A Uniter, Not a Divider

Late last night before going to bed, I heard of the death of Senator Ted Kennedy. At hearing this sad news I was not shocked, as his death had been expected for some time.

Though Kennedy was most assuredly not a perfect man (who is?), he was probably one of the most effective Senators in recent history. What I most respected about him in this time of sharp ideological divide in politics, with the "Us vs Them" mentality running rampant, was his ability to reach across party lines to actually get things done that would benefit all Americans. While many politicians spend time pointing fingers, he reached out a helping hand.

With conservative Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch he worked on nearly a dozen bipartisan bills, including a federally funded program for victims of HIV/AIDS, health insurance for lower-income children and tax breaks to encourage the development of medicine for rare diseases.

According to Wikipedia:

More than 300 bills that Kennedy and his staff wrote have been enacted into law. Kennedy played a major role in passing many laws that have affected the lives of all Americans, including the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the National Cancer Act of 1971, the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, the COBRA Act of 1985, the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Ryan White AIDS Care Act in 1990, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, the Mental Health Parity Act in 1996 and 2008, the State Children's Health Insurance Program in 1997, the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, and the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in 2009

During his long tenure as a Senator, Kennedy's major legislative goal was the establishment of universal health care.

I'm sorry that he did not live long enough to achieve his lifelong goal, but we can honor Senator Kennedy's memory by working to make his dream of health care reform a reality.