Imagine Paul Wellstone in the Senate Today

4 years ago today, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash. At the time, I did not know much about him. Since then I have learned a great deal about him. His book, Conscience of a Liberal, is a great read. From page 1 you can tell that Sen. Wellstone truly fought for what he believed in and what was best for Americans. He stood with principle and with compassion. His campaign motto was simple and to the point..."Vote for what you believe in."

In an article posted on the Huffington Post today by Jonathon Tasini about Paul Wellstone, Tasini discussed how Wellstone was more than just speaking out on the issues.

Putting aside his policy positions, his vision of politics was so much more than what we see in the unbridled ambitions of the political machines that vie for power: "Politics is not just about power and money games, politics can be about the improvement of peoples lives, about lessening human suffering in our world and bringing about more peace and more justice," he said.

I have gotten some ideas for this blog from this book. I have posted often on this blog about the so-called Centrists. I base a lot of thoughts from this quote from the introduction of Conscience of a Liberal...

People yearn for a politics of the center" - not the "center" so widely discussed by politicians and pundits in Washington but rather a politics that speaks to the center of people's lives: affordable child care, good education for children, health security, living-wage jobs that will support families, respect for the environment and human rights, and clean elections and clean campaigns.

Wellstone ends the introduction with this line...

Politics is what we create by what we do, what we hope for, and what we dare to imagine.