The passing of Ted Kennedy has left a void in the Senate and in the hearts of Americans. Both the Senate and the broader public had come to rely on Kennedy as an increasingly lonely champion of working Americans -- a reminder of a Democratic Party that genuinely derived its strength from regular folks rather than lobbyists. Yet even as Kennedy Democrats are increasingly outnumbered by corporate Democrats, tributes are pouring in in recognition of the special place that the lion of Massachusetts held in the pantheon of American government.
And the tributes are undoubtedly a comfort to the Kennedy family. Most seem heartfelt, and a few -- such as President Obama's -- genuinely capture the spirit and vigor than made Kennedy so special. But in the end, moving eulogies and teary speeches are insufficient to truly honor the memory of the man. Ted Kennedy isn't worthy of all this praise simply because he was a nice guy, or because he'd been in the Senate for nearly 50 years, or because he was able to get along with Republicans, or even because he was a Kennedy. No, Kennedy's death hits home as hard as it does because of his unparalleled work to ensure that the basic social compact of his generation -- the generation which came of age in the New Deal -- would continue to be honored, even after the depredations of Reagan and Bush. That simple compact, which is as American as baseball and hot dogs, and which resonates today despite every attempt by the reactionaries to kill it, pledges: if you work hard and play by the rules in America, you have earned a decent life for you and your family.
There are a shocking number of people in America today who don't believe in the terms of that compact. They are heirs to an ancient tradition that the New Dealers and the Kennedys sought to extinguish, but which survived and reseeded and grew roots under Reagan and flowered in its majestic hideousness under Bush. And their compact is simple, too. Its terms are: "I've got mine. You get yours -- if you can, since I've got my boot on your throat." And the emptiness of so many of the words being spoken about Ted Kennedy today is highlighted by the fact that so many of them have emitted from people who fervently embrace this latter, soulless compact, rather than the humane compact which Ted Kennedy lived every day of his public life.
No, mere words cannot honor Ted Kennedy's memory. To pretend otherwise would be to cheapen his legacy, to lie about who Ted Kennedy really was. He was, for the vast majority of his life, a fiercely ideological public servant. It was his commitment to that New Deal social compact which defined him, which made him relevant to you and me. And his actions, not his words, were what marked him as the greatest Senator of his era. To attempt to honor Ted Kennedy without striving to further his life's work is simply impossible.
When Paul Wellstone died they told us that we couldn't celebrate him him as a political actor, that to do so would be crass and opportunistic. But the entire reason we knew Paul Wellstone, the reason we were crushed by his passing, was his political activism. It would have been a lie not to celebrate that legacy. It would have been crass to act as if Paul Wellstone hadn't been first and foremost a progressive hero, to feign nonchalance over political concerns as we eulogized the man, and in so doing stripping him of his essence. Likewise, it would be a lie today to pretend that the reason we loved Ted Kennedy had nothing to do with his leadership for working people. And it would be crass to attempt to celebrate him with mere words, rather than the action he demanded from us in life. How can we not "politicize" his legacy? The man was who he was because of his wholehearted commitment to his politics. The real obscenity -- the real opportunism -- would be for his political opponents to now try and depoliticize a quintessentially political life.
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To that end, if we truly wish to honor Ted Kennedy, there would be no better means than to achieve the three great reforms that he strove for in his last years, the legislation that was meant to serve as the culmination of his career. There's been talk of naming the public option of a health bill after Kennedy, and that'd be a fine tribute -- but it wouldn't go far enough. It would be timid to stop there, and Ted Kennedy was never timid.
After all, Kennedy's commitment was not just to restructure health care, but to thoroughly rebuild America's promise to its people. That's why he focused for so many years on three particular areas of policy that he recognized were essential to a just nation: health care, labor, and immigration. And that's why he spent his last years pushing three critical reforms -- the "Teddy Trilogy," if you will -- which were intended to serve as the cornerstone of a rebuilt social compact. Crafting real universal health care, restoring the right to organize in the workplace, and honoring America's immigrant tradition -- this was to be Kennedy's legacy, and this is now our charge in his name.
Health: The Kennedy story on health care is well known. From the beginning of his Senate career when he helped enact the landmark Medicare and Medicaid statutes, to his role as the founder of CHIP, to his efforts in the Nineties and this decade to ensure coverage for all Americans, Ted Kennedy was at the forefront of humanistic health reform. It simply is not possible to truly honor Ted Kennedy's memory and at the same time oppose genuine health reform that guarantees universal, quality coverage.
Labor: Ted Kennedy was, quite simply, the best friend that working people had in the Senate. He served on the Senate Labor Committee (known by many different names over the years) from his first day in the Senate through his last, and chaired the Committee for many years. During that time, he was the driving force behind nearly every major piece of legislation intended to bring justice to the workplace -- from minimum wage laws to occupational safety reforms. But critically, and more than almost anyone in public life, he recognized that dignity and fairness in the workplace are ultimately dependent not on laws, and certainly not on the good graces of bosses, but on the right of working people to organize and bargain collectively. In short, Ted Kennedy -- the scion of Hyannisport -- was a full-blooded trade unionist. And he therefore dedicated much of the last decade of his life to the fight to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, the labor law reform he drafted to once again give working people a real chance to form unions and win fairness on the shop floor. It simply is not possible to truly honor Ted Kennedy's memory and at the same time oppose the bill that he crafted to rebuild democracy in the workplace.
Immigration: From the outset of his career, Kennedy understood that the social compact he championed would be hollow if some who worked hard and played by the rules could be denied their share of America's prosperity -- and possibly be denied their American home -- simply because years before, they had come to the US illegally. He also recognized that America's greatest strength was its openness to those seeking to better their lives and escape oppression. At the same time, Kennedy understood how unscrupulous businesses can exploit undocumented immigrants to drive down wages for all workers. Accordingly, he was at the heart of the drive to comprehensively reform our immigration laws to provide a path to citizenship for hard-working immigrants, to ensure opportunity for future immigrants, and to protect all workers from unfair downward wage pressures. It simply is not possible to truly honor Ted Kennedy's memory and at the same time oppose just comprehensive immigration reform that ensures fairness for all workers.
So as we hear the lofty tributes pile on top of each other over the next few days, we ought to prepare to ask those who praise Ted Kennedy whether they are prepared to truly honor him by carrying out his legacy -- by passing the Teddy Trilogy. Because if they aren't, their praise is empty, and they do the great man's memory a grave disservice.
For nearly 50 years in the Senate, Ted Kennedy served America with great deeds, not just lofty words. Today, we owe him the same.