I have been involved in politics off and on (mostly off) for the last twenty years or so. In the early 90s,I was on the state central committee for my assembly district and got to go state convention twice (it was a blast). In 2004, I got to be an Edwards pledged delegate. For the most part, I limit myself to attending fundraisers now. Before she got sick, my wife was very involved in politics and early in life was the spokeperson for the Montana Democratic Party.
Recently, our daughter (who just finished her sophomore year in college)has expressed an interest in public service.
My wife and I have consistently held Ted Kennedy up as our example of the ideal public servant.
In the brief time that I spent as a party insider, I have found that elective politics attracts two kinds of people: public servants and narcissists. Public servants try to help people and see elective office as a means to an end and that end is making life better for Americans. Narcissists only care about themselves and power and see power as way to make themseleves feel good.
I can think of no current politican who embodies the idea of public service better than Ted Kennedy. I read an Atlantic article about him about ten years ago and what was stunning was how hard he worked for his causes--civil rights, health care, and education. He took big stacks of paper home every night to study up on issues. He has not sought the limelight for his own sake, but only to pass progressive legislation or, during the Reagan/Bush I/Bush II years, to block bad legislation. He has shown a unique ability to work with republicans to pass legislation.
He ran for president once, but after he failed he devoted himself full-time to better the every day life of original Americans. Kennedy's senate career has not been a constant ploy to position himself for higher office.
Ted Kennedy has directly touched my family. My wife became uninsurable. But Kennedy passed a bill that allowed states to set up pools for those who were uninsurable (and our state joined the program) that allowed my family to secure medical insurance for my wife out of this pool.
I urge each of you to check out Ted Kennedy's achievements in the Senate. You can find them listed here.
All day Tuesday, two Ted Kennedy speeches have been ringing in my head. First, Senator Kennedy's eulogy at RFK's funeral:
My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.
Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world.
As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him:
"Some men see things as they are and say why.
I dream things that never were and say why not."
And second, Kennedy's closing speech at the 1980 convention:
And may it be said of us, both in dark passages and in bright days, in the words of Tennyson that my brothers quoted and loved, and that have special meaning for me now:
"I am a part of all that I have met
To [Tho] much is taken, much abides
That which we are, we are --
One equal temper of heroic hearts
Strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end.
For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.
Today, Senator Kennedy is still with us. And I pray for his recovery.
But I would be remiss if I did not say that Senator Kennedy has done everything he remember his brother for in 1968. He has tried to do the right thing. He stood up and tried to stop the war in Iraq. And this year, he broke with a powerful political family and risked his future to back the non-establishment candidate. He has proven that living one's life to do the good and decent thing is more important than being President. And for all progressives, during years of retreat under conservative republicans and corporate democrats, he has been a constant flame showing us that the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.