Will this be a sail into history, too?
...by Richard Gilbert
Last Tuesday night, I attended a Democrat’s election night party. As an almost lifelong Republican, that was a personal first. I told Julie my die-hard Republican dad was probably rolling over in his grave. She reminded me that this is not my father’s Republican Party today.
At Tuesday night’s gathering, we joined fellow Iowans supporting Michael Franken, a retired three-star admiral who had just won a three-way primary race to challenge Chuck Grassley for his seat in the U.S. Senate.
I supported Franken for two reasons. First, he is eminently qualified to be a United States Senator, and he has a record of nearly 40 years of service, rising to the very top of U.S. Navy command. There are only thirty-seven vice admirals in the Navy and only seven four-stars above. He’s also got solid Iowa roots - table stakes in any statewide race.
Franken has been living the same oath for 40 years that he’ll take again if he wins the senate race:
“…to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic….”
It feels like many of those enemies are out there, especially domestic!
And why shouldn’t a Navy veteran represent Iowa? We’re equidistant between the two greatest oceans.
Second, his opponent has run out of ideas, having held the seat for some 42 years. I won’t mention age specifically because I knew Chuck on a first-name basis when he was a state legislator in the late 70s. And he wasn’t that much older than I was then, nor is he now. There are term limits for United States Senators; it’s called an election.
I also am a fan of the Navy, though I was never enlisted. I trace my Navy roots back to 2006, when I qualified as a volunteer sailing coach at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. Part of a Mid’s required training at USNA was to become proficient in blue water sailing and complete a two-week cruise on a small sailboat (44 feet) on the nearby Atlantic Ocean.
As a volunteer sailing coach, my job was to take some future Navy or Marine officers (who couldn’t even tie a bowline knot) and turn them into blue water sailors in a very short time.
As I watched Admiral Franken thank his supporters Tuesday night, I thought how fortunate Iowans are to have a chance to choose this guy. As a vice admiral (retired), he still gets an enviable pension and access to top medical care. He could have had his pick of lucrative corporate board opportunities from big-name defense contractors. Yet he has just taken on a mission every political pundit has already signaled is a long shot akin to an obscure horse named Rich Strike, who came out of the gate listed at 80-1 odds in this year’s Kentucky Derby.
As he spoke last Tuesday night, I also thought back to the most mystical place on the grounds of the Naval Academy, where I often took friends who visited us in Annapolis. It is the crypt beneath the Navy chapel, the final resting place of John Paul Jones.
Every school kid has heard of John Paul Jones by sixth grade. He is known as the father of the American Navy, and historians will agree that his heroics played a massive part in winning our nation’s independence from Great Britain. At the crypt entrance during visiting hours, there is a Marine Honor Guard. On the walkway wall surrounding his coffin are quotations from John Paul Jones.
Two quotes especially came to me as I imagined what lies ahead for Admiral Franken.
The first is from a message Captain Jones wrote as he searched for the right ship:
“I will have no connection with any ships that do not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm’s way.”
Admiral Franken knows about fast ships. His sea duty includes several commands of destroyers, the go-fast attack ships of the U.S. Navy.
Our nation is truly in harm’s way. It is perhaps one of the few things Americans can agree upon.
We are sickened by gun violence, gas prices, voter suppression, etc. Seniors are concerned about Social Security; health care is all screwed up, immigration is still a hot rail, the legislative branch appears grid-locked, the Supreme Court is suspect, and confidence has ebbed with the executive. We are desperate for competent and committed leadership.
Franken is sailing into a tough campaign as a consensus underdog. So was his long-ago predecessor John Paul Jones. Britain ruled the seas, but Jones took the fight to their shore. With a slower, older ship, Bonhomme Richard, he engaged with Serapis, a 50-gun British frigate just off the English coast, and another escort vessel.
Outgunned, but after some horrific broadsides at close range, Jones stood on the shattered deck of Bonhomme Richard, which was slowly sinking. The Serapis captain called for Jones to “strike,” meaning lower the flag as a signal of surrender.
Jones will forever be known for his legendary reply:
“I have not yet begun to fight!”
Three hours later, after a ferocious battle, Jones captured the Serapis, rallied his crew, watched his own ship sink, took command of the Serapis and sailed away into American history.
Mike Franken can prove the talking heads wrong, just as he did with his decisive primary win.
If so, he, too, will sail into American history.
Richard Gilbert
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Great piece, Richard. I drove our granddaughter and first time voter to her polling place in Grinnell so she could vote for Franken.
Enjoyed your opinion as another long time Republican, though I’ve been known to vote a mixed ballot depending on the candidates beliefs.