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Thank you to the Bangor Daily News for Gordon Weil’s very insightful column in the Aug. 28 edition, “History calls on Susan Collins to rebuild the traditional Republican Party.” One sentence in Weil’s piece resonated loudly, “When her [Collins’] integrity clashes with Trump’s excesses, she often temporizes by cloaking her positions in expedience or dubious superior knowledge, as compared to the rest of us, of how the system really works.” Weil could have substituted “prevaricates” for “temporizes” and made his point more forcefully, not to mention more accurately.
Allow me to offer a Cliff Notes version of Weil’s piece: “Character is destiny,” an admonition by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, i.e. one’s future (destiny), is determined by their own inner qualities and choices (character), rather than by external force (Donald Trump or Senate Republicans?) or predetermined fate. Character guides their actions and ultimately defines their destiny.
If Collins is at all committed to the preservation of American democracy and traditional GOP values, she would be well advised to study and heed Heraclitus’ admonition. And perhaps pass it on to her Senate colleagues.
G. Wilson Thomas II
Hancock