The Wit and Wisdom of Ted Kennedy (4 page)

—Speech, September 22, 1978

The checks and balances so vital to our democracy are what make our constitutional scheme the envy of the world and such a potent and enduring foundation for our democracy.

—Statement on Judicial Activism,
April 13, 2005

Civil rights is still the unfinished business of America, and we will not rest until we make Dr. King's dream a reality. We will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like the waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

—Martin Luther King Day Speech,
Boston, January 17, 2000

The separation of church and state can sometimes be frustrating for women and men of religious faith. They may be tempted to misuse government in order to impose a value which they cannot persuade others to accept. But once we succumb to that temptation, we step onto a slippery slope where everyone's freedom is at risk.

—Speech at Liberty University,
October 3, 1983

We need more effective safeguards to ensure that every American can fully exercise his constitutional right to privacy. We must protect Americans against the compiling of inaccurate or unverified data and the unrestricted use and dissemination of such data.

—Speech, June 12, 1974

A federal program is not the solution to every problem. But there continues to be an important federal role in solving the problems of our society by investing in people and the infrastructure needed for our country to succeed and our citizens to thrive. To believe otherwise is hostile to the basic values of our country and to the historic concept of “We the People” in our Constitution. We must not rob the people of the resource of government. It is
their
government and we must make it work for them.

—Speech, National Press Club,
Washington, DC, January 11, 1995

What we were, what we are, and what we shall be as a nation and as individuals are closely bound up with that single, simple phrase “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech.”

—Speech, June 13, 1978

Diversity—
e pluribus unum
—“out of many, one,” is not just a slogan on our coins but the founding political principle of our nation. Too often in those years [of the Reagan and Bush presidencies] it was replaced by the politics of division, and progress was far more difficult than it should have been.

—Remarks on civil rights, October 22, 1993

We know that the struggle for equality is not over. Even with affirmative action, there are significant racial disparities in higher education between minority students and white students. Currently, African-Americans enroll in higher education at 85% the rate of white students. Latinos enroll in higher education at only 80% the rate of white students. As a country, we need to work to close that gap not—as the Administration now proposes—to widen it.

—Statement on Affirmative Action,
January 15, 2003

I hope for an America where no president, no public official, no individual will ever be deemed a greater or lesser American because of religious doubt—or religious belief.

—Speech at Liberty University,
October 3, 1983

In light of the ideological-driven selection of judicial nominees, it would be wrong to ask Senators to ignore the nominee's ideology. Neither the constitution itself nor historical practice demands blindness to this ideological pattern of nominations. Judicial nominees who come before the Senate should have not only the qualifications and temperament to be a judge. They should also be committed to democratic principles and ideals. Nominees should respect our judicial system and the co-equal relationship between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

—Remarks at the American Constitution Society's
conference on “The State of the Judiciary,”
September 25, 2002

The real transgression occurs when religion wants government to tell citizens how to live uniquely personal parts of their lives. The failure of Prohibition proves the futility of such an attempt when a majority or even a substantial minority happens to disagree. Some questions may be inherently individual ones, or people may be sharply divided about whether they are. In such cases, like Prohibition and abortion, the proper role of religion is to appeal to the conscience of the individual, not the coercive power of the state.

—Speech at Liberty University,
October 3, 1983

We must end the continuing blatant discrimination in our voting laws. If I could, I would lock every door in the Supreme Court but one, and require all nine justices to enter every morning through the majestic main door above which are inscribed in marble the four simple, basic words that are the foundation of America and always will be: “Equal Justice Under Law.” Because when we say “all,” we must mean “all.”

—Remarks on Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday,
Peoples Congregational United Church of Christ,
January 14, 2001

Too often, “Equal Justice Under Law” has been reduced to an empty slogan for too many. It is wrong to leave people powerless against injustice because they can't afford the kind of justice that is there for the asking by the wealthy. A right without a remedy is no right at all.

—Remarks on Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday,
Peoples Congregational United Church of Christ,
January 14, 2001

While economic growth is important to all Americans, it is absolutely essential for black Americans. It is the indispensible condition of black progress. Other groups may have achieved a level of comfort for themselves, but they have no right to stop the engines of growth before others have begun to board the train.

—Speech, May 7, 1978

Much remains to be done to secure equal opportunity for women. Enactment of the Equal Rights Amendment alone will not undo generations of economic injustice, but it will encourage women in all parts of the country in their efforts to obtain fairness under the nation's laws.

—Statement on the Equal Rights Amendment,
March 22, 2001

After two hundred years I think it is safe to say that women in America are now demanding full equality in every aspect of American life. And after two hundred years I think they have every right to expect it. Nor can this nation afford to deny it.

—Speech, May 18, 1976

In the rapid pace of society and its emphasis on youth and mobility, the handicapped have been left behind, relegated to the backwaters of society, ostracized by their contemporaries, victimized by unfair attitudes of discrimination.

—Speech, June 28, 1978

In June, in its landmark decision in
Lawrence v. Texas
, the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that made homosexual conduct a crime. … Predictably, the Court's decision has been denounced by some of our colleagues in Congress. The Republican Policy Committee in the Senate recently published a paper declaring that the decision “gave aid and comfort” to “activist lawyers” who seek to “force same-sex marriage on society through pliant, activist courts.” Only an amendment to the Constitution, the report states, can prevent this result. The Constitution is the foundation of our democracy. It reflects the enduring principles of our country. Notwithstanding the views of some of my Republican colleagues, the Constitution does not need a makeover.

—Remarks in opposition to a proposed
Constitutional amendment on the definition of
marriage, September 4, 2003

It's fundamentally wrong to discriminate against gays and lesbians by denying them the many benefits and protections that the laws of the state provide for married couples. Being part of a family is a basic right. It means having loved ones with whom to build a future, to share life's joys and tears. It means having the right to be treated fairly by the tax code, to visit loved ones in the hospital, and to receive health benefits, family leave benefits, and survivor benefits. I urge my colleagues to reject efforts to write that kind of bigotry into federal law.

—Statement on equal rights for
gays and lesbians, April 13, 2005

As far back as Justinian's Rome, criminal codes have been symbols of justice, examples of society's commitment to the principles of fairness. In this respect, the current federal criminal code is a disgrace. Congresses over the years have enacted some three thousand criminal laws, piling one on top of another until we have a structure that looks more like a Rube Goldberg contraption than a comprehensive criminal code.

—Speech, January, 19, 1978

We [in Congress] enacted the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act, bringing comprehensive protection for the rights of forty-three million Americans. Because of that law, fellow citizens across the country are finally learning that “disabled” does not mean “unable.”

—Remarks on civil rights legislation,
October 22, 1993

Today we seek to take the next step on this journey of justice by banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. … We know we cannot change attitudes overnight. But the great lesson of American history is that changes in the law are an essential step in breaking down barriers of bigotry, exposing prejudice for what it is, and building a strong and fair nation.

—Statement on the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act of 1995

ON LEADERSHIP
AND COURAGE

O
NE OF
T
ED
K
ENNEDY'S FORMATIVE EXPERIENCES WAS
his meeting with the king and queen of England, who came to pay a call on his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, the newly appointed Ambassador to the Court of St. James, in the year before England's entry into World War II. Kennedy recalled having to be “gussied up” for the occasion. He was six years old. He had already met the young princess Elizabeth at Windsor Castle on a previous occasion. This marked the beginning of a lifetime of getting to know world leaders. There is hardly an important figure on the world scene in the past 60 years that Ted Kennedy has not met at one time or another. He spoke with Nelson Mandela just four days after his release from his 27-year imprisonment in South Africa; he has met with the heads of the world's great religions from the Pope to the Dalai Lama. Safe to say, then, that this was a man who knew leadership when he saw it. And often in his speeches he would cite examples of leadership, both from those he knew well and from those renowned in history.

But he was just as quick to recognize and pay tribute to the extraordinary leadership and courage of those whose names remain obscure. His 1999 eulogy for six firefighters from Worcester, Massachusetts, who gave their lives to save others, is as moving as any praise of Nobel Peace Prize winners.

He has also recognized the courage of lone dissenters, steadfast individuals who refuse to bow to the pressure of dictators or bureaucracies abroad, just as he has stood up for whistleblowers at home, people who refuse to bow to political pressure or self-interest to keep on doing what conscience tells them is right. At times Senator Kennedy has occupied this role himself. When the pundits of the media were all saying that liberalism was a dying creed and when so many other politicians were hastening to disassociate themselves from “the L-word,” Senator Kennedy was one of the few not to edge away from his core beliefs. After the Republicans took control of both the House and the Senate in the mid-1990s, and tax-cutting and “small government” became all the rage, Senator Kennedy protested the end of effective programs that gave hope to the poor, so that the rich could pay less than their fair share. He stayed firm in his opposition to the death penalty when it was political risky to do so. In 1994, Republican Mitt Romney challenged him for his supposedly “safe” Senate seat, and for some months of the campaign, it was neck-and-neck between them in the polls. He was fighting for his political life.

Even so, he persisted in defending the civil liberties of despised groups, including undocumented immigrants and terrorism suspects in Guantanamo. He would not budge in his opposition to any justification for torture—it was immoral, and a disgrace to our American ideals, he said.

It was with this same courage and square-jawed determination that enabled him to live his life to the full in the face of his diagnosis of brain cancer. And, as he reports in his memoir,
True Compass
, he has been rewarded with a final year of life filled with faith, joy, and love.

The events of September 11th made clear that our nation's public safety officers are true heroes. While the pictures of tired, dust-covered fire fighters confronting unimaginable horror at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are permanently emblazoned on our minds, so also is the memory of their strength and courage. We will never forget the example those brave men and women set that day. The dedication and resolve of fire fighters in the face of life-threatening danger truly represent the best in America.

—Speech at the Legislative Conference
of the International Association
of Fire Fighters, March 19, 2002