Ted Kennedy: Truth & Privilege

picture: George Bush & Ted Kennedy sign No Child Left Behind, with cynical use of an African American child

Is speaking ill of the dead as bad as creating sainthood of the dead. I don't know. But the truth stands on its own.

Some years ago I walked out of court on a not-guilty verdict. As a tenant organizer, a landlord had accused me of shooting out a window at one of their buildings. At the pub that afternoon a young woman slipped me a piece of paper with a quote from George Orwell on it, "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

On Saturday Ted Kennedy's funeral was an event for a lot of people beyond the dignitaries and "royalty" of the American political establishment. The corporate media has mentioned his personal failings: his expulsion from Harvard for paying someone to take an exam for him; how he walked away from a dying aid at a car crash at Chappaquiddick to cover his self; how he tried to help his nephew get out of a rape charge. All these things are normal for those who are born into, and recognize the importance of, privilege.

However, the sanctification of Ted Kennedy, as a richman who helped the poor may be going a little far. He is being revered for being a Democrat capable of reaching out to Republicans. However, what was the product of such bi-partnership. And in truth, how did working people benefit from the Senator.

With one brother as President and the other as Attorney General, his election to the Senate at age 30, was much a shoe-in in 1962. Aside from his initial full support for the huge escalation of the war in Vietnam, he voted for a lot of progressive legislation. This was in a period when even the Nixon Administration was passing progressive legislation. This was a time of one of the greatest mobilizations of working people, and every politician wanted to look good. However, ten or twelve years into his tenure Ted moved with the political elite in the other direction.

Perhaps his biggest victory was in trucking deregulation. Never heard of it? If you or your friend is an over-the-road truck driver they are probably your lowest-paid acquaintance. They are working hard for pennies a mile. They were forced to take out massive loans for their rigs and they are very, very unlikely to be union or have health benefits, vacation time, sick time, any of that stuff. Kennedy was the main promoter of the Motor Carrier Act signed into law by Jimmy Carter in 1980 and one of the key centerpieces of Reaganomics in the years to follow.

After trucking Deregulation, wages fell between 30 and 40-percent for drivers. Before deregulation, close to half a million workers drove with the protection of unionization, with decent hourly pay and health benefits. Today, 80% of those workers are now not covered by the union. That translates to daddy or mom being on the road for 60-100 hours-a-week. That translates to children without health coverage. It translates to more angry, tired drivers and bigger, fatter profits for the trucking companies. Drivers have been forced to buy their own rigs and make huge payments on truck-mortgages to fat banks. Kennedy helped the poor, if making more workers poor is helping the poor.

I'm not going to mention his opposition to a single-payer healthcare program or his support of the exam-mad No Child Left Behind. I guess I did.

Every loss of a family member should not be taken lightly. Today I will think about those that died on America's freeways because of tired drivers. I will think about the hundreds of thousands of families torn apart by the radical collapse of their incomes. I will also think about the rotton role of privelege in US politics and capitalism and Senator Edward Kennedy.