Senator E. William Proxmire, 1915-2005

Okay, who said it: "Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous"? Was in John Kerry? Could it have been Teddy Kennedy? Was it today? Yesterday? It certainly could be one of the statements made by opponents of the Patriot Act, which is being debated as I type.

While I don't know exactly when the statement was made, I can assure you it wasn't terribly recently. I can tell you that it was a quote by one of my very-best-favorite-of-all-time statesmen, William Proxmire, Honorable Senator from the great State of Wisconsin. And since he hasn't been in office since 1989, it's probable the quote came prior to that date. Yet, the sentiment of the quote rings especially true today. And it's sad to note that Senator Proxmire died this week, of alzheimers. You'll find an all-too-brief biography of him here: PROXMIRE.

Proxmire was arguably one of the best "things" in politics--ever. He had an attitude about how things should work, much from the perspective of a middle-class worker, though he certainly was not. He was educated at Yale and Harvard, was a businessman, served in Wisconsin state politics, and served in World War II. He was 90 years old at the time of his death, but I personally could never imagine him being anything but the guy who jogged to his post in Washington, refusing to spend taxpayer dollars on a limo or private car. In 1976 and 1982--his last campaigns for senate--he refused to take any campaign contributions, and spent less than $200 out of his own pocket in each campaign just to cover the costs of filing for re-election. He was one of the first advocates of campaign finance reform.
Many may remember, and most favored, his "Golden Fleece Awards," which he gave to various businesses, defense contractors, science programs, etc., between 1975 and 1988. He believed these entities were wasting taxpayers' money. He was actually sued over one award.

One issue that he relentlessly advocated for was the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948 and enforced beginning in 1951. I note these dates, because the United States did NOT sign onto this convention, which was designed to prevent torture and deaths like those inflicted on people by Nazi Germany. Proxmire felt so strongly about this, that from 1967 until 1986, he gave daily speeches noting the necessity of ratifying The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. After giving this speech every day that the Senate was in session for 20 years, resulting in 3,211 speeches, the convention was ratified by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 83-11 on February 11, 1986. The United States became a signatory to the convention in 1988, though only with the proviso that it was immune from prosecution for genocide without its consent.

Unfortunately, after all the efforts he made in Congress--so many of them successful--he still felt very strongly about successes that eluded him: "I have spent my career trying to get Congressmen to spend the people's money as if it were their own. But I have failed."

I met him once or twice in years past, and I cannot imagine that he failed at anything; except at being immortal.