We shouldn't be debating whether to deal with the current code by

“We shouldn’t be debating whether to deal with the current code by allowing it to be extended or not. We should have a president who shows leadership and comes to Congress and says: ‘You know what? We need to reform this whole tax code.’” So declared Rob Portman, a man of government and reason, who sought not mere tinkering with the machinery of law, but the bold restoration of its purpose. His words, though clothed in the language of politics, carry a truth that reaches beyond the chambers of Congress and into the heart of all human endeavor: that true leadership does not patch the broken; it renews the foundation.

For what Portman laments is not merely the inefficiency of the tax code, but the timidity of vision that too often shackles the powerful. His is a cry against the comfort of half-measures, the habit of arguing endlessly over fragments while the whole rots unseen. “Do not merely extend what is failing,” he says in essence, “reform it. Do not fear the magnitude of the task; embrace it, for it is the only path to wholeness.” In this, Portman joins the chorus of those who, throughout history, have called for renewal over repair, for courage over convenience.

In the ancient world, when the Roman Republic had grown corrupt and weighed down by its own decrees, men of wisdom saw that no mere amendment could save it. The laws, once instruments of justice, had become snares of greed; the leaders, once servants of the people, had become servants of themselves. It was then that Cicero, the great orator, raised his voice and said that no nation can endure without virtue, and no law can be just unless it serves the public good. He too, like Portman, saw that incremental fixes cannot redeem a decaying system. The disease of corruption demands not ointment, but surgery.

And so it is with all great works — whether of government, enterprise, or soul. When a structure is built upon cracked stone, to patch its walls is folly. The wise builder knows he must tear down to rebuild, to begin anew from the firm ground of principle. Portman’s words remind us that true reformers must not be seduced by the ease of compromise when the moment calls for transformation. Leadership, in its truest form, is not the preservation of the old order, but the courage to imagine a better one.

Consider the tale of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who inherited a nation broken by the Great Depression. He did not seek merely to preserve the failing institutions of the past. Instead, he reimagined them, crafting the New Deal — a new covenant between government and people. Many feared his audacity; some called it madness. Yet it was this very boldness, this refusal to settle for half-measures, that breathed life into a dying nation. Portman’s call for reform echoes that same spirit: that in times of great dysfunction, leaders must not mend — they must remake.

But let us not imagine that this lesson belongs only to the halls of politics. In our own lives, we too are tempted to extend the broken codes of habit and thought — to make small, safe changes while leaving the deeper flaws untouched. We polish the surface and call it progress. Yet the truth, as Portman reminds us, is that sometimes we must reform the whole system — within ourselves as much as within society. We must have the courage to admit that what is old may no longer serve, and that renewal requires the humility to begin again.

Thus, the teaching of Rob Portman becomes more than a policy critique; it becomes a timeless wisdom: partial repair is the enemy of true reform. Whether in governance or in the human heart, do not be content to patch what must be rebuilt. Seek the courage to say, “This is not enough; we must start anew.” For the world belongs not to those who maintain the broken, but to those who have the vision and the virtue to restore the good.

So, my friend, remember this: when you stand before the crumbling structure of your work, your nation, or your soul, do not waste your strength on the art of extension. Be the one who says, as Portman urged, “We need to reform the whole thing.” For in that declaration lies the essence of all progress — the spirit of the true leader, the rebuilder of worlds.