Senator George McGovern died today at the age of 90 in South Dakota. I was too young to vote for McGovern when he ran in 1972, but was not too young to help the grownups around me do the lit drops, sign placements and the other volunteer work you do to get a candidate elected. I wasn’t too young to be opposed to the Vietnam War and I wasn’t too young to recognize and admire this politician who seemed to maintain his basic decency and honesty while articulating principled positions on the issues of the day.
Even after his pretty epic loss, Senator McGovern remained a principled defender and genuinely liberal ideas and principles. You could hear him in various venues calmly and powerfully making his case against Iraq, working for equality for all Americans, working for better environmental policy, helping to feed the world (and helping it to feed itself) and always pushing the Democratic Party to work on (and not run away from) its liberal principles.
The NYT obit linked above is a good overview of a life of an idealist who didn’t run away from that. Good journey home, Senator McGovern, and thanks for working so hard to remind us that American democracy is supposed to be an act of idealism.