The passing of an icon

Another historic American politician has passed away on the Fourth of July. Jesse Helms, the conservative U.S. senator from North Carolina for 30 years, died earlier today. I don't know how Adams or Jefferson would feel about sharing their momentous day of death with the likes of Helms. But there was more to the senator than a lot of people consider.

His early life, at least after his service in the Navy, is similar to many of my friends and me. His interest in journalism and politics led him to become news editor of the Raleigh Times and a researcher for a Democratic senator. The fact that the senator supported segregation in 1952 North Carolina comes after the point where those similarities stop.

I could not agree less with Sen. Helms' politics. "Senator No," as he became known during the Bush Sr. and Clinton administrations, voted against arts funding and welfare programs while railing against minority rights, homosexuals and affirmative action. He was one of the last people to accept the end of the Cold War. A song was released by MC Hawking called "Why Won't Jesse Helms Hurry Up and Die?"

However, now on the day of his death, it would be worth a few moments to recognize a few good results of Helms' tenure in the Senate and presence on the scene. He had an unlikely working relationship with then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and he reversed a lot of his earlier payment blocks to the United Nations to get the U.S. closer to square. His hardline stance with the Soviet Union and China was a solitary voice clamoring for human rights in totalitarian countries as free trade and free markets made a lot of people forget the suffering of millions. Also, indirectly, opposition to his comments about gay rights and minority jobs certainly unified fractious movement against him, accomplishing a great deal at his expense. Whether his motives and methods were agreeable, Helms got some favorable results.

His retirement gave him the brief status of elder statesman in the face of being considered an old crank. When a man writes three books, has two schools named after him and is recruited by Bono for charity work, his place in history is somewhat redeemed. I didn't think much of his book Here's Where I Stand, either politically or literatively, and one of those schools was created by Jerry Falwell. But he did as well as he could.

Helms' death, especially on this day and in this year, does mark the end of an era. Uncompromising conservatives camping out in emeritus positions in the Senate, House and state legislatures are starting to die and, more importantly, starting to lose. The Republican base and "values voters" can no longer rely on seats held for decades by their chosen ones. The bastions of an old guard of politicians galvanized by the Cold War and the Civil Rights era have been crumbling and, although conservatism is still alive and well, conservatives aren't what they used to be.

I'll raise a glass over the barbecue today to the good things Jesse Helms accomplished, whether he meant to or not. We'll be seeing where the new era takes us. That's the view from the ground.