True Heroes of the Republic

Sen. Ted Kennedy's death has brought back to mind my complicated relationship with the Massachusetts senior senator. And I use the word relationship loosely, seeing that I never met the man.

When I was in junior high and high school in Norwell, Mass., I despised Kennedy. I was a very conservative youth. My political heroes were Reagen, George H.W. Bush, Quayle, and many of the strong conservatives in Congress. As one of only two Republicans in most of my classes (and with all of my teachers being as liberal as I was conservative), I felt like the last defender of the faith. And I never backed down.

Kennedy was the embodiment in my young mind of all that was wrong with liberal America. A lack of moral responsibility. An entitled upbringing, which, in my mind, made socialism easier to accept. And a member of the elite, a quasi-royal family that was a beloved institution of the Bay State.

The culmination of this was his senatorial race against Mitt Romney. I stayed registered in Massachusetts in 1994 (while I was attending Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah) for the purpose of voting against Kennedy. Romney was much too 'liberal' for my tastes, but he wasn't Kennedy. My first act as a voter would be to vote, with pride, against Kennedy.

My politics have shifted since then. After living in Utah, I found out I wasn't as conservative as I thought. I believe that the federal government needs to step in and fix primary education, especially in impoverished states and localities. I believe immigration is, for the most part, a positive thing, and provides the Republic with a backbone of dedicated, low-wage workers. These, among other issues, showed me I wasn't as 'conservative' as I thought I was, and my brief involvement with the college Republicans in 1994 left me a little disenchanted.

Fast-forward 15 years. After Kennedy died, I heard a news story on NPR and a tribute on NESN (the New England Sports Network) before a White Sox-Red Sox game. Think about that. A cable sports network spent much of its baseball telecast on the passing of a senator. Massachusetts is an interesting place for sports and politics.

It got me thinking: how would I remember the man? He had a successful career by all accounts, and was a part of almost anything major that transpired in the Senate from 1980 on. Despite repeated failures, he never gave up on socialized medicine. Though a lightning rod for conservative commentators, he made a career of reaching across the aisle, and made an improbable friendship with one of the Senate's conservative stalwarts, Orrin Hatch of Utah.

But I still disagree with him on almost every major issue, except for maybe immigration. But I don't despise him. Should Chappaquiddick have landed him in jail? Absolutely, but Kennedys don't go to jail. But his elitism, which was very evident early on in his career, faded with his presidential ambitions in 1980.

I can't say I admire the man, other than some of the great kindness he showed to people during the later stages of his life, and his dedication to the Republic, even if I disagree with his ideals.

So, liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, as you hear all the platitudes showered upon Ted Kennedy, remember the true heroes of the Republic: dedicated school teachers; volunteers who help the poor and handicapped; and good parents who raise moral children. Ted Kennedy's life may have been a public one, but that doesn't necessarily make it a great one.