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At one time, Bob Kerrey had a west Lincoln restaurant with his name on it. He has a pedestrian bridge spanning the Missouri River between Omaha and Council Bluffs, Iowa, named after him. Now the U.S. Navy is naming a guided missile naval destroyer after the Medal of Honor SEAL team leader. Nebraska Public Media's Dale Johnson caught up with Kerrey in New York City to get his thoughts about the honor.
Bob Kerrey: Well, at first I thought it might be a crank call. I don't know the Secretary of Navy. I know his name. I know his name in part because Biden asked me if I'd be secretary of Navy. I said no, so he came in behind me. Maybe that's why he decided to name this thing after me. He's grateful I turned to enable him to do this. It’s a significant honor, but it's caused me to kind of reflect on my Navy service and how important it was, and it was very important, you know, good experiences and bad experiences. But in aggregate, those three years probably contributed more to who I am today than any other three years of my 81 years of life.
Dale Johnson: Well, that was 54 years ago. My how time flies.
Kerrey: It does.
Johnson: Let's look at local politics, Bob. Some things going on here. The legislature just resumed, and again, it's winner take all, one of the first bills that was introduced. Nebraska, one of only two states that divides its electoral votes based on congressional districts during the presidential election, the legislature is moving in that direction to have all five of the electoral votes go to the winner of the state's popular vote. Good idea or bad idea in your opinion?
Kerrey: It's a bad idea. You disenfranchise voters in Lincoln and Omaha. That's what it is. You put all the votes in rural Nebraska together, and you get five Electoral College votes, but you disenfranchise Lincoln and Omaha by doing it.
Johnson: Why is it then that 48 other states have winner take all?
Kerrey: Nebraska typically doesn't start off by saying, well, let's do what 48 other states do. That's not typically how we reach a conclusion about what's right and wrong. Yeah, we were lucky. We had George Norris, who saw two things in Congress he hated. The first one was you had to vote the way your caucus votes. And secondly, you basically forced yourself into these partisan positions by having two houses. The only way he could eliminate a corrupt process of a conference committee was to get rid of one of the houses, and he persuaded Nebraskans to do something that no other state did. Now maybe the legislature is going to vote to get rid of the unicameral and have a bicameral legislature, because we're the only state in the nation that does that, but it's a phenomenal way to govern. It's simpler, it's less expensive, it's more transparent than a bicameral legislature and far less corrupt.
Johnson: The leaders of the state are primarily Republican. What does the Nebraska Democratic Party have to do to become relevant again?
Kerrey: Well, they may have to find somebody as generous as Pete Ricketts is to fund the party. Senator Rick has a huge impact on both legislation and the success of candidates statewide, and they got to be patient. The fastest growing party in the state's independent. It's not like the Democrats are completely out to lunch. They're not. They've got a good platform. They have a good, good purpose. I think the most important thing is, don't give up. Anybody who's involved in politics, Republican, Independent or Democrat, my advice is, don't give up. Thanks for not becoming a cynic. Remain skeptical of everything that government does, but don't become cynical, because once you're a cynic, you don't believe human beings can accomplish anything good. And I would say a very large fraction of Republicans, Independents and Democrats believe that human beings are capable of doing good things. They just have a different methodology of getting there. But they don't get involved in politics because they have anything other than optimistic understanding of what we can do as a species. I don't worry too much about the future of the Democratic Party in Nebraska or the future of the Democratic Party in the United States. I worry a lot more about people simply giving up, saying it's all corrupt, it's all it's all bad. It's my primary criticism of (President Donald Trump). Trump is not a danger to democracy. The danger to democracy is people simply giving up. And I'm not going to get involved. It's all corrupt. It's not worth doing. That is what caused, what caused every single democracy to fold, including ours, if we're not careful.
Johnson: Finally, How's your health these days?
Kerrey: I'm fine. I mean, I you know, look Dale, if I go to sleep tonight and die in my sleep. You know what you won't say tomorrow on this radio station? That was a surprise. I'm 81. When I got up this morning, I set another world record. It's the longest I've ever lived, and I'm grateful for it.
Johnson: Well, I know you were battling prostate cancer for a while.
Kerrey: Well, I didn't battle it. I had prostate cancer. They radiated. They put me on a drug called Lupron, and now it's in my rear view mirror.
Johnson: Always good talking to Nebraska's former governor and Nebraska's former U.S. Senator, Bob Kerrey, joining me on Nebraska Public Media. I'm Dale Johnson.