Carmen, I was deeply touched that on the eve of Labor Day you chose to invoke the phrase from deceased Senator Paul Wellstone’s 1999 speech to the Sheet Metal Workers Union “We all do better when we all do better.” I also would add, despite repeated frustration and failure, that, at least in my view, increasingly more of us have come to …
Carmen, I was deeply touched that on the eve of Labor Day you chose to invoke the phrase from deceased Senator Paul Wellstone’s 1999 speech to the Sheet Metal Workers Union “We all do better when we all do better.” I also would add, despite repeated frustration and failure, that, at least in my view, increasingly more of us have come to appreciate that the preservation of democracy depends upon a far more cooperative environment wherein there is a modicum of social and economic justice for as many people as possible on as many days as possible.
In my lifetime, I cannot think of anyone, other than his good friend Sen. Bernie Sanders, who worked harder to protect we the people than Paul Wellstone. Would it were that environmental issues, such as keeping the Boundary Waters Wilderness of Northern Minnesota free of motorboats had not been such a damnably divisive issue at the time. Wellstone, caught between union guys who wanted to hunt and fish using motor transport, and those of us that preferred silence and solitude, and keeping it wild, made his last days pretty chaotic. Gads, I miss that man’s integrity and passion.
Sheila, I was an undergraduate at NYU when Paul Wellstone began teaching Political Science at Carleton College in rural Minnesota. I can’t remember, in retrospect, how we received word of this charismatic professor, but I do remember several of us seriously considering taking a semester in Minnesota to take class with this radical iconoclast.
Decades later, I recall former Senator Russ Feingold, another midwestern hero of mine, relating the first time he met Wellstone in his office back in 1989. As Feingold tells it, 15 or so books, all of which Wellstone was reading, were spread across the office floor while Wellstone was on the phone arguing with someone about Cuba. When Wellstone told Feingold he was considering a run for the Senate, both had a good laugh at the prospect of two such improbable figures serving in the upper chamber.
I remember the plane crash - it appears there still is some question as to the reason - at least in some people's minds. That was a bad time to be against Bush's war, and pro-labor and poor people!! Read an article that wondered why, with all the blame put to terrorism in that time period - never a mention of that possibility when Sen. Wellstone's plane crashed. There was another Democrat who ran for governor & was killed almost exactly two years earlier. The phrase "We all do better when we all do better" says what kind of person he was!
Maggie, I, too, recall the murmurings of foul play back in 2002. As I understand, Wellstone seriously was considering a Presidential run in 2000; regrettably, his campaign aspirations were derailed by a ruptured disc. By 2002, his MS well under control, Wellstone, who was running to retain his Senate seat, also seriously was considering a 2004 Presidential run. I can’t recall any Republican insider who was not deeply concerned at the prospect of Wellstone entering the 2004 Presidential race. Nor can I imagine that any of us on this thread ever will forget when Wellstone’s plane went down in October, 2002.
Carmen, I was deeply touched that on the eve of Labor Day you chose to invoke the phrase from deceased Senator Paul Wellstone’s 1999 speech to the Sheet Metal Workers Union “We all do better when we all do better.” I also would add, despite repeated frustration and failure, that, at least in my view, increasingly more of us have come to appreciate that the preservation of democracy depends upon a far more cooperative environment wherein there is a modicum of social and economic justice for as many people as possible on as many days as possible.
In my lifetime, I cannot think of anyone, other than his good friend Sen. Bernie Sanders, who worked harder to protect we the people than Paul Wellstone. Would it were that environmental issues, such as keeping the Boundary Waters Wilderness of Northern Minnesota free of motorboats had not been such a damnably divisive issue at the time. Wellstone, caught between union guys who wanted to hunt and fish using motor transport, and those of us that preferred silence and solitude, and keeping it wild, made his last days pretty chaotic. Gads, I miss that man’s integrity and passion.
❤
Thanks, Sheila. Yes, INTEGRITY and passion. Who in political office now even knows the word INTEGRITY!
Sheila, I was an undergraduate at NYU when Paul Wellstone began teaching Political Science at Carleton College in rural Minnesota. I can’t remember, in retrospect, how we received word of this charismatic professor, but I do remember several of us seriously considering taking a semester in Minnesota to take class with this radical iconoclast.
Decades later, I recall former Senator Russ Feingold, another midwestern hero of mine, relating the first time he met Wellstone in his office back in 1989. As Feingold tells it, 15 or so books, all of which Wellstone was reading, were spread across the office floor while Wellstone was on the phone arguing with someone about Cuba. When Wellstone told Feingold he was considering a run for the Senate, both had a good laugh at the prospect of two such improbable figures serving in the upper chamber.
Our beloved Senator Wellstone, still inspiring us.
Always.
Thanks 🙏 yes 🙌 and I love that you add “on as many days as possible” !!!
Amy, I very much appreciate your affirming reply. Thanks so much for writing.
I remember the plane crash - it appears there still is some question as to the reason - at least in some people's minds. That was a bad time to be against Bush's war, and pro-labor and poor people!! Read an article that wondered why, with all the blame put to terrorism in that time period - never a mention of that possibility when Sen. Wellstone's plane crashed. There was another Democrat who ran for governor & was killed almost exactly two years earlier. The phrase "We all do better when we all do better" says what kind of person he was!
Maggie, I, too, recall the murmurings of foul play back in 2002. As I understand, Wellstone seriously was considering a Presidential run in 2000; regrettably, his campaign aspirations were derailed by a ruptured disc. By 2002, his MS well under control, Wellstone, who was running to retain his Senate seat, also seriously was considering a 2004 Presidential run. I can’t recall any Republican insider who was not deeply concerned at the prospect of Wellstone entering the 2004 Presidential race. Nor can I imagine that any of us on this thread ever will forget when Wellstone’s plane went down in October, 2002.
Government by assassination.
Kind of what I figured too.
👍🏼