Members of the Michigan Senate paused for a moment of silence last week to remember Sen. Edward Kennedy.
The governor noted that the "lion of Massachusetts fought his entire career for health care for all Americans." The lieutenant governor called Kennedy's contributions in the areas of health care, civil rights, education and labor law "immeasurable."
Elsewhere, on right-wing blogs and in dark corners everywhere there were those gleeful at his passing.
Yet what neither his friends nor his foes may have realized is that Sen. Kennedy's life and career hold an important lesson for government in Michigan. His successes best illustrate the main thing that is wrong with state government today, namely, term limits.
Hours after Kennedy's death, President Obama called him the greatest senator of our lifetime. He later amended that to "one of the greatest senators," probably to soothe the egos of the other 99. But many people thought he got it right the first time.
Kennedy was the man conservatives most liked to bash. But Senate Republicans seemed especially stricken by his loss, especially Orrin Hatch, of Utah, and John McCain, of Arizona. They mourned the loss of his bipartisan ability to get things done.
Kennedy was, indeed, one of the Senate's most liberal members. But more than any of his colleagues, he had the ability to get both sides to come to an agreement everyone could live with.
That wasn't because Ted Kennedy was brilliant. It was because had been there so long and worked so hard at his job. Ironically, he never wanted to be a senator at all. His father pushed him into running for his brother's old seat when JFK became president.
"If your name was Edward Moore, instead of Edward Moore Kennedy, your candidacy would be a joke," an opponent told him in that first race.
That wasn't wrong.
Name recognition got him to Washington, however. Once there, he got sound advice from Michigan's Phil Hart. Work hard, do your homework and keep your head down for awhile. Kennedy did that.
In the end, he evolved into one of history's greatest senators. The list of his accomplishments is long, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, as is the list of legislation others sponsored which would never have become reality without Sen. Kennedy's help.
The point is that his brilliant career wouldn't have happened if Congress had the ridiculous term limits that cripple the Michigan Legislature today. Our state is headed for a shutdown precisely because we have no seasoned statesmen who can reason together.
If there was ever a silly experiment that needed changing, term limits is it. We should look at the distinguished career of the man they buried in Arlington, and then do the right thing and change Michigan's constitution, just as fast as we can.
Jack Lessenberry is a Record-Eagle columnist and state political analyst. A version of this commentary aired on Michigan Radio.
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