I can scarcely believe it, but today marks 20 years since Senator Paul Wellstone died. His death was a pivotal event in my own political development. I didn’t know who he was before his death, but in the wake of his death and with all the media coverage, and through my own reading about his life, I learned about who he was and what he believed in and fought for. No other contemporary U.S. political figure, aside from Senator Bernie Sanders, has inspired and influenced me more.
Setting aside Wellstone’s beliefs (the same as mine) and voting record (almost perfect), what Wellstone had that most other politicians lacked was authenticity and empathy. I think Wellstone might be the closest thing we’ve ever had to a regular guy serving in elected office. He wasn’t there for himself and it was obvious he didn’t care about his own personal power. He was there because he cared about other people and wanted to use the power of government to help them. It was that simple. He wasn’t particularly handsome, he was short, especially by politician standards, and he wasn’t always eloquent or smooth. His superpower was just how much he freakin cared, on an emotional and personal level, about other human beings who were strangers to him. Voters must have seen and felt how much he cared about helping them over helping his own career, and appropriately elevated him, the unlikely politician, to the U.S. Senate twice.
Wellstone was 58 years old when he died, so if he had lived he could very well still be serving in the U.S. Senate today. (I like to think he would’ve run for President against George W. Bush in 2004, and beaten him.) I wonder how he would feel about U.S. politics today. The vision that Wellstone and so many others had for this country and this planet seems far more distant and laughably unattainable than it was 20 years ago. The non-rich of this world have taken a real beating over the past 20 years, and with them my own sense of optimism. I’m sure many others have lost hope too, but I don’t think Wellstone would have. We need more people like Wellstone, the ones who will always push forward and fight no matter how hopeless or pointless that fight seems. The country could really use his service and leadership right now, more so than at any point when he was alive.
In October 2015 I was visiting Minneapolis and I took the opportunity to visit Wellstone’s grave. It’s modest, understated, and unpretentious, like Wellstone himself. It’s a beautiful area and I hope to visit again, hopefully when things in this country are going in a direction Wellstone would be heartened to see.
maverickjh 