On Russ Feingold

You remember Jesus, of course. No, not that One. I have in mind Jesus ben Sirach, credited with one book of apocryphal writings. That Jesus. He wrote Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach. Only deep into the book do we find its most famous line “Let us now praise famous men…” and then with permission granted to myself to edit quasi-sacred writ, here are some examples of why the famous men are to be praised—for “giving counsel by their understanding, and by their knowledge of learning, wise and eloquent, honored in their generations, and the glory of their times who have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported.”

Heady stuff. Few qualify in the modern world. Russ Feingold is among them however, recently turned away by the voters of Wisconsin, though still young enough at fifty-seven to return to the fray. Known as a great dissenter, Feingold voted against his own party 887. Looking remarkably like Daily Show host Jon Stewart, Feingold attributes his independent spirit to growing up in the small town of Janesville, Wisconsin where most of his friends were Protestant, many from conservative homes. Rather than conform, he excelled.

Not surprisingly a biblical analogy is used by a colleague to describe him. “He has been the David against some pretty big Goliaths,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “He never shied away from a fight, even if he had to fight alone.” He opposed the Patriot Act, the Bush bank bailouts, and the Obama troop surge in Afghanistan. Most recently Feingold joined 18 other senators from both parties in voting against President Obama’s compromise extension of the Bush-era tax cuts. The measure also extended unemployment benefits for millions of Americans, a key demand of Democrats. To me this is his most important vote in opposition. To give multi-billionaires tax breaks for two years in return for thirteen months of unemployment compensation to the neediest, the people who multi-billionaires put out of work to begin with, is a shanda, and I’m sorry our delegation voted for it, pleased as punch, to quote another mid-westerner that Feingold refused to do so. Feingold’s argument was more economic than my moral stance, but it holds: “Rather than include a combination of responsible spending cuts and revenue increases to offset its projected cost [the tax breaks] of nearly $900 billion … instead just adds its cost to our already massive national debt.”

Those were dissenting votes; he had positive ones as well, most notably the epic coalition-building that resulted in the McCain-Feingold Act of 2002 (after a seven years legislative struggle) that severely limited national political party committees from raising or spending any funds not subject to federal limits, and “issue ads” that name federal candidates within 30 days of a primary or caucus or 60 days of a general election, and prohibiting any such ad paid for by a corporation or by corporate or union general treasury funds. So-called soft money was the target; big business complained and in 2009 in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission the guts of the bill were ripped out. Big corporations objected that free speech was imperiled, that money was speech and could not be regulated by federal legislation. The Supremes in Washington agreed (well, five of them, anyway) and McCain-Feingold went the way of the passenger pigeon. If the Court is right, if money = speech, America is in trouble; deep trouble. There are those few with many dollars and those many with few dollars. The rich can shout from the highest minarets, the poor get to write the occasional letter to the editor. Parity, which Feingold and John McCain (in his maverick mode) sought, is destroyed. The dollar rules, the voice of the people is muted. The bill took seven years to pass, and then seven years later it was declared unconstitutional. Pharaoh’s dream came to reality, again.

In bidding adieu to his colleague, McCain said “In his time in the Senate, Russ Feingold, every day and in every way, had the courage of his convictions. And though I am quite a few years older than Russ and have served in this body longer than he has, I confess I have always felt he was my superior in that cardinal virtue.”

In the 112th Congress there will be thirteen Jewish senators (counting Michael Bennet [D-Colo.], who does not identify a religion, but notes that his mother is Jewish and a Holocaust survivor.) Missing will be Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.