The world, said Winston Churchill, looks with awe upon a man who appears indifferent to comfort, power and fame, and moves independent of the ordinary currents of humanity.
The late navigator Mau
Piailug rode currents of a different sort, relying not on calculations but the ancient Polynesian sailing method of using the stars and waters. As a toddler, his tutu kane dipped him in ocean waters so he could learn to sense the waves and winds.
In 1976, and for decades after, only he knew this unique method. So with humble conviction, he stepped up to sail the Hokule‘a from Tahiti to Hawaii to determine whether the Polynesians had, indeed, sailed those waters to our islands.
Courage and character, not commonly seen. In politics, even less.
I have worked for two presidents, and after meeting Ohio Gov. John Kasich in 1990, I know he has an abundance of both.
With the same conviction, he moves independently of the currents of hatred and hostility of this presidential election. It takes courage to not attack others while being attacked. It takes character to care about the disadvantaged. Those living in the shadows, as Kasich says.
And it takes a sharp intellect to legislate solutions, as he did as a leader in the U.S. House, to economically lift up these folks while negotiating with heated political adversaries — 434 congress-
men — on both sides of the aisle; the only way to acquire his dexterous diplomacy.
No other candidate has his experience as both legislator and executive: 18 years as a congressman, gaining national security and defense experience on the House Armed Services Committee; and re-elected to a second term as governor with 63 percent of votes.
Like Mau, Kasich knows how awful it is when winds blow the wrong way. Indeed, personal hardship was his great teacher, having lost both his parents to a drunken driver at age 35.
Kasich’s dad carried mail and his grandfather was a miner. Both struggled to make ends meet, and his parents taught him the importance of kokua: “It’s a sin not to help the vulnerable.”
At town halls, one feels his outrage that the mentally ill and drug addicts are in prison or living under a bridge, and one quickly learns that no hug is too long or too tight for Kasich.
In Ohio, he helped inmates overcome addiction and rejoin society. Their recidivism rate fell to 27.5 percent while the national average is 49.7 percent.
He made work pay for low-income families by cutting their taxes and creating the first Earned Income Tax Credit. To provide needed health care for the mentally ill, he restored $26.8 million of Medicaid funds after years of cuts by a Democratic administration, with loud screaming from the opposition.
But leaders don’t scream, because good policy shouts louder.
As U.S. House Budget Committee chairman, he limited the size and cost of the federal government — cutting $127 billion in spending over five years and balancing the budget after 30 years of red ink.
Moral leaders know the social and economic consequences of their actions. In Ohio, Kasich cut taxes by
$5 billion to create jobs (over 300,000) and turned an $8 billion deficit into a
$2 billion surplus.
It’s for all this, and more, that Kasich rises well above today’s turbid political tides. Super Tuesday is now behind us. But in Kasich’s policies, Republicans here can see values that align well with Hawaii’s. Churchill was right — and that’s worth remembering as Hawaii’s GOP holds its presidential preference poll on March 8.
Marilia Duffles, of Honolulu, has written pieces for The Economist, The Financial Times and the American Spectator; she has worked for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
