As Election Day nears, negative campaign ads increasingly depict Maine and the United States as angry, fractured societies, burdened by broken governments. Former U.S. Sen. George J. Mitchell recently offered a timely and important reminder about a positive alternative vision for America that can guide politicians and voters in making decisions that will shape the nation’s future.
While receiving the Maine Irish Heritage Center’s fifth annual Claddagh Award on Oct. 10 for his work leading peace negotiations in Northern Ireland, Mitchell shared an anecdote from his days as a federal judge, when one of his favorite duties was to swear in new American citizens.
After administering the naturalization oath, Mitchell would ask the new U.S. citizens why they had come to America. A young Asian man told Mitchell, in halting English, that he “came because in America, everybody has a chance.”
Inspired by that optimism and faith in what the United States continues to represent in the world community, Mitchell said, “Our task as Americans is to see to it that every child, no matter who they are, has the same chance in life as Joe Brennan, John Baldacci, Chellie Pingree and I have. We should conduct ourselves so that in 100 years, he will still be able to say that he came to America because everybody in America has a chance.”
Throughout this year’s political campaign, candidates for president, Congress and the Maine Legislature have talked about opportunity. Republicans, Democrats and independents differ on the role government should play in providing opportunities to more Americans, but they share a common goal of preserving the United States’ reputation as a place where people receive a fair chance to succeed.
Amid the campaign clatter, Mitchell offers a standard by which to measure the nation’s ability to make that goal attainable for all Americans. Rejecting the notion that the determining question should be, “Am I better off today?”, the former U.S. Senate majority leader suggests that Americans need to look beyond their personal circumstances and recommit to helping others. The nation will pull itself out of hard times if more Americans help others fulfill their aspirations, according to Mitchell.
“If this boy gets a benefit, then we all benefit,” he said of the new American citizen in his story.
Applied to this year’s campaigns — which play out with the unspoken objective of breaking partisan gridlock by winning and grabbing more power — it means “putting the best interests of not just the people of Maine, but all people in this country” ahead of party loyalty.
The concept isn’t new, but it bears repeating during a time in the campaign season when a focus on the contests too easily can obscure the responsibility that comes with the prize.
Mitchell surely helped himself courtesy of the taxpayers, and his examples of success all include being elected to government and living off of the taxpayers for the rest of their lives.
If all politicians had the integrity and honesty of George Mitchell, we would not be in the mess that we are currently in. I am sure there are honest Republicans with integrity, I just can’t think of any at the moment.
Tell you what. How about you go over and be as instrumental in ending the Arab/ Isreali conflict as Mitchell was in ending the IRA problem in Northern Ireland, then we can give you a pension to afford your obvious need for medication.
The Irish “problem” and the Middle Eastern issues are on severely different scales geographically and politically; besides, the IRA was virtually rendered irrelevant as a threat before Mitchell “solved” the crisis.
I really wonder why Senator Mitchell bailed as the republicans took over the Senate back in the 1990’s? And I seem to remember Maine lost so many federal jobs while he was President of the Senate as he was rather, impotent, in his position at that time. Good riddance George.
Perhaps your memory recalls the end of the Cold War in the early ’90’s that led to Loring’s closure. Lots of Federal jobs there. Also, I was under the impression that the GOP was all gung ho for federal job downsizing. You can’t have it both ways. Who’s done more after their political career was over to foster international peace; Carter, Clinton, and Mitchell or you pick any 3 Republicans?
Wiki says Mitt invented American mandated health insurance (4th paragraph) ~~~~~~~~~ in 2006.
Mitt put his Bain Capital holdings into a blind trust in 2003 when he becme Massachusetts’ governor but would get profits from any new Bain ventures up to Feb. 2009. (2nd and 8th paragraphs up from “A Share of Huge Growth” headline).
Bain Capital aquired Hospital Corporation of America (the largest privately owned operator of health care companies in the world) in 2006.
“Welcome to the Black Parade”
It is time to STOP saying “everyone in the U.S.A. has a chance.” It is simply not so, and has not been so for many years.
There are two children in the paper (yesterday) who already at 11, and 12 have no chance. The reason they have no chance is because people like Mitchell, Romney, Obama, Ryan, and virtually our entire government care deeply about what happens to all the citizens of the world… so long as they were not born here.
Mitchell was once a good man! Once he became Majority Leader in the Senate, he morphed into a highly partisan political hack. Senator Mitchell, you’re no Ed Muskie!