Letter: A different type of leader
Letter: A different type of leader
Thursday, January 21, 2010
In your editorial (“What Scott Brown can teach us,” Jan. 20), you lament the failures of the Obama administration, the missteps of the Democratic majority and the persistence of “change that never comes.” I share your concern. I too struggle every time leadership waters down the health care reform bill. I cringe at some of the candidates who now vie to represent my party. Your solution, however, is misguided and nearsighted.
You argue against the “elite” who control our government, calling for the rise of the common man. According to the piece, Scott Brown is that man—a “real” person who will eschew politics in favor of a quest for “the truth.” I find it difficult to see how a Tufts and Boston College Law educated state senator with a mansion, summer home, three Boston condos and a timeshare in Aruba qualifies as the anti-elite paragon, but we can leave that aside for the moment. The fundamental question remains, to what type of leader should America turn for real change?
You side with the Sarah Palin camp — the down-home, straight-talking figures represent a new wave of politics that rejects the worn and antiquated ways of the past in favor of shooting from the hip and following their gut. According to you, they will lead America into a new era of government where one’s “conscience” guides one’s decisions.
There is something to admire here. When special interests dominate so many, and leadership dictates votes on issues big and small, it would seem natural to sprint from the status quo. In your support for Brown and others of his mold, you turn away from the corruption, scandal and disgrace that have plagued our government for too long. But you turn in the wrong direction.
I side with the Ted Kennedy camp. Rather than look forward to the shallow emptiness of the new Right, I turn back to the politicians who have embodied American greatness. I look to the Kennedys, the Clays and the Websters. I look to the brilliant minds, the tireless public servants and the statesmen who made this nation the envy of the world. Their education did not hamper and narrow their abilities, but instead allowed them to champion their causes with the force of history bellowing behind them. Their eloquent words gave voice to our deepest national convictions. Their actions translated those words into the laws and institutions upon which we pride ourselves. Our nation rests upon their shoulders.
The choice becomes clear. For whom will we vote to shape American history, the Scott Browns or the Ted Kennedys? American government is ailing, but to mend it we cannot look to today’s quick fixes. We must turn back to our own history and rekindle the greatness of our forefathers once again. Above all, we must never forget that, “the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.”
Ben Stango
Jan. 20
The writer is a junior in Pierson College and the President of the Yale College Democrats and the College Democrats of Connecticut.
Comments
None 2 years, 4 months ago
Chappaquiddick.
None 2 years, 4 months ago
After all your empty words...I vote for the Palin camp! Thanks for convincing me even more Mr.Stango.
None 2 years, 4 months ago
man, I wish I had joined the Yale Dems so that I could learn how to say absolutely nothing in 500 words or more like that.
None 2 years, 4 months ago
Right on Ben! Very much in agreement.
None 2 years, 4 months ago
You side with Ted Kennedy? A pompous man whom not only monopolized his senate seat but who supposedly worked a lifetime to bring universal healthcare to Americans?
And yet voted to keep his government supplemented healthcare over universal healthcare?
I think not Mr. Stango! What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Especially since Obamacare is supposed to be soooooo goood for the people...huh?
Stop shoving down my throat what I do not want to subsidize!!!!!! Where are my rights?
None 2 years, 4 months ago
@ #6 - since Tuesday. They come out of the woodwork to crow about victories but interestingly, they're never interested in actually discussing the policies their party supports when on the losing side.
And incidentally, re: Scott Brown:
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/did-brown-just-endorse-a-birther.php?ref=fpblg
Yeah, this guy is SOOOO moderate - and a real keeper. Good job Massachusetts!
None 2 years, 4 months ago
Hey #6 and #7......since Americans started waking up from the bedtime stories told by Obama!!!! Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...ha ha...
None 2 years, 4 months ago
Did you see the link #7 posted?
I would bet serious cash that Scott Brown isn't a pragmatic. He'll vote with his party 100% of the time. But I'm happy to be proven wrong and if he is in the mold of the old New England Republicans, more power to him.
None 2 years, 4 months ago
Since when did Yale become full of Republicans?
None 2 years, 4 months ago
Ted Kennedy let a woman drown. He embodies everything that politics should not be. I'm no Palin fan, but more pragmatists like Brown are what we need
None 2 years, 4 months ago
As I wrote in the original article this is Teddy Kennedys final coruption and how the senate acts.
This election should be the end of the Kennedy family in politics.
The reason for this election was because Ted Kennedy did not, (perhaps he never did).
The rule in Mass. was that if a seat is open do to election, death or resignation the Governor of the state would name a replacement.
When John Kerry was running for President, Mitt Romney a Republican was Governor.
Old Ted and his co-horts where so worried they snuck through or bull dozed through a change in the rules and called for a special election.
Well Kerry lost and goes back to the Senate, and lo and behold a democrate is elected as Governor.
The Teddy gets sick. And what does he do he spends his last days trying to change the rules back, alas he ran out of time....Poor Teddy at the end of his life he took one last wrong turn
None 2 years, 4 months ago
What is "empty words" nonsense? There are no words more empty than the phrase "empty words." This letter lays out a very clear argument. You may disagree with that argument, but to claim that the letter says nothing or fails to make a point is idiotic at best.
I could never in my life imagine telling my kids that Sarah Palin or Scott Brown are the types of Americans they should look up to. That is my litmus test. And anyone who would want that for their children doesn't deserve those children in the first place.
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