How to Find Political Courage in an Age of Cowardice | Reed Galen

Lindsey Graham’s death has me thinking about the choices that define a political legacy. As someone who spent years lobbying Congress on behalf of veterans, I saw firsthand the difference between politicians who were willing to listen—and those who simply weren’t. Graham built a career championing American military intervention while resisting reforms that would better protect the men and women sent to fight those wars. His life raises a question that extends far beyond one senator: What does political courage actually look like? My guest this week, Reed Galen, took a very different path. A longtime Republican strategist who worked for George W. Bush, John McCain, and other Republican leaders, Reed eventually concluded that remaining inside the party meant compromising principles he wasn’t willing to abandon. Today, through Civic Forum, he is trying to build a different kind of civic movement—one grounded in honest conversation, local engagement, and the belief that democracy requires more than simply reacting to authoritarianism. We discuss whether America’s institutions can still be reformed, why political parties struggle to speak honestly about economic power, what meaningful civic organizing looks like, and why ordinary people should start locally if they want to make a real difference. Follow Reed’s work on Substack and learn more about Civic Forum. I also wrote the introduction to a new edition of Major General Smedley Butler’s War Is a Racket, which will be published by Steerforth Press this September. Preorder the book here. On Offense with Kris Goldsmith is a podcast about fighting for democracy and organizing against fascism—because being on defense is not enough.