His death is not just the loss of a man committed to those less fortunate. It is the death of a generation who believed in the greatness of the US because we were the living breathing essence of the Statue of Liberty.
Perhaps France should bring their tugboats over and haul it back to Europe until, or if we ever learn the lesson of caring for all Americans and not just those in the top 3% of the income tax bracket.
Let us look at what is replacing the philosophy of Senator Edward Kennedy's generation-
We have a Republican Party which believes destroying our government is better than working within it.
We have a "Sarah Palin" party of illiteracy, untruths, malicious bloviations, damaging and yet inviting enough to rally dangerous thinking and destructive actions.
We have the Sanford and Ensigns, financially privileged yet dishonest, self absorbed, shallow, narcissistic, dimwitted and destructive enough to deprive their perspective constituents of the representation they deserve.
On local levels we have the Blogdanovich's, Nevada's Governor Gibbons, and the Nevada's "Happiest mayor", gin drinker and advertiser, former mafioso legal pundit, Mayor Oscar Goodman.
Senator Edward Kennedy's statesmanship in his last years was the little voice the wind carried out to sea, the lifeline thousands needed but could not see, the steadying rudder of a rudderless country.
Like Paul Wellstone, the consciences of our country, those we so desperately need, dwindle, overtaken by a country determined to move, full speed ahead into tornadic winds, standing at the bow, head into the winds, waiting to destruct.
President Obama, as idealistic and determined to Captain this ship away from self destruction, has lost one of his best mates and navigators.
He faces a sea of uncertainty amidst a gale force of ignorance, fear and terrorist tactics from rich corporations, threatened rich white men and angry uneducated citizens.
I will miss Ted Kennedy. As I miss Paul Wellstone, and those before them, the voices of those who believed all citizens of our country deserved to be treated equally, fairly and with compassion.
