Thoughts from the Right at Kennedy’s Passing

When a giant falls, you can’t help but take notice. When that giant is one who spent nearly his entire life championing  political causes to which you stand in stark and devoted opposition, the experience is unique and confused. One wonders how to feel and what to say. The death of Senator Kennedy this past week was the passing of just such a giant.

Ted Kennedy was an Irish Catholic. He was brother to two famous heroes of liberalism and son to a man who (as US ambassador to Britain) told FDR to give up on Churchill’s Britain at the outset of World War II. Senator Kennedy was pro-choice. He led the charge to block the nomination of Robert Bork by Ronald Regan to the supreme court in 1987 and was a big reason that judicial nominations since have devolved into questions of ideology more than competence. This could go on for a really lengthy amount of time – from his stance opposing both Iraq wars to his conception of what the government should play in the private sector – this man’s worldview was diametrically and impossibly opposed to my own (and millions of others).

And yet, seeing all of the warm memories that Kennedy’s friends and loved ones (from both sides of the ever dividing aisle) poured out can’t help but make a person see the man in a different light. He obviously had a real impact on many of those he came in contact with, and appears to have had a pretty entertaining personality as well. The sheer weight of the history he represents is remarkable also. Just to think that this guy marked national tragedy and triumph in such a personal way… he was really like a living piece of history himself. I’m stifling the liberalism as history joke out of respect. Then again you got the sense that Senator Kennedy could handle a dose of humor.

Another window into Senator Kennedy’s non-monster-ness and humanity was watching Senator Orin Hatch’s remarks about Kennedy on Saturday evening at the remembrance service in Boston. Hatch is just awesome – that guy is an empire. He told stories about Kennedy’s exploits that you couldn’t help but smile over – such as an entire negotiation the two conducted while, as Hatch described it, Senator Kennedy was “clearly feeling no pain”.

But one of the phrases I did hear a great during the coverage of Kennedy’s passing was that ‘the world is a great deal better off because Senator Kennedy lived’. This is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. There can be no question that Senator Kennedy’s long life meant a great deal to his family and to many others. To these folks he undoubtedly made a great difference for the good. Intellectual honesty can’t let me escape the obvious question though – is his nation better off for his time in Washington? It’s a question of which I don’t think we can be certain of the answer. Senator Kennedy’s motives – his priorities – were excellent. He sought to better the lives of people he felt were forgotten by the powerful – whether those powers were corporations, society, or government. As the consummate liberal, he believed the way to accomplish these goals was through intervention from the capital. His crusades for universal health care provided by the government and myriad social programs were well intentioned, there can be no doubt. However, history teaches that government intervention on behalf of these priorities only serves to decrease the economic health of the whole land. While the government unquestionably has a role in regulation and common sense administration – the government Kennedy sought to (and sometimes, successfully did) create was not one that would have strengthened America or her families.

So the question is still a tough one. Whatever the answer is, I suggest we honor Kennedy’s motives. We applaud his commitment to public service. We take a look at ourselves and make sure that we can still love and value each other even when our worldviews are so completely different. And we respectfully survey the policies and ideas that the man put forward and advocated. For many, that process won’t bring us any closer to Senator Kennedy ideologically. That’s ok. A remarkable man.