The Mad Rants of an Unconventional Soccer Mom

"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."

Paul David Wellstone

He was a great man who believed in the power of ordinary individuals.  His measuring stick was not the poll numbers, or the editorial pages, or the political pudits blathering away on tv -- it was the farmers, the students, the seniors, the people of this country.  He fought hard for what he believed in -- the environment, labor, and health care.  He made the fight for rights of victims of domestic abuse and the mentally ill the focus of his career.

I think, in large part because of Paul, that it is easier to be a liberal today, to be a progressive, to be proud. But back when Paul was fighting against Bush Senior over the Gulf War and then Junior over the latest clusterf#&@, it wasn't. Lliberalism was a dirty word and liberalism in defense of peace was mocked as unpatriotic and treasonous.  The crys against liberalism are still there but, today they are faint.

I know he would have been so proud of the campaign that Barack has run and I'm sure he would have been one of his loudest and proudest of his supporters.  I can just picture him touring around Minnesota in his green bus.  But unfortunately, he died just 11 days before election day in a crucial race to maintain Democratic control of the Senate in 2002.   In a fair world, today we'd be watching Paul Wellstone head towards his fourth term in the U.S. Senate.  What I can only hope for now is that Al Frankin will absolutely crush Norm Coleman.