Sen. Kennedy – Don’t Mourn, Organize!

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Today there will be a lot of looking back at the life of Senator Kennedy. There is a lot to look back upon there can be no doubt. Sen. Kennedy was a human, just like all of us, he had his faults, and he had his high points. What made him special is the time he put in for public service. It was the true idea of Noblesse Oblige. He came from power and wealth. He could have chosen a path where all he did was increase that wealth and live a fat, happy life. Instead he chose public service. He not only chose to serve but put as his guiding principal the idea someone had to stand up for the little man, the working folks of this nation who did not have the same benefits of wealth and family power.

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“

He was a good man and a good Senator. Can there be any higher approbation? The Dog does not think so. But it is not the works of Sen. Kennedy the Dog wants to talk about today; it is what his passing means for us in the Liberal/Progressive/Populist/Netroots.

The phrase “Don’t Mourn, Organize!” was coined for Joe Hill, a labor activist who was convicted of murder under very suspicious circumstances and executed. It became a rallying cry for Labor in the early part of the last century. This is a phrase that has always resonated with the Dog, from the time he was a child.

There is nothing which can be done for the departed. They have passed beyond this vale of tears and as such are affected neither our help nor hindrance. Still there is a need for us to honor them, and the question becomes how to do it? This leads us back to “Don’t Mourn, Organize!” Sen. Kennedy did this in his own life. His brothers Jack and Robert never lived to see their 50th birthdays, it was up to Ted to carry on in the fashion they would have done.

The Dog seems to use “Don’t Mourn, Organize, a lot lately. It is a true fact many of the hero’s of the Liberal movement are aging and will be passing. But it is the very fact of their passing that should make us recommit to our goals and our ideals. We can not expect the changes we want to be done by others. We can not wait around for lighting to strike and a new hero to be born. We must make our own hero’s; we must be our own hero’s.

Every generation has to do its share. If we layback and rest of the accomplishments of past generations we are losing ground. We must push for our goals, we must push for our agenda not just for what it will achieve for us and our nation, but for the future. We will develop our own hero’s. They will emerge as we fight for the goals of social justice, for rule of law, for health care as a right of citizenship, not a privilege of wealth. We will achieve some of our agenda and have to leave some of it to the next generation.

It is for this next generation that we must strive mightily. To produce our own hero’s of the Left so that when we and our hero’s pass, the next generation can say the same thing; Don’t Mourn, Organize! It is our time, no matter that the challenges seem steep and unfair. It is our time to organize and to move the nation forward in the direction of a more perfect union. It is our time to organize and fight and strive. We have only this one life to make a difference for the people of our nation. We have only this one life to make a difference for our families. We have only this one life to make a difference for the world, and so we must take the passing of leaders like Senator Ted Kennedy as the call to our time and pick up the battle where he left off.

It is a sad time for this nation. We have lost a good man and a good Senator today. But if we are to achieve the goals of a better life and world for our fellow citizens, if we are to honor a lifetime of commitment to these goals from Sen. Kennedy, then it is not a time to mourn, no, it is a time to Organize!

The floor is yours.