April 02, 2013
LEWISTON — Access.
It's why independent U.S. Sen. Angus King chose to caucus with the Democrats when he took office, and it's why King has faith in the future of the United States.
"In one word, it's the secret to success in America," King told a group at the University of Southern Maine-L-A College on Tuesday afternoon.
"In most places around the world, people don't have access to money, to power, to opportunity unless they are born to it," King said. "Your future was defined by your family and you could never escape from it. In this country, it matters but it matters less than it matters anywhere else in world history."
King was the featured guest at Michelle Vazquez Jacobus' diversity class Tuesday afternoon. Because of the guest, Vazquez Jacobus opened the class to the public and other Lewiston-Auburn College faculty and students.
With the U.S. Senate in recess, King made his way to Maine for a few stops. Teague Morris, who works in King's Auburn office and has taught at the University of Southern Maine's L-A and Gorham campuses, helped bring the senator to the classroom.
King gave an hour-and-10-minute seminar to students and visitors, discussing his views on leadership, American history, independence and diversity.
King said he wasn't working from a prepared statement or lecture. He spoke for 30 minutes on some of this favorite topics before taking questions from the audience.
"To me, if you provide everybody in America with access, you get more talent," King said. "If you are in a society that says women can't be professionals, you've eliminated half the talent. And then if you say, 'Neither can black people,' you've lost another 10 percent. And if say the same for gay people, pretty soon you don't have much left. So the secret to America is that it's open to people that would never get a chance in another society."
That same thinking was behind his decision to run for governor as an independent. Rather than having to pick from only Democrats or only Republicans to fill his Cabinet and committee posts, he could pick either — or independents like himself.
He found himself in a different position when he was elected to the Senate, realizing that he had to caucus with one party to get committee assignments.
"My ideal would have been to be wholly independent, with my chair in the middle of the aisle," King said. "I quickly learned that that might have been fun, but not effective and not fair to Maine. It would have made it a stunt."
He chose to caucus with the Democrats because they have the majority. He was assigned to the Armed Services, Budget, Rules and Intelligence committees.
"Those are pretty darn good assignments for a first-year senator with no party," he said. "I feel like it worked out OK. And what I've found is that I'm getting a pretty good reception from both sides."
King also talked about one of the earliest lessons he learned in true leadership, when he was a high school freshman in Alexandria, Va. He was there when state police escorted two African-American students onto campus at the newly integrated school. A crowd of white students stood there, King among them, silently waiting to see what would happen next.
"All of a sudden at the back of the group came this voice: 'Excuse me; let me through,'" King said.
It was the captain of the football team and the senior class president, who stepped forward and offered his hand to the new students.
"It totally changed the moment," he said. "That was real moral leadership."
