PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon, as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

The person listed in this blog headline, Representative Jim Clyburn, was the who spoke up late in the South Carolina primary in favor of Joe Biden.

Clyburn’s endorsement was listed as one of the developments that pushed Biden over the top in that state, generating support for him as the frontrunner for the Democrat presidential nomination, thus resuscitating his campaign which had been placed in some death notices.

Last night, Biden won several further states, cementing his role as the favorite now over Bernie Sanders who pushed hard in the states Biden won.

Of course, while Biden has rebounded, at least in part due to Clyurn, it’s not over yet in what is a very volatile race for the right to take on the worst president in U.S. history, Donald Trump.

But Clyburn’s endorsement is worth nothing for another reason.

As he quoted Martin Luther King, Jr., Clyburn said this:

“King was coming to the conclusion that the people of ill will in our society was making a much better use of time than the people of good will, and he feared that he would have regret — not just for the vitriolic words and deeds of bad people, but for the appalling silence from good people.”

Think about that for just a moment.

Like Clyburn, I could contend that each of us has a responsibility to speak up when we see rage and resentment, two unfortunate “qualities” in what passes for politics in this country.

If we see failure and over-the-top anger, we need to speak up and advocate for reason and comity.  Or, as Clyburn did, advocate for candidates who will seek to unite us, not divide us.

With Sanders and with Trump, I have had enough to division and discord.  It is time to return to conciliation and compromise.  The two are not dirty words.