If You're a Liberal, You Should Know Who Jamie Raskin's Father Was; It Explains A Lot

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If You're a Liberal, You Should Know Who Jamie Raskin's Father Was; It Explains A Lot
Charles Jay
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Monday February 15, 2021 · 3:02 PM EST


Were any of you wondering why Jamie Raskin was quoting his father in his opening remarks at the Senate impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump? Raskin actually condensed the original quote from his father, Marcus Raskin, who some have called “the dean of the American left.” Here is the original quote:

“Democracy and its operative principle, the rule of law, require a ground on which to stand. That ground is the truth. When the government lies, or is structured like our national security state to promote lies and self-deception, then our official structures have broken faith with the essential precondition for constitutional government in democracy.”

Marcus Raskin died on Dec. 24, 2017, of a heart ailment. Here’s the lead of the New York Times obituary:

Marcus Raskin, who channeled his discontent as a young aide in the Kennedy administration into helping to found the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank that became an abundant source of research about nuclear disarmament, the Vietnam War, economic inequality, civil rights and national security, died on Dec. 24 in Washington. He was 83.

Here is a link to the eulogy that Jamie Raskin delivered at the memorial and celebration of his father’s life at the Sixth & I Synagogue on February 12, 2018. These are the nine lessons he said his father taught him, but I recommend reading the full eulogy for more details about Marcus Raskin’s remarkable life story.

Lesson One: My father taught us that, when a situation seems hopeless, then you are the hope. When everything looks dark, you must be the light.

Lesson Two: Spoil children with love and wisdom, not with things.

Lesson Three: Whatever the background noise, follow the music in your head and the dreams in your heart.

Lesson Four: Go to school to teach as well as to learn and never let your schooling interfere with your education.

Lesson Five: Bring your full intelligence and ethics to work every day and if you can’t, you may need to find a new job.

Lesson Six: Hate war and work as citizens for peace and justice.

Lesson Seven: Act pragmatically, not in the degraded sense of doing what powerful people want you to do, but in the Deweyean sense of promoting experiments to advance the ideals of freedom and the common good.

Lesson Eight: Never give up on anyone, never hate anyone, and act with love whenever you can.

Lesson Nine: No good act in life is ever wasted.

And now for some background. Marcus Raskin came to Washington in 1958 to serve as legislative counsel to several liberal Democratic House members.

He was one of the “best and the brightest” and three years later he was tapped to serve as a deputy to McGeorge Bundy, the National Security Advisor to President John F. Kennedy.

He took the job on April 17, 1961, which just happened to be the first day of the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by anti-Castro Cuban emigres. His outspoken criticism of that fiasco led to a rift with Bundy, and his growing disagreement with the U.S. military escalation in South Vietnam led him to resign from the NSA staff.

In 1963, Raskin left the Kennedy administration and, with former State Department attorney Richard Barnet, founded the Institute for Policy Studies, so they could more freely “speak truth to power.” The IPS’ stated missions have grown to include Peace and Just Foreign Policy, Economic and Racial Justice, and Climate Justice.

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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/2/15/2016163/-Teach-Your-Children-Well-How-Jamie-Raskin-s-Dad-Inspired-Him-for-His-Impeachment-Trial-Role