So many words have already been written about Ted Kennedy in the few days since his death -- some profound, many filled with cliché -- that despite my sadness at his passing, I initially saw no need to add my own.
But as I've watched and read, one observation crystallized in my mind that seems worth articulating through the clutter.
It's true that Ted Kennedy could be a great orator, articulating with passion and eloquence the heart of the liberal ideal, as he did in his 1980 Democratic Convention concession speech and again at the 2008 Democratic Convention in support of Barack Obama.
But it's not primarily Senator Kennedy's words that make him one of the great defenders of modern liberalism. His life itself is living proof of the central liberal idea that government can help make people's lives better. The government action that has resulted from legislation he has championed has concretely improved the lives of tens of millions of people in America and around the world.
He accomplished much of this during an increasingly conservative era during which politicians and media figures denigrated the role of government and worshiped at the altar of the so-called "free" market. In his first Inaugural Address in 1981, President Reagan proclaimed, "Government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem." After 15 years of conservative propaganda, the refrain was taken up by many so-called New Democrats, most famously by Bill Clinton in his 1996 State of the Union address in which he proclaimed, "The era of big government is over".
Ted Kennedy almost certainly disagreed (and this disagreement with Bill Clinton's easy acquiescence to conservative rhetoric may have been part of what influenced him to support Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton for the nomination). Kennedy was likely influenced by liberal thinkers like John Kenneth Galbraith (an advisor to his brother JFK) who argued that it was necessary for government regulation, trade unions, and consumer organizations to form a countervailing power against the monopolist power of big business. Sen. Kennedy's life as a legislator encapsulated this fundamental liberal idea (although he wasn't doctrinaire about it either; he also championed the deregulation of the airline and trucking industries). In hundreds of pieces of legislation that he championed, he used the power of the government to offset the power of big business and to concretely help working and middle class people in American and around the world.
A synopsis of Sen. Kennedy's legislative achievements runs 54-pages long. During his 47-year Senate career, he authored more than 2500 bills, hundreds of which became law. Some highlights:
- The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made segregation in public facilities illegal, was proposed by JFK and championed after his death by Lyndon Johnson. The bill was filibustered for 57-days by southern segregationists in the Senate. Still recovering from serious injuries sustained in a devastating plane crash, Ted Kennedy returned to the Senate floor to give an impassioned speech which helped break the filibuster and lead to the bill's passage.
- In 1970, Ted Kennedy led the fight for the Voting Rights Extension Act which lowered the voting age to 18.
- Kennedy championed the successful floor fight to pass the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 which abolished the quota system limiting immigration from Asia. The results literally changed the demographic make-up of America. Millions of Asian-Americans who contribute so much to our economy and our educational system literally wouldn't be here without Sen. Kennedy's efforts.
- Kennedy co-sponsored the National Cancer Act which established a federal cancer research program and quadrupled the amount spent on cancer research.
- Kennedy played a key role in passing Title IX, requiring colleges to provide equal funding for men's and women's sports. Without it, hundreds of thousands of female athletes would never have had the opportunities which they achieved.
- In 1986 Sen. Kennedy led the bipartisan fight in Congress which overrode President Reagan's veto of economic sanctions against the apartheid government of South Africa. The resulting economic isolation helped pressure white South Africans into accepting that the days of apartheid were numbered, and along with the resistance of black South Africans, helped bring about the release a few years later of Nelson Mandela and the advent of majority rule.
•Kennedy was instrumental in passing the Americans with Disabilities Act which prohibited workplace discrimination against and required public accommodations for disabled Americans, making it possible for innumerable disabled Americans to live better and fuller lives.
- Sen. Kennedy co-sponsored the Family and Medical Leave Act which required business to provide unpaid leave for family emergencies and the birth of a child.
- Sen. Kennedy co-sponsored the COBRA act, which allows employees to keep their health insurance after losing their jobs.
- Kennedy led the fight to raise the minimum wage from4.25 to5.15 an hour in 1996, and again in 2007 led the fight to increase it to7.25.
- Kennedy was a leader in the fight to establish the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which today insures over 10 million children.
In these and countless other measures, Ted Kennedy helped mobilize the power of the government to offset the power of big business and to improve the lives of millions. Even among conservatives who falsely rail against a "government takeover of health care," how many would argue for repealing such government actions that Ted Kennedy helped achieve? After decades of the very word "liberal" being turned into an insult by the right-wing, Ted Kennedy's life itself is living proof of the power of the liberal ideal.