R.I.P. Senator Robert C. Byrd

Senator Robert C. Byrd (D. W. Va.) died today. He was 92, and had served in Congress for 57 of those years (51 as a senator). He passed on at a time when the people of this country most needed him -- his vote, but more importantly, his wisdom, his indomitable will, and his fierce dedication to the defence of his people.

Byrd was the epitome of the American dream, the self-made man. He came from a coal mining town in the state that elected him to Congress. He was valedictorian of his high school class, but could not afford to attend college; he earned college credit and received his diploma while serving in Congress. He was, however, eminently self-educated; his speeches were peppered with historical and literary references. He was especially well versed in the histories of the republics that spawned the United States, namely the Grecian city-states, Rome, and England. He believed in the power of the people, as exercised by the Legislature -- and was vehemently opposed to those moments when Congress seemed like no more than a catspaw to the President. He was the greatest advocate of the people of his own poorly-resourced state, as he believed each senator should be for his own constituency. If there was any disparity, it was not because he demanded too much, but because they did too little.

He is also a fine example of a man who could admit his mistakes, own his lapses of judgement and his youthful indiscretions, and forge them into something good. He was, in his youth, a member of the Klu Klux Klan; indeed, it was one of the local clan leaders who first encouraged him to run for office. And yet, rather than denying it, he made for himself a brilliant career in politics in spite of it, acknowledging that stain on his conscience and rising above it to become a champion of his people, all his constituency, whatever their color or creed.

He will be missed, and even those who do not know all that he has done on their behalf will feel the weight of his absence. He was a true senator, a true statesman, a man in the make of those first Congressmen to walk the hallowed halls of the Capitol, over two centuries ago.

The New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/us/politics/29byrd.html?hp