Ted Kennedy
champion for the people
By: David Phillips
Senator Edward “Ted”
Kennedy died at age 77 from brain cancer this past Tuesday and he will truly be missed.
In his 46 years
in the Senate Kennedy sponsored or co-sponsored thousands of pieces of legislation, from Civil rights to health care, he fought
for all Americans, the peoples champion. But it was Universal Health care that Senator Kennedy referred to as “the fight
of his life.”
Ted Kennedy was
a champion for the people; he was first elected to the Senate in 1962 by the state of Massachusetts and reelected seven times.
In 1980 Kennedy ran for President losing the Democratic Party nomination to President Jimmy Carter. That was the only time
Senator Kennedy sought the presidency.
Senator Kennedy
was often referred to as the “Lion of the Senate” by his peers on both sides of the aisle. He mastered the art of persuasion and compromise to move legislation to a majority
vote in the Senate.
A few of his programs and legislation that Senator Kennedy ushered through include, the S-CHIP program that provides health care to millions of children, COBRA
which allows those who lose their jobs to keep their health insurance by directly paying the premiums, The American Disabilities
Act, Medicare prescriptions drug benefits, OSHA, The Voting Rights act and Equal Pay for Women. His list of accomplishments
is far-reaching.
Senator Kennedy
once said of himself during a flap over the Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, “I define Liberalism in the Country”.
Senator Kennedy’s fight for the working class, the children and the seniors of our nation, truly justifies that statement.
.
David is
also the Las Vegas Democrat Examiner and you can read more of his columns here