Alfred Walking Bull

As we prepare for this time of action to reform health care and improve the lives of 40 million uninsured Americans, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on Sen. Edward Kennedy, who died yesterday of brain cancer at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass.

The senator died one year, to the day, after his final speech at the Democratic National Convention where he rallied Americans to believe in a better country, a newer world and a new hope. He spoke of the need not just to vote, but to take leadership for those who have no voice – those without champions.

And Kennedy was a champion for every American in need, whether his leadership ensured health care for children, ensured bilingual education or guaranteed public access and accommodation for disabled Americans, he fought the good fight. He was a shining example of egalitarianism in American politics.

The late senator spoke eloquently one year ago about the need to advocate for the sake of our fellow citizens, “ We have never lost our belief that we are called to a better country and a newer world … For me, this is a season of hope, new hope for a justice and a fair prosperity for the many and not just for the few, new hope. And this is the cause of my life, new hope. That we will break the old gridlock and guarantee every American, north, south, east, west, young, old will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege.”

Although his life was near its end, Kennedy vowed in March to be a foot soldier in the president's fight for health care reform, saying, “This time, we will not fail.”

Unfortunately, with the death of this political powerhouse, it seems as though health care reform might fail. According to an Atlantic magazine obituary, Kennedy's bipartisan efforts with Republican colleagues like Sen. Orrin Hatch might have opened up room for compromise from the opposition. In addition, the late senator left a vacancy on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, now assumed to be chaired by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who would have to resign his chairmanship on the Banking Committee, before Congress would alter Wall Street regulations. Kennedy's death leaves a gap in leadership and will test the efficacy of the health care reform movement.

And so, it is our place, not just as Democrats, not just as activists, but as Americans to take the late senator's vow of not failing to our fellow citizens and to Congress in this time of transition. Now is the time to lobby every senator and every member of Congress for honest and true health care reform, because with Kennedy's death, every vote counts. It's up to us to seize this moment – for the sake of the senator – and talk to Sen. John Ensign here in Nevada. It's now our place to advocate in our homes, on the streets, with our hearts and with our words to reform health care in America so that – indeed – this time we will not fail.

If you are so moved by the words and actions of Kennedy, please come in to carry the torch passed by this great, American statesman and volunteer for a shift or two a week until we pass this much-needed reform in our country.