Growing up in Massachusetts I’d always heard about the Kennedy family. They were always in the news for one reason or another, especially in the Massachusetts newspapers and on the local newscasts.
Of course being from the younger generation (Post JFK and RFK) it was usually about Ted Kennedy or John John or Caroline, Joan was drunk as a skunk again, William Kennedy Smith charged with rape, etc. Being young and not particularly concerned with Politics I never paid much attention to Senator Kennedy’s work in the Senate until much later. Boy was I missing out.
It’s true most people pay no attention to politics at all. We have better things to do with our lives. Unless that is, you have some sort of an agenda. Unless you’re concerned with something that is very close to your heart, most could care less about politics and politicians. For instance, most people have Health Insurance throughout most of their lives so they have no interest in Politicians debating Health Insurance and Health Care in this country. It makes no difference to them. It’s boring. That is of course until they lose their Health Insurance, and then most will start paying attention.
A full 47 million Americans lack Health Insurance in this country. A Huge number for sure, but in a country of 300 million people, that is a minority. Most people see no need to be concerned with it, unless of course your one of those 47 million people.
The same goes for Gay Rights in America. Although a full 25% of the population is gay by most estimates (http://www.gaydemographics.org/USA/USA.htm), we are a minority. We are discriminated against every day in one way or another. We’re not allowed to marry the person we have fallen in love with in most locations of this Country, The so called land of the “Free”. “Equality” only applies if you are in the Majority. Our own Federal Government discriminates against us with the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The California Supreme Court Rules Same Sex Marriage legal and immediately the bigots crawl out from under their rocks attempting to get an amendment passed to outlaw Same Sex Marriage and therefore “Protect Marriage”. Protection from what no one is sure.
Thankfully, we have someone like Ted Kennedy in our corner fighting the injustice of Discrimination and Oppression.
Suffering from inevitably fatal Brain Cancer, “The Liberal Lion” made dam sure he travelled to Denver to attend the Democratic National Convention last night.
“Barack Obama will close the book on the old politics of race and gender and group against group and straight against gay”, he said.
And that he will.
Thank you Senator Kennedy for spending your life fighting for equality and Justice for all people. I hope and pray you will be around to see your dreams (and mine) fulfilled in November.
Obama/Biden 08
Full Text of Senator Kennedy’s Speech
My fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans, it is so wonderful to be here.
And nothing — nothing is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight.
I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals, and to elect Barack Obama president of the United States.
As I look ahead, I am strengthened by family and friendship. So many of you have been with me in the happiest days and the hardest days. Together we have known success and seen setbacks, victory and defeat.
But we have never lost our belief that we are all called to a better country and a newer world. And I pledge to you — I pledge to you that I will be there next January on the floor of the United States Senate when we begin the great test.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
For me this is a season of hope — new hope for a justice and fair prosperity for the many, and not just for the few — new hope.
And this is the cause of my life — new hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American — north, south, east, west, young, old — will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege.
We can meet these challenges with Barack Obama. Yes, we can, and finally, yes, we will.
Barack Obama will close the book on the old politics of race and gender and group against group and straight against gay.
And Barack Obama will be a commander in chief who understands that young Americans in uniform must never be committed to a mistake, but always for a mission worthy of their bravery.
We are told that Barack Obama believes too much in an America of high principle and bold endeavor, but when John Kennedy called of going to the moon, he didn’t say it’s too far to get there. We shouldn’t even try.
Our people answered his call and rose to the challenge, and today an American flag still marks the surface of the moon.
Yes, we are all Americans. This is what we do. We reach the moon. We scale the heights. I know it. I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. And we can do it again.
There is a new wave of change all around us, and if we set our compass true, we will reach our destination — not merely victory for our party, but renewal for our nation.
And this November the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans, so with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on.