Last week, both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., delivered speeches on the Senate floor during which they invoked the legacy of Henry Clay, the "Great Compromiser" of the 19th Century. By alluding to Clay's legacy, Reid and McConnell may have been using one of America's greatest heroes to score political points. But politics aside, their invocation of the "Great Compromiser" amidst the tense budget negotiations revealed what this Congress and this generation is severely in need of: a Henry Clay of the 21st Century.
Clay was famous amongst his contemporaries for his unique ability to broker legislative compromises between dissenting factions. In 1820, he helped ease tensions over the expansion of slavery in the Missouri Territory by helping to establish the 36?30 parallel line, keeping both anti-slavery and pro-slavery forces content. During the Nullification Crisis of the 1830s, Clay negotiated the gradual reduction of the 1828 "Tariff of Abominations," assuaging Southern anger while allowing the North to continue its protection of industry. Finally, in 1850, near the end of his life, the 70-year-old "Great Compromiser" rose once again to provide a lesson in the ways of pragmatism, his calming presence allowing a sharply divided Congress to avert war for the time being.
Clay's work was of immense importance for his generation and for American history. His leadership not only helped stave off catastrophe for nearly half a century, but it proved to contemporary Americans that the United States was not merely a collection of states with mutually exclusive destinies, but rather a nation with a national providence and purpose. In the process of his work, Clay's words and actions spoke volumes about how compromise was to work in the experiment that was American democracy, and his legacy to posterity was to prove that compromise was feasible despite human nature's tendency to resist it.
Clay is likewise remembered as someone who brazenly took on the defining issues of his day. While Reid and McConnell invoked Clay's legacy last week during the budget debate of comparatively little importance, what our country needs now is someone who will tackle in Clay-like fashion the real problem that lies on the horizon our national debt.
Pundits and politicians have repeatedly labeled the issue of debt as this generation's great challenge. How will we cut trillions of dollars in the next few decades and make government spending more sustainable? Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has released his own plan for Republicans, and President Barack Obama will deliver a speech this week that will likely spell out the Democrats' vision. But who will be the one to negotiate the two opposing views and reach a deal? Who will be our Henry Clay?
While some may argue that Clay's compromises only delayed the inevitable or worked to keep the immoral institution of slavery alive, they nonetheless proved that even in the most trying of times, cooperation is indeed possible. Will Americans in the 21st Century be lucky enough to have a leader prove this point to us again? Who will be the one to help get our fiscal house in order? Who will be the one to help Congress re-establish our national purpose?
On Feb. 6, 1850, the frail Clay rose to deliver what became known as his "Compromise Speech" on the floor of the Senate. "Let us look to our country and our cause," Clay pronounced, "elevate ourselves to the dignity of pure and disinterested patriots, and save our country from all impending dangers." Though Clay died just two years later, he had already fulfilled a life of practicing what he preached. He had lived a life of selflessness, a life of impartiality and a life of statesmanship Congress and the entire country was forever indebted to him.
