Joseph Sabino Mistick: Public 'referees' there to protect us

In Joyce Carol Oates’ 1985 New York Times essay “On Boxing,” she described the role of the referee as “our intermediary in the fight … our moral conscience.” The referee is there to make the tough calls, often stopping a fight before someone gets maimed or worse, all while the crowd is screaming for more blood.

As Oates later wrote, “The third man in the ring makes boxing possible.” Referees know that stopping a fight means the crowd may turn on them, but somebody has to stay clearheaded. On every fight night, in some boxing ring somewhere, a referee does the right thing, without favor to either side. Each time is a little profile in courage.

Politicians and public officials are quite often tested this same way. Our elected government is designed to be partisan, and that’s how it works most of the time. But there are moments in public life when leaders must be the referees and protect us from ourselves over the clamor of the crowd.

Last week, America broke a record with 3,000 Americans dying from covid-19 in one day. Hospitals are running out of critical care beds and, in some rural states, patients are helicoptered hundreds of miles for treatment. Every day, nurses and physicians plead with us to simply wear masks to stem the spread of infection.

Amazingly, some people still refuse, striking back at officials who order social distancing and business closures and mask wearing. In October, 14 men were charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer because she ordered limits on businesses and residents to slow the spread of the virus.

For governors and health officials and mayors — and their families — the threats keep coming. In Idaho, a tearful local official abruptly left a video meeting where a mask mandate was being considered, saying, “My 12-year-old son is home by himself right now, and there are protesters banging outside the door.” All this for trying to protect us from ourselves — for being the referees, our moral conscience.

We see these same threats of violence against election officials who are charged with counting the votes in the presidential election. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp supported Donald Trump through the election, and then became the referee his state needed when the votes had been counted.

As Georgia election officials and their families were threatened for certifying an honest count — after two recounts — Kemp was pressured to break the law and block the result of the presidential election that was won by Joe Biden. The governor refused, and the other election officials stood tall.

Urging state legislators to honor their oaths to “uphold the laws and constitution of our state” and resist calls to name their own presidential electors, Kemp said, “I’m confident that each of you will live up to the words and greater calling regardless of political consequences. That’s what I’ve been doing.”

The referee’s job is not easy in the boxing ring or in politics. But without the referee, without that moral conscience that keeps us in check, every fight could turn out to be just another stupid and dangerous brawl, with blood shed for no good reason.