Thoughts on last night’s election:
- Change is always a winning message: it’s not so much that what happened in 2008 is dead and done, but rather that our country is in need of serious changes.
- Kennedy’s seat vs. the people’s seat: This is the argument that holds true. If democrats thought that the seat they just lost was someone other than the seat of the people they were wrong...and that is OK. Scott Brown doesn’t know what it means to be a man of the people, and they will figure that out soon. All of that aside, the race was generational – Martha Coakley ran as an incumbent with no record and she stood for the same old same old. People are tired of politics as usual and until that is addressed this country is in for a political rollercoaster ride.
- Democrats obviously suck at keeping order in the court: Not true, not yet. In 2002 the rise of 24-hour news and partisan press was at a plateau, that mountain is MUCH higher now and we still have the energy as much as the press wants to take it away.
- Democrats can’t get anything done: DO NOT FORGET why everyone in our country is upset with government. It is because we are in 2 wars, we have shitty health insurance policies, education is a joke(Or not), robber barons of the gilded ages are back and in power aka CEO’s in the top 1% owning 90% or more of our economy while the poor get taxed. Regulation is IN ORDER, it has been DEMANDED and will be demanded until one person or another actually does something.
- Change works: From the bottom up.
As a progressive, I hate to admit it but I am proud of last nights’ elections. I am glad that democrats don’t have a super majority; the landscape of congress is not to be owned by one party or another. I ultimately think this means we have to fight for our message because we were losing a lot on issues before we lost one seat. The United States is ultimately a progressive country which has unfortunately become more and more regressive under radical conservatism and the mixing of church and state. The democratic dialogue is stalled; our country people hear a monologue from their respective stations, and without full context, cannot have an honest debate.
What should "we the people" be taking into account and what should our discussion really be? The people of Massachusetts, like most of New England, are generally fiscal conservatives while being socially liberal: Guns are public, God is not and no one wants to pay taxes unless it is going to positive things like education and transportation! We should be discussing the fact that Barack Obama had it right when he won the election; our country is most definitely at a defining moment. Whatever happens in the next 10 years will dictate the survival of our country as either positive or negative. If we address health care, education reform, clean up our environment and constantly address the basic tenets that a society needs to survive, I think we the people ultimately win. Those ideas are always going to be progressive action; however, change that drastic will only happen with a severe sweeping of congress. Stand up for the American people or lose your hat and your seat – we are done with bull.
Martha Coakley lost last night, not because she wasn’t good or didn’t do enough (this is stupid and debatable but not important), but because message is all people think about and Scott Brown had the message: plain and simple, hardworking and American; he was the approachable candidate.
So that’s that, debate over. But, take into account that the northern tip of the United States has always been a pre-cursor to the direction of national elections and republicans are right to say that this election generates energy for a "conservative" revival. Much to my chagrin, I think that is exactly what is going to happen in our country. Again messaging is everything, because substantive debate is not an option. While I do not, at all agree with Scott Brown on ANYTHING, and wish he did not win, I still think it is good for this country. I do not think that any one party should have an exacting control over government and I do think that we need to examine what it means to be electing officials to what Scott Brown called the "people’s seat." The message that "we the people" actually own government is going to be harnessed and if progressives don’t own what we won by moving solid legislation through government, we will lose. Conservatives have never had the marches on Washington that liberals and progressives had held; they have never had the numbers but they are starting to. Progressives stand the chance of losing the people’s movement, the people’s campaign and what are we losing to? We are going to lose and lose big to the tyranny of repressive rule disguised as a tea party.