Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who was one of the strongest and youngest forces in conservative politics, has died at the age of 44. The native Floridian had been in the political spotlight this election cycle, being one of the last presidential hopefuls standing in the fierce GOP battle for the nomination. Senator Rubio built up an incredible résumé in the United States Senate as well in the Florida House of Representatives. However, what was even more remarkable about this fine American man was his Cuban heritage and upbringing, leading him down a path of the highly regarded “American Dream.” Being the son of bartender and housekeeper immigrants, Rubio came from a grassroots household, unlike many of the other presidential candidates and his peers at the Hill. Rubio once said while down in the polls during his intense 2010 campaign for the Senate, “When you’re 30-some points down and have the entire party establishment against you, it forces you to answer an important question: Are you running because you want to be somebody or because you believe in something?” (qtd. Miller) Having this standing in politics had kept him at his roots, had built an undeniably great politician, and had sustained and upheld that what we know as the American Dream is still alive and well.
Senator Rubio was well regarded in Florida as being a man for the people. For insight into the type of politician he was, in the years prior to him assuming his speakership in the Florida House of Representatives, Rubio travelled across The Sunshine State hosting “idearaisers” to come up with ways to fortify Florida (U.S. Senate). The result of this movement was a book written by Rubio titled “100 Innovative Ideas for Florida’s Future,” which was used as his platform. The House passed all 100 of the ideas and 57 of them became law (U.S. Senate). This kind of legislation is just a peek into the man that Senator Rubio was. The empathetic core of the Senator can be traced back to his early years in West Miami.
Born in 1971 to Cuban immigrants who fled the regime of Fidel Castro, Rubio’s early childhood started in Miami and remained there until he was eight years old, where they then had a stint in Las Vegas, Nevada, for six years, then returning to Miami (U.S. Senate). The family spoke Spanish within the home, but Rubio quickly learned English through school and his friends saying, “I’m not sure I have a first language; they’re both my first language” (qtd. Miller). “His father Mario, a struggling bartender; Oriales, a hotel maid and devoted mother; Pedro, his garrulous, cigar smoking grandfather, known to the grandchildren as Papa; an elder brother, also Mario, who became a Green Beret: the supporting cast in Marco Rubio’s back-story is a technicolour pageant of striving Cuban immigrants turned patriotic Americans” (The Economist). What is so significant about these facts surrounding the early life of Marci Rubio? His future prominence did not derive from money, from fame, or from having connections. Rubio came from a very close-to-earth family, where to end up successful was not driven by external forces, but through hard work and determination within Marco Rubio himself.
Rubio attended South Miami Senior High School where he played football and graduated in 1989 (U.S. Senate). Upon graduation, he accepted a football scholarship and attended Tarkio College in Missouri (U.S. Senate). After one year, he decided to transfer to Santa Fe Community College, and eventually he ended up graduating with a bachelor of science from the University of Florida in 1993 (U.S. Senate). He continued his education at the University of Miami where he received his juris doctor, cum laude, in 1996 (U.S. Senate). Senator Rubio went from being the son of blue-collar immigrants working lower wage jobs, to a young man fresh out of college with a law degree. This feat is deemed not probable for others with the same background as Rubio.
In 1998, then at the ripe age of 26, Rubio began his long career of public service by finding himself in a seat on the West Miami City Commission where he participated in meetings about car wash regulations and other, almost frivolous, legislation compared to his unbeknownst future (Samuels). After two years on the West Miami City Commission, Rubio landed a seat in the Florida House of Representatives. Marco Rubio rose through the ranks of the House with jet-like speed rising to majority whip, to majority leader, and eventually to Speaker of the House, where he dawned his now-famous “100 Innovative Ideas for Florida’s Future” (The Economist).
Soon after, Marco Rubio decided to go head-to-head with sitting Florida Governor Charlie Crist. At first, Rubio was not even heard of, let alone considered in the running (Miller). “Running against a sitting governor is not the logical next step up the political ladder, the only people who thought I could win lived in my home, and four of them were under the age of 10,” Rubio once commented (qtd. Miller). However, Rubio’s firm stance on conservatism and authentic personality drove him up through the polls. Rubio had made a promise to not only stop the Western-Europe progressivism of Barack Obama, but to be a prominent Republican within the party (Miller). The young, ambitious Rubio went on to win the election, which is once again shocking when you take a closer look at his roots. According to The Economist, “In no other country could someone who, as a child, was taken by his father to ogle the dreamlike mansions of the rich, rise to the Senate, and possibly beyond.”
In his time in the Senate, Rubio proved to be the authentic conservative he promised. As a devout Roman Catholic, Rubio promoted his moral beliefs on issues such as abortion and gay marriage; he also called for lower taxes, and a smaller federal government. Rubio served on numerous committees, including the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet and the Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security. In 2012, when asked by Charlie Rose from Bloomberg, if we has interested in being President, Senator Rubio said, “I don’t have any ambition about a particular office in the future.” This proved to be exactly where he was heading.
Rubio announced his candidacy for the President of the United States on April 13, 2015. The Presidential hopeful presented himself as an “average Joe.” Senator Rubio had hopes of capturing the young vote, often talking about football and his college days (Stevenson). We as Americans are only left wonder “what if.” What if this young, grassroots genuine guy were to have become our President.
Marco Rubio was also a family man. His wife of 18 years Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, and his four children Amanda, Daniella, Anthony, and Dominic survive him. Senator Rubio’s back-story almost out-shines his political career. Aside from his numerous awards and accolades, including his most recent Innovation Policy Ninja Award from the Consumer Technology Association, this man truly expressed what the American Dream means: work hard, push through adversity, never give up, and you will be rewarded with success. Maybe this is what the country needs: a story to come to life that will knock most of the country out of the pitiful mentality that they cannot be successful because they were not born into rich families, that the one-percent will hold them down and prevent them from rising through the ranks of society. Marco Rubio explored and conquered this country and society and came to be a Presidential Candidate, far from his sub-modest roots.