[Peace-discuss] Left Business Observer on Kennedy

[C. G. Estabrook]

[A couple stooped by the AWARE booth at the Urbana festival yesterday to say 
that they were opposed to the Obama administration because deregulation -- 
specifically of trucking -- has been disastrous for the work prospects of the 
husband, a trucker.  They were surprised to learn that Ted Kennedy was 
responsible for it. --CGE]

	De mortuis: Teddy Kennedy & dereg

According to just about everybody, Teddy Kennedy represented the “soul” of the 
Democratic party, which presumably refers to his long-professed concern the poor 
and the weak. Now that that soul is safely buried, the Dems can move on to the 
important stuff, like preserving Wall Street power and escalating the war in 
Afghanistan.

Let’s inspect that soul a little more closely though. I’ve never been inclined 
to hold my tongue about the recently departed. Well, yes, in personal life, but 
certainly not public life—especially in the midst of one of these orchestrated 
rituals of national morning that have become so damned compuslory since Ronald 
Reagan went on to his reward.

Sure, Teddy had his virtues, especially in contrast to his older brother John, 
who could wage imperialist war with the best of them, and who’s revered by 
supply siders as their political ancestor. (Since we’re talking politics, not 
personality, let’s bracket that little incident where he drunkenly drove a woman 
to her death, left the scene of the crime, and then dispatched a family laywer 
to get to the Kopechne family before the press did. One can only imagine what 
went on at that meeting.) Let’s just look at Teddy’s role in one of the greatest 
assaults on working class living standards of the modern neoliberal era, 
transport deregulation.

Once upon a time, working for an airline or driving a truck was a pretty good 
way to make a living without an advanced degree: union jobs with high pay and 
decent benefits. A major reason for that is that both industries were federally 
regulated, with competition kept to a minimum. Starting in the early 1970s, an 
odd coalition of right-wingers, mainstream economists, liberals, and consumer 
advocates (including Ralph Nader) began agitating for the deregulation of these 
industries. All agreed that competition would bring down prices and improve service.

Among the leading agitators was Teddy Kennedy. The right has been noting this in 
their memorials for “The Lion,” but not the weepy left...

Full article at 
http://doughenwood.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/de-mortuis-teddy-kennedy-dereg/