Kennedy’s message: Know your messenger

Ted Kennedy’s passing this week comes at a time when the vitriol in American politics is at fever pitch.

Democrats pushing for healthcare reform have been accused of trying to kill old people and people with disabilities.

They’ve been accused of being communists, fascists, and agents of the Anti-Christ.

Kennedy was a standard-bearer for the liberal movement and many of his policy proposals were highly controversial.

Along with Hillary Clinton, he was perhaps the most significant left-of-center culture warrior of his day.

But whatever you think of Kennedy’s ideas, his motivations were beyond reproach: He believed in the vision of a better America, of better lives for the poor, people of color, women and working class families.

He also happened to believe that a democratically-elected government was an important tool for achieving those goals.

If nothing else, his career serves as a reminder to all sides of the discourse that we can disagree with the message without despising the messenger.

Opponents of health care reform should acknowledge that the goal of the reformers is very simply to extend health coverage to as many Americans as efficiently as possible.

Then they should make their arguments against the specifics of the Democratic plan, without hysterics and without poisonous accusations.

It’s worth remembering that the nasty rhetoric isn’t just a game; it isn’t just a way of tweaking the ratings for cable news shows.

The experience of Ted Kennedy’s family — two brothers gunned down by assassins – shows just how ugly the politics of personal destruction can become.

Would America be a better place if all of Kennedy’s proposals had been implemented? I don’t happen to think so.

But I know with certainty that his motivations in politics were of the highest moral and civic caliber. That’s good enough for me.

Tags: health