I interned for Jim Cooper and so many young people like me learned from him | Opinion
Congressman Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, asks all of his interns to come up with an example that demonstrates the difference between one million, one billion and one trillion.
His go-to: “a million seconds is 12 days, a billion seconds is 32 years, a trillion seconds is 32,000 years.”
This, for the fiscally cautious Democrat, is a way to instill a sense of meaning to these numbers that are thrown out in political discussion, to show young Tennesseans the importance of precision and thoughtfulness.
After more than 30 years of serving Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, Cooper is being forced into retirement with his district, TN-05, gerrymandered into oblivion.
His retirement represents a significant loss for Nashville, Tennessee, and the country. The consistently blue Nashville loses its political voice.
Congress loses one of its hardest working representatives, one who serves on more committees than any other member. And in the midst of these obvious losses, one notable loss that shouldn’t be overlooked is what his departure means for young Tennesseans.
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Interns answered phones, gave tours and wrote essays
The Rhodes Scholar and Harvard Law grad puts a significant focus on educating the next generation of Tennessee’s leaders. While this can be seen through his legislative commitment to education and research or his time spent teaching at Vanderbilt, the clearest example of this commitment can be seen through his internship program.
Jim Cooper runs Congress’ largest and most rigorous internship program. “I invested an incredible amount of time doing it,” he tells me.
In the past 20 years, over 600 young Tennesseans have been “Jimterns,” he didn’t keep track before then. I’ve had the privilege of being one of them.
Interns answer phone calls, give Capitol tours and attend briefings, but also meet regularly with Cooper, his staff and officials from all parts of the lawmaking process: senators, lobbyists, ambassadors, activists.
More:Jim Cooper reflects on 32 years in politics in exit interview with The Tennessean | Plazas
Cooper and his staff have put in significant efforts in building a curriculum that instills precision, discernment, analytical thought, and curiosity, qualities that the pragmatic congressman emulates himself.
Interns write essays that Cooper edits, ruthlessly. “Writing standards have fallen so much,” he says. We regularly have “Jim Time,” an open floor to debate the issues Congress is discussing and are expected to have well-researched arguments to back our opinions.
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Cooper is proudest about his commitment to educating young people
At a retirement party in late November featured, much to the humble Cooper’s chagrin, colleagues and notable Tennesseans singing his praise.
In video, Al Gore called him “one of the country’s best congressmen” and in a letter, former-President Obama commended his “honesty, conviction and unwavering drive.”
But Cooper’s discomfort seemed to ease when country superstars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw popped up on the screen to commend his commitment to educating young people.
In her speech, former Chief-of-Staff Lisa Quigley shared she often saw Cooper change his mind on issues after conversations with young people.
The 68-year-old Cooper says the internship program was mutually beneficial. For him, it helped sharpen his thinking, acting like a whetstone. “If you can’t make a better argument to persuade an intern, how are you going to persuade anybody else?”
He cites his evolved perspective on LGBTQ marriage rights as a prime example of something on which these conversations helped him change his perspective. Now this exchange of ideas, and the opportunity to learn from one of the state's sharpest thinkers is ending.
As the only Taylor Swift-endorsed member of Congress comes upon his billionth and final second in office, Nashville loses moderate representation that embodies it and the House loses a legislator who revels in policy over partisan grandstanding.
And over 600 young Tennesseans are better off from the lessons he’s left behind. In these billion seconds, Cooper has had many successes, but he marks the internship program as one of his greatest. As a beneficiary of the program, I have to agree.
Shaan Merchant is a journalist, producer and researcher. He was previously an intern for Rep. Jim Cooper.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Congressman Jim Cooper left a lasting mark on young interns like me
