The emergence of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer onto the national political scene has been a breath of fresh air serving to counter the long history of politics being practiced for personal gain. In Whitmer’s personal, candid, poignant, and funny memoir True Gretch: What I’ve Learned About Life, Leadership and Everything In Between (Simon & Shuster, 156pp, 2024), she describes her story and her philosophy of how relationships are developed and how government can be effective as a force for good. Whitmer does not go the way of producing a puff piece meant to showcase herself in the most flattering light, but deals honestly with the circumstances which formed her philosophy and guides her approach to handling the trials of public service in these troubling times. Her story is at once funny, thought provoking, and touching as she describes painful and hilarious moments of her life. One gets the accurate, “true” impression of the woman as an honest public servant who is willing to listen and to learn, and admit mistakes, and sincerely apologize when she goofs up.
Whitmer’s story is in sharp contrast to the long history of duplicity as practiced in politics – not for the sake of pushing forward a policy agenda, but for the accumulation of wealth, pure and simple.
In his current book The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism, (St. Martin’s Press, 276pp, 2024) journalist and author Joe Conason chronicles the long history of the relationship of right wing ideology and politics with confidence men and grifters who take advantage of people’s good conservative hearts and compassionate values in a successful effort to separate them from their money. While this method of self-aggrandizement has deep roots in human history, it has found full flower in the ascent of Donald Trump to a position of maximum influence, both on the public at large and on his adopted political party.
Conason gives examples, starting with the machinations of Trump’s mentor, and the 1950’s Senator Joe McCarthy’s “Fixer” Roy Cohn, through the Reagan years and the era of televangelists, culminating with the blatant excesses of the Trump Administration and his post-presidency years. These low points of the human character are at times shocking, at times depressing, and at times darkly laughable. The willingness of people to accept the con, and even to extol its virtues, is depressing and enraging. The most insidious impact of this wholesale assault on good sense and moral behavior is to poison the whole notion of what it means to be a “conservative”, and the whole idea of “conservatism” itself.
Accepting the practice of grifting is so far removed from the embrace of conservative values that it boggles the mind as to how the two concepts can be held in the same mind at the same time.
There are significant policy differences between the “conservative” philosophy of governance and that espoused by “liberals.” But folks from both ends of the ideological spectrum agree that betraying the public trust cannot be condoned. Using a public office as a means for personal gain cannot be in any way rationalized as acceptable. Using contributions to a political campaign or a charitable cause for personal purposes is venal.
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In The Longest Con, the extraordinary and unprecedented use of the powers of the US Presidency for personal gain reckoned in the billions during the Trump years of 2017-2021 are well documented. The idea that this behavior could be normalized by a second Trump term is beyond disturbing. True conservative voters must in their hearts realize that understandable differences with their liberal colleagues and fellow citizens are not a pathway to letting “Conservative” become synonymous with “Grifting.”
It is no wonder that Governor Whitmer was high on many lists as a possible nominee of the Democratic “liberal” Party, for vice president or, for that matter, for president. Unlike the glossy fake veneer constructed with care by so many men (and, sadly, women) in the long history of charlatans, Gretchen Whitmer offers a picture of unblinking honesty and a good mid-western “can do” attitude that serves her home state of Michigan well. It is hoped by many thoughtful observers that her talents and energy and values will continue to play a major role in the ongoing conversation about the true purpose of government – which is to serve the people. This November, and beyond, the Nation needs to repudiate the purveyors of “The Longest Con” and embrace the values of “True Gretch.”
