Government and governing: August 2009 Archives

With the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy this week, we have come to the official end of an extraordinary era and family legacy. There are still many of us left who cut our political teeth on the Kennedy's-- listening to the newly elected, handsome young man with the appalling Boston accent (this is not intended as an insult, I'm from Boston myself) call us to service to our country. We also remember his younger brother, Bobby trying to pick up the mantle during the turbulent days of the Viet Nam War and asking why we can't live our dreams. We had remaining within our midst for many decades the youngest of nine children "Teddy" who ended up carrying the torch of an ill-fated family. Now even he is gone and we are left to mourn the passing of one family's response to the call to public service.

One cannot ignore in the mix, the less visible but equally committed Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who passed away only a few short weeks ago. Her work in establishing the Special Olympics was no less notable in its impact on the lives of thousands of families around the world.

Teddy Kennedy was a large and boisterous man. He was passionate, he was charming and he was imperfect. A scar on his legacy will be that horrible summer's night when he drove off a bridge in Chappaquidick that took the life of a young woman and left him forever with a blot on his work. Nonetheless, and with that being said, it is his powerful and positive legacy that we should and must remember of him and his life's work championing the cause of the needy and the poor among us.

A wonderful vignette is circulating on you-tube that captures his passion in a speech to a group about the importance of universal healthcare. Classic Teddy. Passionate. Personal. Genuinely heartfelt. No observor can hear or see him without agreeing that he truly cared, understood the need for better healthcare and felt the pain he had endured himself, having survived a terrible plane crash that killed two others and with family medical crises that stalked his children for years.

 

Growing up in Boston in the 60's, I remember watching his debate against another great political Boston family, the McCormacks. I remember so vividly watching our black and white T.V. when his adversary, Edward McCormack taunted the 30 year old youngest of 11 Kennedy kids by saying, " I'll bet if your name were Edward Moore, and not Edward Moore Kennedy, you wouldn't even be here tonight". Even though he may have been right, Teddy although clearly annoyed, kept his cool and responded, again with that heavy Boston accent, about the purpose and value of public service. .

While the Kennedy's out-dueled the McCormacks on this one, and Teddy entered the U.S. Senate, that bitterness never hampered Teddy in his effort to be a great Senator. He had an Irishman's love of the bitters and a good story. He had an enormous love of his children and a hearty meal.

I had the good fortune of serving as an intern in his office when he was the Majority Whip. At the same time, he was dealing with the cancer of his eldest son and the terrible asthma problems of his youngest, Patrick. He had lost his remaining two older brothers in the intervening years and  had become the father figure to their families and their broods.

Ted Kennedy was clearly a child of privilege and wealth. He is reputed to never have carried any money with him so that his staff would always make sure they had real currency with them when staffing him.  But he was always approachable and funny, with a quick wit and humorous tale to tell at the drop of a hat. 

His office was a gallery of family pictures of sparklingly handsome, toothy people almost always photographed in the out-of-doors, always smiling, whether it was playing football, sailing, skiing or just being there. It was almost hard to believe that this very same family had suffered so much at the hands of assassins and war. (Eldest of the siblings was Joe Kennedy Jr. who died as a fighter pilot in World War Two and Joe Srs. first hope for a Catholic President).

I heard Senator Kennedy give many speeches over the course of his career. He had that incredible Kennedy charisma, with those sparkling blue eyes and as he got older, that mane of stunning white hair. He mellowed, especially after marrying his wife and now widow, Vicki in 1992 and seemed to settle into his role as America's elder statesman. He had found his niche, was comfortable with it and his life and with the opportunity to lead the Senate's liberals as its spokesman and champion.

In spite of all the tragedy in his life, Edward Moore Kennedy never abandoned the little guy, never gave up the fight for equal dignity for all people and never forgot how his life of privilege compelled him and his family to seek to make life a little better for everyone else.  It is a legacy we will do well to remember. It seems only fitting that he left us and left the stage with the following charge at the 2008 Democratic Convention: "The work begins anew. Hope rises again and The dream lives on." Whether we agreed with Kennedy's vision of a better world or focused too much on his flaws and failings, the one thing we can and should agree upon is that his work has impacted all of us and we are the better for it.

This is circulating.  We recommend you copy it and email it to friends and relatives:

Once again, for the benefit of the government-can't-get-anything-right flock:

This morning you were awoken by your alarm clock (powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy). You then took a shower (in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility). After that, you turned on the TV (to one of the FCC regulated channels) to see what the national weather service (of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) determined the weather was going to be like (using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration). You watched this while eating your breakfast of (US Department of Agriculture inspected) cereal and taking your blood pressure medication (which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration).

At the appropriate time (as regulated by the US congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory), you get into your (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved) automobile and set out to work (on the roads build by the local, state, and federal departments of transportation), possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel (of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency), paying in cash (legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank). On the way out the door you deposit any mail you have to be sent out (via the US Postal Service) and drop the kids off at (public) school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work (thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration), enjoying another two meals (which again do not kill you because of the USDA), you drive your (NHTSA) car back home (on the DOT roads), to your house (which has not burned down in your absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all it's valuables thanks to the local police department).

You then log on to the internet (which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration) and post on www.freerepublic.com, www.redstate.com and fox news forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.

The only reason government doesn't work is because conservative Republican administrations defunded and/or patronage staffed them with people with ties to special business interests: to wit the last FDA, Dept of Interior and Agriculture under Bush. No one seems to have a problem with pumping over $500Bil to the Defense Department, which last I heard is a socialized entity.

In recent weeks, the public discourse in this country has moved from simple dishonesty to mob rule, exemplified by the threatening and hysterical frenzy created by the right-wing talk shows.  This extremely disturbing development has been orchestrated by former Congressman and Republican leader Dick Armey and other politicians who are making millions as hired guns paid to fan the flames of hatred, bigotry and frustration in both enthusiastic and unsuspecting pawns in these extremist games.

 

The fury is stoked and blessed by an ideology that cares little for the country and seeks to realize the dreams of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk, i.e., to cause our President to fail.  Most of the anger, however, arises from the failure of uncontrolled right-wing politics and so-called "free-marketeering" that has put the nation on the brink, cost so many American jobs and created economic uncertainty.

 

When discourse moves from lively and colorful discussion to shouting, threats and violence, those who seek logical and fact-based debate and respectful dialogue intended to produce constructive and meaningful solutions are pushed aside as decibels of disruption are raised beyond control.  How can participants in "town hall" discussions exchange ideas when no one listens because they are too busy shouting and insulting the speakers.

 

It is almost impossible to know where all this is leading.  It is important, though, to acknowledge how the debate has moved away from what is acceptable and what we're accustomed to as Americans and into a world ripe with anger, fear irrationality and violence.

 

There are parallels to the behavior of Bill O'Reilly inciting violence against Dr. George Tiller.  Encouraging lunatics to commit acts of violence is itself criminal for which people like O'Reilly should be held accountable.  Without accountability, incitement simply continues.  Our President and other leaders are hung in effigy, with swastikas smeared on signs bearing their names, and people tote guns to meetings about health care reform with suggestions that it is time to purge our country through revolution and blood letting.  This is not democracy; this is mob rule, and it should not be tolerated.

 

There is a significant distinction between healthy debate and disruptive dissent.  The issues facing our country are too important and complex to be subjected to the fury unleashed upon those who do not share the opinions of extremists.  Many of those who are angry and frustrated have been fed a pile of misinformation and outright lies to protect insurance companies and anti-Obamaites who care little for developing a true and effective fix for our state and a broken health care system.  Their only goal is to inflict  mortal injury on government and the Obama administration.  We can't let that happen. How we tone down the rhetoric and correct the lies and distortions is no easy task, but it is one we must pursue.