In my last blog post, I wrote that healthcare reform "may be the last bill that Sen. Kennedy ever votes for before the ravages of cancer catch him." As you know by now, that projection turned to be optimistic. Growing up in Massachusetts, Sen. Kennedy dominated our political lives, and I met him many times. As a young boy, I campaigned for Ted Kennedy during his presidential run in 1980 -- one of my first political memories. I was at the Democratic National Convention (my mother was a delegate) when he made his concession speech. Although spoken in defeat, it may have been the Senator's finest moment of oration.
In that speech, the Senator asked us "to renew the commitment of the Democratic Party to economic justice." I recalled these words often and they have been a light to me whenever it seemed that the cause of justice was hidden in darkness.
That speach also contained an impassed plea for healthcare reform.
[W]e cannot have a fair prosperity in isolation from a fair society. So I will continue to stand for a national health insurance. We must -- We must not surrender -- We must not surrender to the relentless medical inflation that can bankrupt almost anyone and that may soon break the budgets of government at every level. Let us insist on real controls over what doctors and hospitals can charge, and let us resolve that the state of a family's health shall never depend on the size of a family's wealth.
These seem like dark times for the Senator's dream of healthcare reform, but "we must not surrender."
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/tedkennedy1980dnc.htm.
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