Today is the sixth anniversary of Paul Wellstone's tragic death. Wellstone was the first politician I ever interacted with, and his unanticipated kindness and generosity are no small part of why I work in politics today. Last year, I wrote a remembrance of him, and I think the final paragraphs ring even truer today:When liberal was an epithet, Paul Wellstone wrote a book called The Conscience of a Liberal. When unions were in deep decline, Wellstone stood with them, and now the AFL-CIO now gives an annual award in his honor. After the Clinton health plan was crushed and Democrats retreated from health reform, Wellstone pushed for single-payer. While Clinton was chasing dollars to outspend and overwhelm Bob Dole, Wellstone was calling for full public financing. When progressives were marginalized and cowed by the right's cynical use of 9/11, Wellstone stood on the floor of the Senate, deep within the chambers of power, at the epicenter of cowardice and "responsible" hawkery, and roared on behalf of our ideals. That they were politically inconvenient never deterred him. "If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for," he said, "at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."The fight is not so lonely anymore. Democrats control both houses of Congress. The country now sees George W. Bush much as Wellstone described him. New York Times op-ed columnist Paul Krugman just wrote a book called Conscience of a Liberal, as clear a signal as any of the word's restoration. Economic inequality, wage stagnation, and the health care crisis dominate the Democrats' domestic agenda, just as Wellstone always said they should. It's easier to be a liberal today, to be a progressive, to be proud. But there was a time when it wasn't. When liberalism in defense of peace was mocked, and moderation in service of imperialism was praised. In those days, it was hard to be a liberal. It must have been hard to be Paul Wellstone. He never showed it, though. He liked to quote Marcia Timmel. "I'm so small and the darkness is so great," she said. "We must light a candle," Wellstone would reply. He was ours. Would that he was here to enjoy the dawn.Would that he were around to see this moment. Of course, we must always be mindful of Wellstone's admonition to do more than talk amongst ourselves, or feel sorrowful about our situation. Change, he said, comes from organizing. Politics is the name we give to the process of improvement. And right now, Al Franken, is locked in a grindingly tight race with Norm Coleman, the principle-free conservative who now occupies Wellstone's office in the Senate. I can think of few better ways to mark the anniversary than to help recapture that seat for liberalism. And though I myself, for legal reasons, can't think of any ways one could do such a thing, I'm sure Al Franken's site could give interested souls a bit of guidance.
