Headphones On

I let October 25 come and go without reflecting on it... but it needs to be done. Paul Wellstone's presence is sorely missed in American politics. The Senate no longer holds the champion of the farmer, the friend of the union workers and the man who engaged so many in politics. Including me.

I do not live, nor have I ever lived, in Minnesota. Regardless of my Illinois residency, Paul Wellstone was my senator. I donated money to his campaigns. I shook his hand. I looked to him for genuine leadership on different issues and bills. I cried when he died and holding back the tears now is still very hard.

Paul wasn't a politician in the traditional sense but more of a teacher and an activist. Beyond all odds the former college professor managed the greatest grassroots campaigns in American political history. The people of Minnesota loved him because he stood up to the bullies (the health care industry, agri-business, the banking industry) and represented THE PEOPLE'S interests. Above all else he served the people who checked his name on the ballot.

I can hear you already saying 'so what... that's what every Senator does!'. Is it?

Our political system is a convoluted system of payoffs only steps above the mafia and concealed wonderfully in terms like 'soft money' and corporate lobbyists. Paul never dealt within the RULES of congress... which is what made me adore him and made him all the more dangerous to the conservative right. He was never afraid to step up and tell the story how it really was. Unlike most senators he didn't owe his political life to corporation/industry X, Y or Z. He owed it to the people and he did his damndest to represent THEIR interests beyond all else.

Don't get me wrong... Illinois has a wonderful senator in Dick Durbin. Senator Durbin has gone steps beyond his former liberal nature to take up some of Wellstone's more progressive ideals since Paul's death. As i watch the administration push every body of our government further right, i don't have those fears of Dick Durbin. His landslide victory to retain his senate seat in 2002 just shows that those around me at least agree on that point.

Despite Senator Durbin's liberal nature, he will never be Paul Wellstone. Paul made the personal political. He understood that the only way to get 'the people' involved was to talk to them about real issues and ways that the government could help. He was a decent and kind man... the very qualities that are so lacking in modern politics where the drive seems to be more about power than social justice.

I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist... I really don't... but can anyone tell me why in over a year they have not been able to determine what happened to Wellstone's plane? Where is the black box? Why wasn't there communication about a problem between the plane and the nearby traffic control tower? Most of all... WHY ISN'T ANYONE TALKING ABOUT THIS?