Edward Kennedy—a Man of Compassion

On Wednesday 26 August 2009 I woke up to the news that senator Edward M. Kennedy had passed away from brain cancer.

He has been described as the lion of the United States Senate. After the assassination of both his brothers—President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968—he made it his mission to carry on the work they had started. Although he came from a very wealthy and well-known family, he represented core Democratic Party ideals in devoting himself to the cause of the poor. He knew how to get what he wanted from legislation, and was responsible in large part for seeing that the Americans with Disabilities Act (or ADA) was passed and signed into law by President George H. W. Bush in 1990.

This Act has become the standard for treatment of people with disabilities in the workplace and in public life. The ADA has inspired Ireland and other European countries to pass legislation that has greatly improved the quality of life for people with disabilities.

On CNN’s Larry King show recently, two of Ted Kennedy’s sons were promoting late senator’s memoirs, titled True Compass. Ted Kennedy Jr. and Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy talked about how their father instilled in them the ideal of service to the disadvantaged, whether poor or disabled. Indeed Ted Kennedy Jr. is himself an amputee, having lost his right leg to cancer. He now is on the board of the American Association of People with Disabilities. Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who had suffered from alcohol and substance abuse, worked with his father to pass US legislation on mental health.

Senator Kennedy’s sense of service led him to do all that he did for the disadvantaged. He was author of five hundred pieces of legislation having to do with improving the quality of life of Americans.

It was in the context of Kennedy's active pursuit of justice for the disadvantaged that in 2004 US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg defended the right of a young man to have equal access to justice. He was suing the State of Tennessee because he had to humiliate himself by having to get out of his wheelchair and crawl up two flights of stairs in the Tennessee State. As it turned out, the young man won the case. Justice Ginsberg wrote that, under the ADA, we might have to treat some citizens differently to give all citizens equal dignity.

We in Ireland could learn from Ted Kennedy’s legacy especially during these difficult economic times. When I was growing up in the Ireland of the 1980’s we had a health service that was the envy of the world. We now have a Harney health service that caters for those who can pay, while those who cannot pay are going to have to struggle against the odds.

When Senator Kennedy died America lost a great unifier and a unique champion of universal healthcare. There are stories of how Kennedy would talk late into the night trying to hammer out a deal with one or more Republican senators to reach a compromise so that the less well-off could have their lives made a little easier.

If they are really serious about paying tribute to him, members of the United States Congress can pass the universal healthcare plan Senator Kennedy was so passionate about.