Comments on: Jesse Helms is dead

By: PeaceBang

PeaceBang — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:52:34 +0000

That you managed to get an interesting and valuable theological reflection out of JH’s death is a notable example of making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

May he rot in the Hell I don’ t believe in.
Or, to put it less snarkily, may he be remembered by good people for his vile legacy, which is Hell enough.

By: Martin Voelker

Martin Voelker — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:33:58 +0000

I just read this lengthy piece on Helms on my favorite progressive news site: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/05/10123/ originally by “The Progressive” editor John Nichols written for The Nation. Glad to see his sober analysis.

By: Nate, Uncensored

Nate, Uncensored — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:17:08 +0000

Jesse Helms Roundup…

Former North Carolina senator and father of the far right Jesse Helms died yesterday at the age of 86. Since I can’t say anything about Helms aside from a series of very strong expletives, I’ve decided to leave the talking to people who can…

By: Larry Smith

Larry Smith — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:07:17 +0000

I share your feelings about Helms. As a Southerner, he was an embarrassment. A reminder of the ugliness of the South with none of the wit, joy or friendliness that I also believe is part of the culture of my heritage. When I was younger, he represented everything that made me ashamed to be a Southerner. It is difficult to imagine anyone not inclined to wear white sheets really being sad about his death.

This brings up a philosophical question that historians love to ask. If Helms did not exist, would someone just as repugnant have risen to power? Was he just representing the reactionary forces in American politics? Or was the man, the special creation, who moved those terrible homophobic, racist, xenophobic policies to the fore?

It seems that two strands of Universalism need to be considered with Helms. Ultra-Universalists believe that at death everyone goes directly to Heaven. Restorationist Universalists believe that some need to stop somewhere and be punished for their sins and rehabilitated before they are ready for Eternity. I do not know what fate the human spirit faces ultimately after death but I do hope that some sense of justice prevails for those who commit horrendous wrongs even as I hope that God is also eventually merciful.

By: Scott Wells

Scott Wells — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:56:44 +0000

@M.V. To clarify, I don’t think the center-left mourning would be dishonest, just misguided. And I hope not to see it, but that should be clear in the next couple of days. I hope you’re right.

As for the wealth of senators, I would be remiss not to point out one of the current projects of the Sunlight Foundation — my non-partisan employer — that speaks to this within the current Congress: Fortune 535, http://fortune535.sunlightprojects.org/

Be sure to read the caveats in the left-hand column and note that some members of Congress are not rich. (But it usually doesn’t hurt you, either.)

By: Martin Voelker

Martin Voelker — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:02:24 +0000

I’m curious as to whether we’ll indeed see much dishonest regret from centrists, let alone liberals. I rather doubt it. There’ll just be polite silence. Helms was political scum of the worst sort, but unlike Reagan, his Southern ‘good manners’ did not arise to charisma, not was he in a category that automatically requires perfunctory reverence. The worst part of him was that he knew rules and regulations inside out and used this institutional expertise to block a democratic functioning of the legislature.
As for his grieving family: if they have played along nicely they’ll at least inherit loads and loads of cash, because remember: there may be the one or two odd US senator who is not a millionaire. He certainly wasn’t one of those.