Reconstituting the Center

By Craig Kaminer / Photographs by Joe Martinez

I'm sure some people love political ads, the back-and-forth banter about why we should or shouldn’t support the candidate of our party - or God forbid - the other party, along with the political conversations which pop up over dinner, or cocktails, or with family. But I don’t.

First, I find it confusing as the candidates sling mud at their same party candidates, not to mention the other party. All of them seem to be untrustworthy or not deserving of our vote. These days, it appears everyone has extreme views - but not me or the people I know. The facts, or more likely the lies they spew, are damning and hard to verify.

So when I saw a TV commercial with Jack Danforth making a plea for all of us to stop the fighting and vote for someone who claims to be independent - like John Wood - he got my attention. I have been wondering why more politicians don’t do this and so I called former Senator Danforth to see if I could interview him. I was delighted that he said yes and I spent about 45 minutes with him in his law office in Clayton.

Now, I don’t know much about John Wood, his politics, or if he will remain independent once elected. Reading his website and articles written about him, he seems like a Republican but is running as an Independent. But anyone who can get their former senator and boss to part with his lifelong party is worth considering (Woods once worked on Danforth’s Senate staff). As Danforth eloquently states, "The project of America is to hold ourselves together and the two parties intentionally are tearing us apart and this is our opportunity for Americans to come together, regardless of party."

John Claggett Danforth (born September 5, 1936) is a politician, attorney, and diplomat who began his career in 1968 as the Attorney General of Missouri and served three terms as United States Senator from Missouri. In 2004, he served briefly as United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Danforth is an ordained Episcopal priest. He was born in St. Louis and graduated from Princeton University. He received graduate degrees from Yale Law School and the Yale School of Divinity.

Danforth practiced law at the New York law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell from 1964 to 1966 and was a partner at the law firm of Bryan Cave in St. Louis from 1966 to 1968. Before Danforth entered Republican politics, Missouri was a reliably Democratic state with its U.S. senators and governors usually being Democrats. Danforth's seat in the Senate was previously held by Democrats Thomas Hart Benton, Harry S. Truman, and Stuart Symington.

In 1968 Danforth was elected Missouri Attorney General, the first Republican elected to the office in 40 years and the first from his party elected to statewide office in 22 years. On his staff of assistant attorneys general were future Missouri Governor and U.S. Senator Kit Bond, future U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and future federal Judge D. Brook Bartlett.

In full disclosure, I have always been politically left of center, having grown up in a traditionally blue state. But in the world we live in today, my views are closer to Senator Danforth’s than ever before. He is a Republican from a time when Democrats and Republicans were personal friends, when independent thinking ruled the day over the party line, when compromise was the way politics had to be done, and when being American was more important than party. I remember my parents voting for the person they thought would do the best job, regardless of party, and later surprised me when they too were hijacked by extreme politics...or media. I knew things were no longer on the straight and narrow when my dad said he didn’t like Obama because he was likely Muslim. Oy!

Danforth has long stood for “bringing things and people together” and is equally comfortable quoting the Constitution, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln, or the Old or New Testament. “Religion and politics can be used for good or ill, wholeness or divisiveness, and people have long killed in the name of God convinced their cause was just,” he stated. “The Constitution is about pluralism, with many people who come from various backgrounds sharing commonly held beliefs.” Danforth is quick to point out that there is no way for us all to agree on everything, but “politics should be about compromise and the beliefs we have in common.”

A lifelong Republican and priest, Danforth pounded his desk as he stated, “Religion and politics today are focused on divisiveness.” In his book, Faith & Politics, he reminded us that the goal of both is to bring people together and cites Jesus and our Founding Fathers alike. “If we heed these teachings and engage in both, we should be friends not enemies.” Danforth also referenced Abraham Lincoln, who, as the country was breaking apart in 1861, said, “We must be friends.” Lincoln would not call the Confederate South enemies of the Union, just “Americans” as an appeal to civility.

As an aside Danforth noted, “Can you believe 40% of Americans don’t want their children to vote for the other party (whichever that party is for you) and on more than one occasion I have had friends hang up on their children?” He referred to it as “a metastasis of families breaking up over politics.” He said he didn’t know if this all started with the Tea Party Movement, or Newt Gingrich, or the 1992 election when edgy Republicans moved from the House to the Senate, or Trump, but it is clear that Danforth longs for bi-partisanship.

“In politics,” he exclaimed, pounding his desk again, “That’s the only way to get things done. We would have never passed any legislation about civil rights, highway safety, the low-income housing tax credit, the R&D tax credit for start-ups, or international trade without close working relationships and collaboration with the Democrats.”

“Today, politics are unworkable. Both parties are off the rails. The politicians do not appear to be in Washington to legislate and get things done, but rather as independent contractors, or mercenaries, pandering to the wishes of loud and dangerous factions.”

When I asked Danforth about the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, he said, “The Supreme Court shouldn’t be a policy-making branch of government. In my view, when the Supreme Court turns a values question into a Constitutional right, it removes the role of policy making from the state legislatures. The heart of Conservative jurisprudence is that the Supreme Court shouldn’t decide anything more than it has to. Now they are applying the Mississippi statute to all kinds of stuff. And, I don’t think that’s conservative. Policy by judicial decision is not what our Constitution is all about.”

Despite Danforth’s support of an independent for Senate, he said he is a centrist Republican at heart and believes in small government, low taxes, and a strong defense. But he is a big advocate for stem cell research, much to the dismay of many pro-life Americans. He clarified, “I am not pro abortion, but we can’t have things one way without considering the other. I hope we will find a compromise even if it means both sides giving up something they are so adamant about.”

But even with his clear values and vision for the country, he concedes he has made mistakes, missteps and poor choices. “My support of Josh Hawley, who I thought was a good guy, turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of my life. And I know many people don’t understand my support of Clarence Thomas, but in life people change.”

Danforth reminded me that when James Madison and others crafted the Constitution, there were just four million Americans. Today there are more than 330 million and the issues are more complex. Will our country’s differing ideologies continue to divide us, or will we find a way to work together and figure things out? Hopefully we find more politicians like former Senator Danforth with the values, faith, and love of country which lead us to compromise.

Now I need to figure out who I am going to vote for.