John Kerry, Senator

The Washington Post has a nice piece reporting on John Kerry's farewell speech to the Senate. The whole text can be seen on pages S383-89 of the Congressional Record.

I was struck by how much an institutionalist Kerry was. He defended the Senate while criticizing some of its members behaviors. He didn't support ending the filibuster but instead urged more effort to listen to others when they did speak. He lamented the loss of comity and the corrosive influence of the money chase to fund campaigns.

Some excerpts:

Frankly, the problems we live

through today come from individual

choices of Senators themselves, not the

rules. When an individual Senator or a

colluding caucus determines that the

comity essential to an institution such

as the Senate is a barrier to individual

ambition or party ambition, the country

loses. Those are the moments in

which the Senate fulfills, not its responsibility

to the people but its reputation as a sanctuary of gridlock.

So what effort do we need to put into

our reason and spirit in order to do it?

I believe there are three most significant

challenges that have conspired to

bring about a dangerous but reversible

erosion in the quality of our democracy:

the decline of comity, the deluge

of money, and the disregard for facts.

First, I have witnessed what we all

have, a loss of simple comity, the respect

that we owe one another, and the

sense of common cause that brings all

of us here. The Senate as a body can

change its rules to make itself more efficient,

sure. But only Senators, one by

one in their own hearts, can change the

approach to legislating which Henry

Clay correctly defined as the art of

consensus.

Our time here is not

meant to last forever. If we use the

time to posture politically in Washington,

we weaken our position across

the world. If democracy deadlocks

here, we raise doubts about democracy

everywhere. If we do not in our deeds

prove our own ideals, we undermine

our security and the sacred mission as

the best hope of Earth. But if we do our

jobs right, if we treat our colleagues

with respect and build the relationships

required to form consensus and

find the courage to follow through on our

promises of compromise, the work we do here will long endure.