Pragmatism in service to ideals is the way forward
I was moved to start this blog by the death of Ted Kennedy.
Ted Kennedy was not my hero. I was fairly cynical about him and his presence on the national stage. I viewed him as a lesser scion of a regal, tragic, American family.
Then he died, and I paid some attention to what he had done in his 47 years in the U.S. senate. There is almost no law having to do with social policy in the United States that has passed in the past half century without Ted Kennedy leaving his mark on it. And yet his most important, vital work remains undone.
We must change, in a fundamental way, the health care system of this country. If we do not, then we will lose the elements of it that we so value - the access to doctors of our choosing and advanced technologies and drugs - and it will bankrupt the nation. Along the way, U.S. businesses will be ever more competitively disadvantaged to competing concerns based in nations where health care is provided by the government.
In looking more closely at Ted Kennedy, it became clear to me why he was so effective. He was an idealist of the first caliber, never losing an opportunity to expound upon his liberal values or to exhort the democratic base to action. He was also a consummate pragmatist, willing always to get done what was possible, in service to his ideals:
More soon.
Ted Kennedy was not my hero. I was fairly cynical about him and his presence on the national stage. I viewed him as a lesser scion of a regal, tragic, American family.
Then he died, and I paid some attention to what he had done in his 47 years in the U.S. senate. There is almost no law having to do with social policy in the United States that has passed in the past half century without Ted Kennedy leaving his mark on it. And yet his most important, vital work remains undone.
We must change, in a fundamental way, the health care system of this country. If we do not, then we will lose the elements of it that we so value - the access to doctors of our choosing and advanced technologies and drugs - and it will bankrupt the nation. Along the way, U.S. businesses will be ever more competitively disadvantaged to competing concerns based in nations where health care is provided by the government.
In looking more closely at Ted Kennedy, it became clear to me why he was so effective. He was an idealist of the first caliber, never losing an opportunity to expound upon his liberal values or to exhort the democratic base to action. He was also a consummate pragmatist, willing always to get done what was possible, in service to his ideals:
". . . of all the strengths that made him probably the most effective U.S. Senator in a century, none was greater than his pragmatism. Ted Kennedy was a man who dreamed big but was always looking for a deal." Time, August 26, 2009We must be pragmatic. We must see with clear eyes the crisis that faces us. All the idealism in the world will not save us if we cannot see the facts for what they are. That is the lesson of Ted Kennedy's life and great works.
More soon.
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