Laid to rest with James Strom Thurmond, 100, on Tuesday, we fear, was the conception that the highest and best purpose of elective office is constituent service. During his eight terms as a U.S. senator and his term as governor between 1947 and 1951, Thurmond, without regard for race, helped thousands upon thousands of South Carolinians negotiate the treacherous shoals of federal and state bureaucracies.

A true conservative, he understood that service is a better use of an officeholder's time and energy than relentless pursuit of changes in government policy. Nowadays, members of Congress, including Thurmond's successor, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., seem more interested in pursuit of broad ideological and cultural goals than in taking care of the home folks - though all attempt to do that, too.

Thurmond understood that at heart, S.C. and American politics are not about ideology. He never forgot that it's about representation, as the Framers of the Constitution conceived of it. For that reason principally, he'll be remembered as one of the great men in S.C. public life.