June 12, 1978
Page 17108
ON THE DEATH OF JAMES BROWNING ALLEN
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the death of Senator JAMES ALLEN leaves a void in the Senate.
JIM ALLEN was a man of purpose. A man who understood the need for courtesy and rectitude. And a man committed to the ideals he brought with him to the Senate.
I am not certain he would agree with me — which would not be an unusual occurrence — but I believe his years in the Senate represent an important reminder to us all.
JIM ALLEN did not serve in the Senate in the days of iron-handed leadership, or in the days of the "old-style" filibuster. I think he would have much preferred the latter to the former, but it was his lot to serve in a more modern, more complicated Senate.
He helped to educate this "new Senate" in important ways.
First, he reminded us all why this is such a vital and democratic institution. He reminded us that one man of conviction and courage can still make his voice heard. One man can still stop the sweep of public pressure long enough to allow the alternative view to be considered.
One man, or a small minority, can still gain the people's attention long enough for the people to make an informed judgment about an issue. One man or a small group can still influence the course of public policy and Government. One man can make certain that the many minorities which make up the American people can have their say, and have the opportunity to persuade others to their point of view. It is this which keeps the Senate a vital institution today. With all its imperfections, it is a forum unmatched in the world.
I often found myself opposing our colleague. His presence could sometimes be an irritant — no, a threat — to the majority in this body.
But as I watched him over the past 10 years, as I occasionally fought him, and occasionally lost, I was reminded of JIM ALLEN's second lesson to the Senate. He reminded us why we have rules. He understood better than most what Lord Acton meant when he called the tyranny of the majority "the one pervading evil of democracy."
We have rules to allow the minority equal access to the legislative forum. We have rules to require our deliberations to proceed at an orderly, unhurried pace. We have rules to require that the arguments of both sides be stated fully, and the implications of each policy explored in detail before we act.
Too often in these hurried times we have chafed under the rules. We have been in a hurry — to meet perceived public needs, to right perceived injustices to respond to perceived demands. JIM ALLEN understood that we have rules to make certain at the very least that the majority knows what it is about, justifies its actions, and further that the errors we make cannot be later blamed on haste.
In his manual, Jefferson devoted the first section to the importance of rules. He wrote:
"As it is always in the power of the majority, by their numbers, to stop any improper measures proposed on the part of their opponents, the only weapons by which the minority can defend themselves against similar attempts from those in power are the forms and rules of proceeding which have been adopted as they were found necessary, from time to time, by a strict adherence to which the weaker party can only be protected from those irregularities and abuses which these forms were intended to cheek and which the wantonness of power is too often apt to suggest to large and successful majorities.
"And whether these forms be in all cases the most rational or not, is really not of so great importance. It is much more material that there should be a rule to go by, than what that rule is; that there may be a uniformity of proceeding in business not subject to the caprice of the Speaker or captiousness of the members. It is very material that order, decency, and regularity be preserved in a dignified public body."
JIM ALLEN reminded us of Jefferson’s last point — that humor, courtesy, and personal honesty are essential to the formation of good public policy. He reminded us that the Senate should be a place of ideas. The institution will remain after we have gone. So in the last analysis, who we are is less important than what we believe, and what we gain is less important than what we leave behind.