A Gentleman’s view.

The Kennedys felt honored to service, Senator ‘Ted’ Edward Moore Kennedy, the ultimate representative, his accomplishments on page with his name.

The death of an imperfect gentleman gives me an opportunity to explain the theory of this blog as it relates to gangsters and politicians. Gangsters offer to protect neighborhoods or businesses or properties from potential danger. They claim to be able to resolve a situation they just declared to exist and then want you to pay for letting them fix the problem you didn’t know you had. The danger naturally exists with the gangster now offering his benevolence at a price. The average politician gives you the feeling he is doing you a favor once he gets control of the position in which he was elected to. He only needs your votes and therefore your direct attention of a short period of time. In order to stay in office and therefore power, he needs the support of the industries whose committees they get to sit on.  It appears to be less about those who toiled to help him or her win and has become solely about the industries impacted by the position that district represents. I believe in spite of the standards put in place by his brothers, this Senator was headed down that same road, but for the tragedy that ruthlessly kept an onslaught upon the Kennedy family, and it changed him. This man rose above his own weaknesses and spent the rest of his life making up for some really bad choices as a man early on.  What America experienced because of the late Senator nobleness has been nothing short of the most miraculous efforts of one man’s fight to give dignity many felt and still feel are not worth the time or effort of caring.

If ever there was a group gratefully beholden to this most royal of political families with long histories in America, I believe we blacks are and proudly so. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is but one of many pieces of legislation impacting the quality of life for minorities in undeniable ways. President at the time Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and later stated it cost him his political career to do it, but he felt he owed it to President Kennedy, who some believed died as it was one of many reasons he was assassinated as was his brother Bobby later on. For whatever reasons, their being Catholics, or Irish, or believed to be the hope of the down trodden, voice of helpless, many people hated and despised the Kennedy clan. It was said the late Senator had over a hundred different ways to get to his office in the capital and did so for many years in that precarious manner in anticipation of an possible attempt on his life. It never had a negative impact on his zeal of find ways to work on legislation that brought dignity to so many people and helped so many children as well as disabled in this country of ours. So, many will heap praise at his passing just as is done when the Don of a rival family gets gunned down within the mob. There is a big turnout and many of goodwill will speak fond personal memories and share a piece of the way he loved them, all of us impacted can only wish to let him know how much he made a difference in his community. Since his passing though, there were many who spoke consistently, and a quite a few from the other side of the aisle, about how every single time something happened to relatives, family members or whatever, he was the first one on the land line to make contact offering help, or condolences, or encouragement, whatever the situation called for, always.

The Health ‘Care’, ‘Insurance Reform’ legislation being drafted and amended in Congress presently has many of the participants singing the same praise with the passing of the ‘Lion of the Senate’, namely, he is sorely missed because of his skills as a negotiator and ability to compromise to achieve incremental progress. Conflicts are keeping out other player’s capable of making a difference such as formerly Majority Leader in the Senate, Thomas Andrew Daschle and for some reason Dr. Howard Dean seems to be in the background. I don’t understand why during this debate isn’t the CEO’s of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler not screaming for passage of this kind of legislation in order to help them stay in business competitively here at home and more importantly abroad. But everyone knew this was the main cause of Senator Kennedy’s political life, and therein lays the hypocrisy of all those who say they were touched by the way this man just gave a damn about people period. We may not be able to make a point to those in the House as they have too high a turnover ratio, however in the Senate; there should be a sense of paying some tribute to the nobleness of this last Kennedy of a bygone era. For Senator Orin Hatch, Senator John McCain, Senator Joe Lieberman, Senator Lindsey Graham, and Chuck Grassley, who have publicly made statements of the loss of the Lion, there could be a rallying of the troupes to show a partisanship statement of being human. There should be some feeling of him paying his dues, cleaning up his act, even maybe a sense of reaching back across the aisle in one statement of ‘here’s one back at you, Senator, for all the times you were there for us, for the calls in the dead of the night our kid was sick, or our wife or family member was ill or lost, for appreciating that all humans suffer pain living the human experience. For one time only, Sir, here is my yes vote on health care Sir, because you felt honored to service, this one is for you. But, we all know gangsters don’t play like that, neither do politicians. They blame the Lion for that former black Senator sitting in the White House.

© 2009, agentleman.