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As suspected by almost everyone who heard the news, the small plane crash
that killed Minnesota Senator Wellstone was hardly an accident. Bombs set
to go off when the landing gear is readied can be counted on to be
unavoidable as the plane must surely land someplace, being
unable to refuel in the air. Wellstone was the only Senator up for
election who opposed Bush on his war mongering demands. His assassination
came on the heels of a visit to the state by Bush to raise support for his
Republican lackey. The hope for recouping Minnesota for the Republicans
failed to muster the needed support. It is no surprise that more drastic
measures were taken. The year earlier several Democratic senators,
including the majority leader Dausche, had the CIA version of Anthrax
delivered to their suites. Yet in spite of knowing which Utah
lab produced that strain, the FBI has been directed to harass a Maryland
scientist, and no arrests have been made. The Bush Administration views
the slim Democratic majority in the Senate as the major stumbling block
between themselves and total control of the US, and thence, due to
military superiority, the world. The Supreme Court, as the 2000
Presidential election showed, is clearly already in hand.
What will come as a surprise to those grieving the beloved Wellstone, a
man so strongly Service-to-Others and courageous that no one who
encountered him in person was left untouched, is that he knew
this was to occur, as did his wife and all others on the plane, and that
they were in agreement with the outcome. Some messages, some legacies, are
stronger in death than in life. Too often, strong individuals are looked
to as saviors, as parents, as leaders who should arrange all for those in
need, as combatants who should fight the fight and bear the bruises alone,
protecting the timid and hesitant. In his absence, there is a void which
shouts from the darkness to be filled. Stand up for what is
right, what you want to accomplish, countering oppression and lies. Where
Wellstone's assassination was to be a warning to any Democrat not falling
dutifully in line in the Congress, the opposite will be the result. Voters
passive about the flow of events and business as usual will suddenly put
all aside to go to the polls. The elected, many of whom personally knew
and were touched by Wellstone, will find their courage in the silent rage
that is consuming them. Thus, in death, he becomes not the small man in
stature he was in life, but the giant he was in his soul.