A glimmer of hope

There was a paradigm shift in our country after Tuesday's special election in Massachusetts. The Democrats in power, regardless of whether their power is exhibited at the Capitol or the Whitehouse, undoubtedly see something new on their horizon. Chris Dodd and Harry Reid were just the first casualties on the "Say Yes to the (proverbial) Dress" agenda. Either the Dems will continue to push forward their plans for health care, cap and trade, and some little publicized idea of using the FCC to create "net neutrality," or they will abort the mission to preserve their own power. Or, gasp, they will abort the mission because they realize that the majority of their constituents do not want this version of health care reform. From what little I read on Wednesday, "Triangulation" was the word of the day in Washington.

The media might not report on the idea that these election results were a referendum on the policies and programs in the works in Washington; either they do not want it to be so or else they are incorrectly interpretting the results. Whatever the case, if the news broadcasts on the Big 3 had any legitimacy before, it does not remain after this. The issues were at the heart of this election. Traditional party lines meant nothing on Tuesday. You have all seen the poll numbers on Independent turn out. It is increasingly apparent that, in general, name-calling in the political sphere, specifically the terms "racist," "sexist," and "stupid" are more a function of the age and disposition of the individual making the remarks, or even a measure of their desperate plight, rather than a viable topic of debate. Of course it is one thing to generalize that someone is a sexist. It is another thing to have actual evidence. For example, some nutjob wrote a piece comparing the election to being date-raped. Does he have a daughter, mother or sister? How insensitive could someone be? (At this point, please don't worry that I have overlooked Brown's comments at his acceptance speech-I will get to that.)

It is not possible that an informed people would elect an ex-trouser-dropping Cosmo model over a seemingly solid, respectable, and experienced candidate who, as someone whose current or previous job entailed being tough on crime, happened not to garner the endorsement of any police unions. That is unless they voted on the issues. Having to choose between these two clowns was a false choice for the entire constituency. In the great, highly educated, prosperous state of Massachusetts, we could not find two suitable candidates willing to answer the call? I knew nothing about Brown before the election except that he would pose a threat to the health care vote. That was enough for me. However, visions of op-ed caricatures, SNL sketches and Jon Stewart comedy bits of Bush 43 came to mind as I watched Brown offer his daughters to the national TV audience. Was this the best we can do? No one in their right mind would vote for this joker, so it's my opinion that this election had to be a vote against Obama's plans as carried out by Reed and Pelosi rather than a vote for Brown.

Apparently there is a poll out there showing the people identified with the Tea Party Movement by a larger percentage than they did the Republican Party. Is their any question as to why? It's called disenfranchisement. If I lived in MA, the only thing that would have gotten me to the polls on Tuesday would have been to vote against the spending plans in Washington. By supporting sub-par candidates, the Republican party is essentially helping the Democrat party accomplish their goals.

Am I a member of the "Party of No?" I cannot say it forcefully enough without resorting to $%&* words.

Current health care reform plan-No
Current plans to create environmental sustainability-No
Controlling the media via non-elected bureaucrats-No
TARP and Stimulus-No
(Just fyi, I was never for TARP. Ever. Ask Neil. He thought I was kind of off my rocker for being too conservative.)
Using a politically-biased court to overturn the voice of the people-No

The only good thing to come out of Tuesday's election was that Washington will be forced to reconsider their next steps. People all over this country are hopeful that their voice will be heard and it will make a difference...in November. Please, please, for the love of Pete, Republicans at the local levels: start now to find viable candidates.