As the governmental chaos continues to escalate, worsening daily, I recalled an earlier time in our history when Sen. Joseph McCarthy created his personal brand of domestic chaos. I was reminded of the courageous actions of freshman Republican Senator from Maine, Margaret Chase Smith, who was seriously concerned about the loss of respect for United States Senate because of the atmosphere of hate and character assassination. She warned her fellow Republicans “not to ride to victory on the ‘Four Horsemen of Calumny – Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry and Smear,” which became part of her “Declaration of Conscience.”

It is clearly time to put partisan posturing aside and develop a Declaration of Conscience to help our democracy survive and begin to restore the reputation of the United States among our allies and adversaries.