Senator Robert Byrd is dead.
Was he a master of legislative procedure? Yes. Was he a war hawk? Yes. Did he vehemently oppose the war in Iraq? Yes. Was he a bigot? Yes. Did he oppose civil rights legislation? Yes. Did he support civil rights legislation? Yes. Did he deliver thundering speeches in defense of the U.S. Constitution? Yes. Did he oppose constitutional protections for people accused of crimes? Yes.
The career of Robert Byrd is a passing reminder to us that reflexively supporting members of a political party is no way to obtain a particular policy result. Even supporting a particular politician no matter what is likely to lead to inconsistent results — through his life, Byrd was all over the map (except when it came to the delivery of pork, which he diverted almost exclusively to West Virginia). The life of Robert Byrd teaches us that if we want to see a policy enacted, we should support that policy first. We should let our support for parties and politicians be contingent on their actions at a time and not stay consistent over time.
Oh face it, politics is dead as a way to get anything progressive accomplished. In fact, unless you happen to be a corporation, politics doesn’t work for you at all!
Politics is not supposed to work for you, your supposed to work for yourself
I may not have been the biggest fan of the late Senator Byrd but this is no way to treat his death. I love this website and the ideals it stands for but this post disturbs me. As you said Senator Byrd is dead… Lets not drag his corpse through the street…
Have I said anything slanderous? These truths about Robert Byrd were widely acknowledged during his life, including by Byrd himself.
Maybe you could explain in some greater detail what troubles you about this post.
Well Jim we can start with the man has just died. Clearly your mind is so clouded by your need to get up on the soapbox and preach that you would stand on his corpse just to get yourself above the crowd. Excuse me for respecting those who have just passed. And on your criticism of his pork, clearly you haven’t been to West Virginia. They are not living the highlife thanks to all the money Senator Byrd threw at them. They are the only state to be completely included in the Appalachian region. The post doesn’t trouble me. It is the fact that you used him and his death to preach your point.
I have been to West Virginia, and you’re entitled to your opinion.
Right, alex! As opposed to “our” government working for the corporate sector AT OUR EXPENSE!!
Yeah, the joke’s on us.