Progressive point: America's 5 most honorable statesmen

For too many people, politics is a four-letter word. Politicians have largely managed to evoke the same immediate distrust as professional cyclists and baseball trainers. They make safe targets for aspiring comics, and they're often stand-ins for used-car salesmen.

Granted, this caricature is often well-deserved. Mitt Romney invents new convictions with each rising sun, and Hillary Clinton often treats truth with the same deference her husband did. Mothers can be forgiven the impulse to shield their children's eyes in the presence of lawmakers.

But the legacies of Vice President Dick Cheney and former Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, aside, politics is often the calling card of history's heroes. And when conscience, the concomitant of greatness, melds with leadership, the result is often a politician worthy of recognition. Here are five public servants deserving of that praise:

1. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt. Most senators would sell their first-borns to get their faces planted on the nation's front pages for a week. Not Jim Jeffords. When the little-known legislator from Vermont abandoned the Republican party in 2001, he demonstrated unique courage. Other "maverick" Republicans got cold feet - Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was busy calculating his future ambition, and former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chaffee wrung his hands over possible reprisals. Yet Jeffords, taking a stand for health care and the environment, showed leadership.

2. Michael Bloomberg, I-N.Y. The New York mayor does what many nationally minded politicians wouldn't even do for the biggest special interest check: He takes a stand on controversial issues. Bloomberg took on the powerful gun and anti-tax interests. He offers frank and refreshing support for immigration and gay marriage. And his ultimate loyalty is always to results, not carefully crafted platitudes.

3. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. Like Bloomberg, the "Lion of the Senate" has demonstrated little regard for petty "sound bite" politics or the hollow pursuit of purity. Rather, his allegiance is to the millions of working-class Americans, the throngs of immigrants seeking a better life and the children everywhere deserving a quality education. Kennedy defines statesmanship. And as he demonstrated at AU in January, he still has the fire in his belly.

4. John Lewis, D-Ga. Most great lawmakers display some brand of "political courage," risking their careers to champion unpopular positions. Lewis risked his life. Southern racists found they could crack Lewis' skull, but they couldn't break his nonviolent quest for equality. Now a congressman from Georgia, Lewis is a leading voice against the Iraq war. Speaking at AU in 2007, Lewis warned that the war is "tampering with the very soul of this nation." "Stand up," he intoned, "and get in the way." We cannot easily ignore the man Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., appropriately refers to as "the conscience of the U.S. Congress."

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