Sen. Stan Rosenberg (D-Amherst) is the kind of public servant who will help remind Democrats elsewhere what it means to be a Democrat when the darkness fades. Rosenberg is a pragmatic progressive from a college town who has managed to rise of the top of state politics. Along with the governor and the Speaker of the House, he is one of the three people who make things happen.
Rosenberg gave a memorable speech on assuming the presidency of the Senate. There is much in the policy arena that will interest people who live and breath policy. But I am sharing part of his address here, because it is a window on the kind of person I wish we had more of in politics and government.
I take note that one hundred years ago today, another Senator from Western Massachusetts – from my very district – stood at this very rostrum to accept the Senate presidency and delivered a widely hailed speech. His name was Calvin Coolidge.
As you all know, Coolidge was a staunch, conservative Republican. But let me read to you an important quote from his speech, delivered right here in this spot, a century ago:
“The commonwealth is one. We are all members of one body. The welfare of the weakest and the welfare of the most powerful are inseparably bound together. Industry cannot flourish if labor languishes....The general welfare cannot be provided for in any one act, but it is well to remember that the benefit of one is the benefit of all, and the neglect of one is the neglect of all.”
Never have Coolidge’s words been more urgent than they are today, in an era in which we are prosperous as a whole but fewer and fewer of our parts share in that prosperity. Shared prosperity is the hallmark of a true Commonwealth. And that along with one other touchstone – what I call “shared leadership” – will guide our Senate.
This is what it means to be a Commonwealth. As Coolidge said, “it is well to remember that the benefit of one is the benefit of all, and the neglect of one is the neglect of all.” For generations, both conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats have embraced that ideal.
I, in fact, am the product of that spirit. I grew up as a foster child on the streets of Malden and Revere. If it were not for the Commonwealth, I would have had nothing. Collectively, you put clothes on my back, food in my mouth, and a roof over my head. You provided me with quality schools and helped me go to the university for which I am forever grateful – the University of Massachusetts.
With due modesty, I would say that investment paid off.
I was reflecting last night on what makes this body so great, what make this democracy work so well. And I thought of the stories we heard at a recent retreat we held.
Stories of a fresh-faced Anthony Petrucelli rushing home from school to help out at his family grocery store. Watching his grandfather lending groceries to families short on cash. Learning the value of hard work, of community, of true generosity of spirit.
I think of young John Keenan, stepping in while another child on the playground was being bullied. Getting knocked down that first day. But jumping right into the ring the next time he saw it – this time with better results. Having the courage and the heart to strike out against injustice at an early age.
I think of Linda Dorcena Forry, the child of Haitain immigrants, part of a large, extended family living together in a Dorchester two-family. And then marrying into another immigrant family, this one of Irish descent, as large and energetic as her own. And I think of Linda, equipped with her trademark energy, working her way through graduate school, while chairing a House committee, running for the senate and caring for 4 children. Their family is an example for all of us of how cultures can come together and not just coexist but find new richness in their shared experiences.
Time does not permit me to tell all the stories we heard that day. But we all – Republicans and Democrats – have them. The stuff that makes us who we are. Different but the same. Each of us human beings deserving the respect of one another.
That’s the kind of Senate we want. Diverse in perspective and experience. Collaborative and collegial. Open to new ideas and innovations. And by taking advantage of those characteristics, able to bring this great institution firmly and squarely into the 21st century.
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