Senator Byrd has many gifts -- orator, statesman,
historian -- even
old-time fiddler He is a man of many talents, gifted in many ways.
These are the gifts given TO Senator Byrd, but he is also a gift TO US. Senator Byrd, in and of himself, is a precious gift that has been given, by divine providence, to the nation and to the people.
Earlier this year, it was anticipated that Byrd would not be running for re-election in 2006. However on September 27 the 88-year-old announced for a ninth term. So Byrd, who has never lost an election, is staying at this critical juncture. On completion of his ninth term, Byrd will have been in the Senate for an unprecedented 60 years.
Even if Byrd had decided to call it a day and "pack it in", even if he should do nothing much for the rest of his life but sit on his front porch and fiddle away on old-time mountain tunes -- he would still constitute a precious gift to the nation. Senator Byrd is larger than life: while remaining an effective advocate for his constituents, he transcends politics.
In order to explain, in greater detail, my thoughts on the significance of Senator Byrd today, I find that I have to begin with something of a RANT:
RANT ON DEMOCRATS ON TRADE
As a progressive Democrat, I am often reminded that it was a Democrat -- President Clinton -- who ushered the disaster of fast-track "free" trade into the corrupted halls of Congress. Thankfully, I am able to respond that those were NOT Democratic congresses after 1994, AND, more Republicans than Democrats in the House voted in favor on the final votes on NAFTA and the other agreements. I am also able to uphold the honor of the Democratic Party by asking my antagonists this question: are there senators in the Congress who have PERFECT records AGAINST "free" trade throughout this entire period?
The answer is interesting, because there are exactly THREE senators with perfect records against the fast-track end-runs around American public opinion and the American democratic tradition -- and those are: Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada! Isn't it interesting that those three senators are today the undisputed leaders of the three wings of the Democrats -- the populist, the progressive and the moderate. (Okay, there's also Kennedy, leader of the old liberal wing -- strong on most progressive issues, but backsliding on fast-track trade.)
I don't want to get side-tracked into a discussion of trade "liberalization" - or is it corporate globalization? - EXCEPT to note that I have never encountered any criticism of my strong denunciation of fast-track "free" trade other than that it is too late to undo it. That has really been the bulk of the argument for fast-track "free" trade from the very beginning: that it is a done deal. No need to consult the public, in referendums as such agreements MUST be, country-by-country, in the European Union. No need for competition between the two parties on an issue of such importance (to global capital) -- no, rather the two-party system can be used and subverted in an end-run skirting the Constitution itself.
There! I've done it: I have used the term "global capital" -- and some of you reading this will be saying to yourselves, "Now we know where this idiot is coming from!" Yes, and that is why I deliberately use the term "global capital" -- so that you will know where I am coming from, and so that I can let you know that I know exactly where you are coming from.
Where you critics of the anti-WTO position are coming from is really this: a rejection of the populist tradition of the Democratic Party. And if that isn't bad enough, that rejection of our populist tradition is part and parcel of the disastrous deconstruction (or just plain destruction) of the two-party system that is currently taking us into a brave new world of corporate elitist government. Enough said!
Back to the subject: who and what Senator Byrd is.
Senator Byrd is the voice of democratic - and Democratic - populism. He is a traditionalist who has been endorsed by MoveOn and praised by the DemocraticUnderground He has been called a "living legend" and "The Soul of the Senate" -- dedicated to the traditions of comity and the rights/duties of the minority in the Senate. Byrd, in that capacity, led the successful resurgence of Democratic backbone in 2005 by way of the battle against the Republicans' assault on the filibuster, the "nuclear option".
Note: In defense of those rights and duties, Byrd did not hesitate to use an analogy with Germany in 1933-1934 in his published remarks, March 1, 2005, titled "Stopping a Strike at the Heart of the Senate". The charges of anti-semitism, unfairly leveled against Byrd's statement, are belied by his careful reasoning and citation to history, as can be read in the pdf file of his remarks, available by clicking the "compelling speech" link at --
http://talkleft.com/...
Byrd has always been a vigilant defender of the Constitution, as in his recent statement No President Is Above the Law He is the unflinching advocate of the interests of the people and state of West Virginia. He is the man who stood up on the eve of the Bush invasion of Iraq - March 19, 2003 - to deliver his "Today, I weep for my country" speech. He is the senator who introduced the "Byrd amendment" - which was enacted two years ago as the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA) - in defense of the principle that the the American people still have a right to expect that Congress should retain at least the authority to regulate the allocation of trade penalties within the United States.
Despite a 71-20 Senate vote in support of CDSOA, the recent infamous budget resolution, enacted with a Cheney tie-breaker 51-50 vote, has repealed the CDSOA. From Byrd's senate web site
Last week, the Senate voted overwhelmingly -- 71-20 -- to back the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA), more commonly called the Byrd Amendment. But, in the final budget package negotiated between the House and Senate Republican Leadership, the CDSOA is repealed after two years.
"CDSOA was enacted to restore conditions of fair trade, so that jobs that should stay in the United States are not destroyed by unfair foreign competition," Byrd stated on Tuesday. "Now is the time to hold foreign unfair traders more accountable, not less! There is no need to repeal the law today, two years from now, or ever."
"If our trading partners don't like this trade law, the solution is not to repeal the law. If our trading partners are offended by the law, I have only two words for them: Stop dumping!" Byrd argued.
There you have enough to understand how it is that Senator Byrd serves the nation as a living symbol transcending the limits that "conventional wisdom" would impose on our national politic. He started out as a populist in the worst sense of the word - when he joined the West Virginia KKK - but he brought the grass roots with him as he evolved away from such unfortunate beginnings. In step with, and leading, the populist wing of the Democratic Party, he has become a dependable advocate of civil rights with a 100% rating from the NAACP, as reported under the "Civil Rights" heading at Project Vote Smart
Recently, on the occasion of the defeat of ANWR - when the Democrats circled wagons and resorted to filibuster - NPR news reported Senator Byrd "resplendent in a red vest" speaking in favor of the filibuster and apologizing for his opposition to a friend and colleague - Senator Stevens of Alaska . NPR even gave Byrd a soundbite:
"I love this man [Senator Stevens], I love him . . . but I love the Senate more!"
I had to wonder, hearing that soundbite, how many Americans could figure out what Byrd was talking about? Because NPR - typical of soundbite journalism - did not give much context or bother to allude to the background of the filibuster and its significance in the current Congress. Then I reflected that it didn't matter: the American people actually do, at the gut level, understand very well what Byrd was talking about and even why he presented himself for the occasion "resplendent in a red vest".
Byrd is the embodiment of something that America knows is missing in our politic today - a balance that has been lost, a tradition that has been all but forgotten. Whether they know that the filibuster - or "nuclear option" - is all about the tradition of the United States Senate as the forum where consensus evolves, the American people understand that the politic of consensus is on the ropes in America today. We all feel a vague prompting from our unconscious conscience, telling us SOMETHING IS WRONG, SOMETHING IS MISSING -- but it isn't easy to define that missing thing. What is missing cannot really be rationally defined, confined or refined -- but it can be represented symbolically. Thank God, we have in the Senate a man who is able and willing to serve as the living symbol - the embodiment - of a living continuation of our missing tradition.
Did 9-11 change everything? OF COURSE NOT. A much more horrendous event - the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima - failed to "change everything" or even, perhaps, to change very much. However, the tragedy of 9-11 in its mythic proportions does serve the forces of regression as a kind of mass lobotomy threatening to cut us off from all that we learned over the more than 200 years of our history.
Senator Byrd has stood in the way of the forces of regression. He has made that stand so effectively that it cannot be undone. Even after Senator Byrd finally retires, even if someday he spends his time doing nothing more than sitting on his front porch and fiddling -- Senator Byrd will continue to serve as a gift of divine providence to the people and the nation.
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NOTE: I am intentionally posting this diary about a "gift" at Christmas. For that reason, I laid the theoretical groundwork for this diary in an earlier diary posted on Christmas Eve: The politician as magician/clown For those with an interest in the theoretical and depth-psychological approach, here is the lead paragraph from that diary:
All great politicians surely understand that they must walk a tight rope in a performance hovering above the masses. They must never lose the sympathy of the audience below and, of course, they do not want to fall. Meanwhile, as they are balancing to keep from falling, they are also balancing between the twin roles of clown and magician.
Some politicians are all about caution; probably those whose aim is merely to be effective, and to continue in office, are mostly of that persuasion. There are, however, great politicians who are all about living dangerously. Such politicians will not hesitate to wear a red vest when the occasion demands. (Byrd has been credited with the practice, now accepted as a commonplace, of televising Senate proceedings.)
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BTW: Thanks to a not unexpected homophobic response to Byrd's unabashed admission of "love" for Senator Stevens, we can now add "homosexual" to the charges of anti-semite, racist, klansman, "kleagle" and "Crotchety Old Coot-WV" thrown at Byrd by neo-con propagandists.