Sen. Ted Kennedy has died. As the Kennedy family deals with the loss of its patriarch, it is worth taking a look at how he is being remembered. Conservatives tend to see only his personal flaws, and his unrepentant big-government liberalism. And these are not to be ignored. They are part of who he was, after all.
But all that many left-liberals see is a hero. His imperfections, merely evidence that this god-like figure was human. Kennedy was not so simple.
From a classical liberal perspective, Sen. Kennedy’s government-first philosophy was deeply troubling. But he also made positive contributions in opening up America’s restrictive immigration system. From the 1920s until 1965, our immigration system actually had race-based quotas. Not only did Sen. Kennedy end the quotas, he changed his party’s thinking on the issue.
Back then, the Democratic party was the one that tended to be more opposed to immigration. Sen. Kennedy’s influence is one reason why today’s partisan Democrats typically have more in common with libertarians on immigration than partisan Republicans.
Classical liberals also had a friend in Sen. Kennedy on issues such as gay rights, free speech (but not campaign finance reform), and in opposing the Iraq war.
This is not to minimize the shallow partisanship and reflexive big-government beliefs that guided his professional life, or his often less-than-admirable personal life. He was not the anointed saint that this morning’s New York Times hagiography paints him to be. Nor the demonic hell-spawn that many conservative outlets are painting him as.
As with any human being, his portrait is more complicated than that. He should be remembered as such. Condolences to Sen. Kennedy’s family and friends in their time of loss.
Inertia Wins! 