaders.
It reads: “I believe in clinging to the tried-and-true landmarks of the past, but I am willing to test the soundness of new ideas.” Try to imagine any Democratic leader or candidate for office standing up before a raucous crowd and quoting Ervin today.
Ervin didn’t say we should jettison any or all of the foundational principles of our nation overnight simply to try out the latest new idea as it came down the road as if it were the latest new car or iPhone — as current leaders of the socialist Democrats advocate. Rather, he implied we should hold onto them dearly as if clinging to a lifeboat as we navigate new waters and realities of life together.
Ervin said many things with which a vast majority of North Carolinians still agree. Many would do so again for a party or a candidate who adopts them and speaks them in humility and with reverence.
While many Democrats still revere the name of Sam Ervin Jr., it is more out of admiration for what he did as chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities in 1973-74, otherwise known as the Watergate Committee, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. He was a Harvard-trained constitutional expert who used folksy good humor and biblical witticisms to disarm the immense tension during the Watergate hearings, which many felt was a constitutional crisis of the first order.
However, the chances of Democrats going back to the days when they could refer to and recite Senator Sam’s words verbatim are next to zero based on their current platform and leadership. It is as if they speak an entirely different language from the days of Ervin and his colleagues.
The only choices left are to vote for Republicans and hope they carry his banner of liberty under constitutional government or to hope for a new party to emerge to do the same.
On the east side of his monument outside the Burke County Courthouse are written these words: “I have always believed that the most precious value of civilization is the freedom of the individual.”
On the south side: “Liberty reveals herself in a threefold guise as economic liberty, political liberty, and religious liberty.”
Ervin offered no quarter to people seeking to deny free speech or to limit the success any person could make in their livelihood by targeted taxation policy or regulatory oversight, as socialist Democratic leaders want to do if given power.
Perhaps Ervin’s most poignant observation about what makes America and North Carolina so special is found on a sidewalk plaque next to his statue: “Our greatest possession is not the vast domain, it’s not our beautiful mountains, or our fertile prairies, or our magnificent coastline. It’s not the might of our army or navy. These things are of great importance. But in my judgment the greatest and most precious possession of the American people is the Constitution.”
