To get back to the subject of Jesse Helms, lots of people hated him. Lots of people in NC loved him. (He was elected 5 times.) Personally I loved him.
I miss the old senators like Jesse Helms that the southern states used to have. Many of you may have disagreed with them, but there was never any question where they stood. We used to have some real men in the senate.
Yes, I know, there are strong arguments against Helms charged with racism and certainly he opposed every piece of civil rights legislation. But I still miss senators who are not afraid to stand up for what they believe in. Jesse would always tell you what he believed and you knew he was never going to back down. He was a consistent conservative who stood by his view of what government’s role should be. On things like public funding of the arts Helms believed that tax money should not be used to pay for pornographic art. Most senators and most Americans agreed with him, but he was the one willing to speak up and take the heat.
The only senator I can think of that I would compare with Jesse Helms was Strom Thurmond.
Like Thurmond, Helms started out as a Democrat, back when the southern democratic party was still conservative. Then he switched to the republican party after the conservatives were abandoned by the Democrats.
Another thing I liked about Jesse Helms is that he was a compassionate man who gave of himself personally. He and his wife adopted a 9 year handicaped child. He understood that we needed to help the most vulnerable of our society, he just saw that as a personal responsiblity instead of a role of government.
I think the politicians we have today are just boring compared to men like Helms.
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