ted kennedy

The United States Student Association has released an important and thoughtful statement from president Gregory Cendana about the impact Senator Kennedy had on young people and students across the country.

"Senator Edward Kennedy was steadfast advocate for college students his entire career. The federal aid, access and retention programs, and anti-discrimination policies he championed for four decades has allowed millions of students to achieve a higher education. Specifically, his work in creating the Pell Grant enables millions of low-income students to go to college every year.

The United States Student Association and students across the country will look to the late senator for inspiration and wisdom in the continued pursuit to make education a right. Opening the college doors for those who cannot afford to pay the skyrocketing cost of a higher education is a noble way to remember Senator Kennedy.

While he will be sorely missed, Senator Kennedy will survive through the community organizing and political courage of those who carry the torch in making this a more just and compassionate world."

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, & the dream shall never die." Sen Ted Kennedy

Sen Ted Kennedy advocated tirelessly for health care reform and as his death rings through the halls of Congress surly we can hope that those efforts too will see their final conclusion.

In a press release from the DNC following the call about HCR with Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (a good friend to young people and the youth movement), they emphasized the insurance guarantee that so many young people desperately need.

"President Obama recently announced eight Health Insurance Guarantees. Under the President's Health Insurance Guarantees, everyone will benefit, even people who currently have insurance, because any legislation he signs will include these iron clad guarantees - guarantees which will reverse years of unfair insurance company practices: 1) no discrimination for pre-existing conditions, 2) no exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles, or co-pays, 3) no cost-sharing for preventive care, 4) no dropping of coverage for the seriously ill, 5) no gender discrimination, 6) no annual or lifetime caps on coverage, 7) extended coverage for young adults, and 8) guaranteed insurance renewal."

Surly, young people, indeed all people, deserve the kind of health care that Senator Kennedy also enjoyed. We should pass Sen. Kennedy's insurance reform bill in memory of the work he did to help everyone have access to affordable care.

The Serve America Act has been reintroduced in the Senate this session by Senators Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch (S.277) and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

The New York Times highlighted it in an editorial last Monday, arguing that, at a cost of $5 billion, the bill would be a thrifty, yet apt partner to the $825 billion stimulus package that the Congress is looking to pass. The Times also points out that Serve America matches the call for a "spirit of service" that Obama sounded in his inaugural address.

Kennedy and Hatch want to increase the number of full- and part-time volunteers national service volunteers to 250,000 from its current number of 75,000. The editorial goes on to describe the other contents of the bill.

The new positions would be devoted to meeting challenges in a handful of targeted areas: tackling the dropout crisis, strengthening schools, improving health care and economic opportunity in low-income communities, cleaning up parks, aiding efforts to boost energy efficiency, and responding to disasters and emergencies.

The Serve America Act is structured to invite participation by people of all income levels and ages, including retirees. It would offer tax incentives for employers who allow employees to take paid leave for full-time service, and permit older individuals to transfer their education awards to a child or grandchild. A new Volunteer Generation Fund would help nonprofit groups recruit and manage an expanding pool of volunteers.

This legislation dovetails with Obama's emphasis on responsibility and shared sacrifice. It would create additional jobs and continually improve our infrastructure and way of life. This is a fantastic opportunity for the government to invest in the citizenry, especially given the rise of the volunteer-heavy Millennial Generation and the popularity of President Obama's message.

Further reading:

Press release from Senator Kennedy's office

Summary of the bill

Peter Levine of CIRCLE has a substantive post raising quite a few good points about service in America, especially as it relates to the Kennedy-Hatch 'Serve America' Act (S. 3487), a bill that, if passed, would significantly increase federal support for citizen service programs within the U.S.

My favorite part:

On balance, I think the field of "service" merits more federal support today. Despite the diversity of programs that would be supported, "service" generally advances several important goals.

First, it treats people of all ages as potential public assets, as contributors to the common good. This is philosophically appealing to me because it reflects a basic principle (which we could call Kantian) of respecting other people's moral agency. It also reflects a psychological theory known as "positive youth development." This theory proposes that young people, especially, are more likely to avoid pitfalls such as crime, unwanted pregnancy, suicide, and academic failure, if they are given opportunities to contribute their talents to the community. Most of our schools and other institutions basically treat them as bundles of problems or risks and seek to evaluate, track, prevent, and punish their failures. Cumulatively, such treatment sends a debilitating message. Opportunities to contribute can provide a powerful antidote.

This theory may seem romantic, but it is empirically testable and has been demonstrated in numerous studies. For example, a randomized experiment showed that it was possible to cut the teen pregnancy rate by offering young women service opportunities.

The bulk of the research has been focused on teenagers and young adults--hence the term "positive youth development." But there is no reason to think that the advantages of service to those who serve stop at age 25 or 30. We know that among elderly people, service correlates with mental health.

Emphasis is mine. This is why I think service is something in which the federal government needs to be involved.

One of my favorite books, Nixonland (by Rick Perlstein), asserts that the 1968 election is the basis for our campaign dialogue today. Republicans -- led by Nixon -- found political success in exploiting the cultural divide between "effete" liberal snobs/privileged, rebellious college students and the middle- to lower-class white worker. Since then, the Republican electoral coalition has perfected its practice of the wedge politics that has divided Americans into the red state/blue state "two Americas" that makes up our current political landscape. This kind of politics rejects the principle that everyone has something to offer the country. It's the "you're with us or against us" mentality.

A politics based on service -- and thus, the common good -- embraces the uniqueness of each American. A federal government that supports efforts to heighten service and civic education is advocating for the molding of a citizenry that is empowered, validated, and understanding of America's ideals.

Levine also makes a good point toward the end of his article -- service is not civic education or citizen engagement on its own. Service forms a vital portion of citizen engagement, but it needs to be paired with other empowering opportunities for citizens, such as participation in local political decision-making.

For decades now, we -- the citizens -- have taken a backseat to much of the important decision-making in this country. We've not been asked to sacrifice. We've been told that consumption is patriotic. We've been told to trust the government in making decisions on our behalf. Now that we're in the mess we're in, service and active citizenship are looking better and better.

• First, I've been remiss in reporting that Mike Lux at Open Left is calling on all netroots progressives to work their asses off to register high-school seniors before they graduate. He's even got some ideas on how it might work. - Open Left
• Hillary Rosen, former head of the RIAA (and proponent of taking students, seniors, and assorted toddlers to court over filesharing) is now running the political operation at Huffington Post. WTF? - Boing Boing
• The Democrats are proposing that we pay soldiers who are stop-lossed into service (aka back door draft). Sounds good to me. - Daily Kos
• Ben Adler gives us a brief history of Drinking Liberally on the week in which the organization celebrates its 5 year anniversary. Congrats to Justin and Matt for all their accomplishments. - The Politico
• Georgia10 takes a stab at outlining what Ted Kennedy means to the Millennial Generation. - Daily Kos
• What can we expect from Generation "Z" ? - Profy.com
• Google: Viacom's YouTube lawsuit threatens the net. - Mashable!
• And finally, Joe gives us a run-down on the state of the race and why it's OK that the Clinton campaign keeps chugging along. And congrats to Joe on scoring the AlterNet gig. I believe this means that all 3 people who served as Web/Communications Director at MFA are now in the employ of AlterNet.