Shoutout to Dr. Oz (and you too, Tim Ryan).

Am I glad Dr. Mehmet Oz lost his bid for Pennsylvania Senator?

Yes.

But here’s the thing. What I’m about to say shouldn’t be a big thing. It didn’t used to be a big thing. The only reason it’s a big thing now is because it’s become a rare thing.

But first : Homo sum humani, nihil a mi alienum puto.

This is a founding statement of our family. It is a deep statement of solidarity with what it means to be human. It literally means: I am human, therefore nothing human is alien to me. In other words, every one of us contains the capability for great goodness, or for great evil. We have that capability, and because it is within all of us, we ought to carefully consider the judgments we pass on others. Most people are not all good and not all bad. We are curious, complicated mixtures of character and emotions and thoughts and potential. And because of this, it becomes extra-important to acknowledge when someone we don’t support does something well. Or something worth noting.

It’s called giving people their due. It’s called looking for the good. It’s called acknowledging something positive someone has done.

It’s called empathy.

Truck with anti-Democrat, anti-global warming, anti-Obama bumper stickers from 2010. The seeds for reality avoidance being sown then, and reaped with vigor over the last several years. Ideally, we will see a return to civil discourse and acceptance of inclusive democracy.

Dr. Oz deserves a shoutout.

He lost. He lost his bid to become Senator. His path to become one was a brutal, expensive, soul-sucking one. He said things he shouldn’t have said. He had things said about him that shouldn’t have been said. It got mean and ugly and he lost his way at different points. Enough of his positions on enough issues were enough for me to reject support for him (to be clear, I have no ability, beyond my words, to have affected any races in Pennsylvania or anywhere other than my home state of Washington, District 3.

[ Also, a moment of respect for Jaime Herrera Beutler and the principled conservatism she stayed consistent with for years, and that finally cost her her seat. She is someone else I disagreed with often, but did an incredibly difficult thing after January 6 - you know which year I’m talking about. She lost her seat because of putting loyalty to her country over loyalty to an outgoing President who rejected the democratic and peaceful post-election transfer of power. Her integrity cost her her career. ]

But this is about Dr. Oz. What did he do that’s so great, you ask? This is what he did.

He lost.
Then he accepted defeat.

He accepted defeat.

He conceded. He publicly and graciously accepted his defeat as the results of a free and fair election. Again, he did so graciously. He called his opponent, which used to be a thing. And then he publicly announced it.

I will remember that. It should be remembered in this election year. That is character. It should be a normal thing.

This stands out, and history should record this fact. I am certain he did not want to lose. He will likely not recover the level of stature or respect he had before running. He became, as a result of running, an extremely polarizing figure.

But I do not believe he is a reprehensible human or even a person with completely abhorrent positions on every topic. I strongly disagree him in a number of areas. I did not support his candidacy. I was grateful for his loss.

But let us celebrate and acknowledge him in this small, yet very significant way. It took courage to concede, given the prevailing pressure to just…not. It used to be the norm: you ran hard, you ran a good race, and if you lost, you lost graciously. You showed your patriotism by celebrating and honoring the process that fifty percent of candidates have to do every election cycle: accept defeat.

Sometimes victory or loss is out of your control. But the way you respond to it is not.

“I have the privilege to concede this race…” *

There are others who lost, including some with platforms I loathe. But yet, there is a mix of Democrats and Republicans who, in the end, rejected the former President’s advice to just declare victory immediately and call fraud if it doesn’t go your way. They rejected that. This includes figures I expected it from (Democrat Tim Ryan’s gracious concession to Republican J.D. Vance) and ones I didn’t. Figures such as 2020-election denier Tudor Dixon in Michigan.

“When you lose an election, you concede. You respect the will of the people. We can’t have a system where, if you win it’s a legitimate election and if you lose someone stole it.”
-Representative Tim Ryan, Ohio (who lost)

Thank you, Dr. Oz, Tim Ryan, Lee Zeldin (R), Dan Cox (R), and even Tudor Dixon. It didn’t end up how you wanted. But you set an example that I hope becomes the norm again someday. You have my respect for that reason.

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*Tim Ryan, in concession speech to J.D. Vance

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