Ted Kennedy
I assume the hagiographies are largely over on TV, except maybe for the inane CNN.My reactions have been roughly those reflected in this letter from Don Boudreaux.
I know almost none of the millions of people whose daily efforts make possible my life and that of countless other Americans. These people don’t hatch grand plans for arrogantly re-working society. They offer only to deal voluntarily with me and with others, never pretending – unlike Mr. Kennedy – to be endowed with a mysterious genius and a saintly inspiration justifying haughty intrusions into the affairs of others.
Politicians are mortals. But as their greedy lust for power and glory reveals, they are mortals especially flawed.
Ted Kennedy qua Senator has never been someone I could admire at all.
His son shows there was another side, the human in his home with his family. Thanks Ted Jr. for enriching my view of Ted Kennedy and providing a picture that has less to do with his power-hungry political behavior.
And of course none of this should allow anyone to forget Mary Jo Kopechne (and whether Ted Sr took Ted Jr to Chappaquidick Briodge as he took the kids to Civil War Battlefields and the like).
Afterword: (Yes some of this gets just silly - the notion of 'sacrifice', where power-hunger is what is at work, and the like. This is what he had in common with Republicans.)
Afterword II: Don Boudreaux strikes again. Maybe the hotel tips cover the difference!?
posted by Alan Adamson @ 7:02 PM
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