Light at the end of a tunnel of doom

I'm still reeling from Tuesday's Scott Brown win. Today I'm feeling better.
The Boston Globe has an article today where they go to the three main epicenters of Massachusetts liberalism: Amherst, Cambridge and Provincetown. It felt good to get a reminder of the strength of my State's liberalism. The recent election made me feel a bit ashamed to be here. Then I thought about it.

I put myself in the shoes of a suburban middle class voter. Which is not too difficult because that's what I am. Except I went a little further and meditated on things I have heard my fellow suburbanites say in the last week or so. Anger, frustration, fear and more fear. Mainly economic fear for their own futures. Martha Coakley (and President Obama) have been focused on health care reform. Massachusetts has already reformed, and has nearly universal insurance coverage. Scott Brown could have said nothing and just smiled pretty for the cameras and he would have gotten a lot of votes from Massachusetts suburbanites. As it was, he got more than a lot, he got a whole big lot of suburban votes. Health care reform for the rest of the United States is nice, but it ain't at the top of our priority list. It certainly isn't at the top of mine.

Scott Brown was greeted with great fanfare in Washington, yesterday. At the same time, President Obama was laying out his newly minted priorities in the face of the Republican victory in Massachusetts. He pounded his fist as he admonished the banking industry for contributing to the woes 'on main street'. He railed against the institutionalized corporate money in our political system that was approved by the Supreme Court. He also signaled that he would be willing to consider breaking the healthcare overhaul bill into smaller pieces.

Re-regulating banks and overriding the Supreme Court's decision to grant unlimited political spending to corporations and unions are two ideas that would have a tremendously positive effect on our American financial and political systems. These fantastic practical applications of law to help the working class are a difficult sell in the marketplace of American ideas that the voters hear. The Fox Party (aka Republicans) will stomp their feet, suck their thumbs, and in the deep voice of Limbaugh and the pleading whine of Beck will cry "SOCIALISM!" This will be their cry heading into the mid-term elections. It may win them a few seats or it may win them a lot of seats. I wouldn't place a bet either way.

But good can win here. My country could gain some needed financial and political protections in the very short run that would serve it in the long run. I wish I could be a fly on the wall when the senior Senator from my State hangs out with the new junior Senator. I hope the junior Senator can be manipulated...I mean negotiated with to do the right thing and support these reforms. Now is the time.

How did this happen?

I'm writing this to kill some anxiety as the Brown vs. Coakley results are coming in. It looks like a loss for the good guys. How can this happen in a state with 3-1 Dem-Repub registration? Good question.

Here's my take. The Dem Party walked slowly into this very short race. There was virtually no turnout in the primary and a pretty high turnout in the general. This tells me that the uninformed, normally apathetic middle ground 'independent' voter decided this election. Coakley was the only name candidate in this race, which is how she won the primary and she coasted into the general election as the national Republican machine was pumping huge piles of cash into advertising in the state. Meanwhile, the Dems just coasted.

Brown is a pretty boy who's main campaigners were Mitt Romney, Bill Weld, Doug Flutie and Curt Schilling. He walked through the primary and was a great vessel for the Repub machine to sell, while the TEA Party PAC and their ilk pumped cash into the local advertising market.

The 'independent' voter, the ignorant middle (as I like to call them), buys the shit that is sold to them in advertising. The don't think, they don't remember the recent results of Republican power in the GW Bush era. They buy what is sold, and they bought the Brown candidacy with all the thought and consideration that they would spend in selecting a fatty sandwich for their drive-thru pleasure.

Thanks to the ignorant 'independent' voter and the cash pumped into the state from PACs, the Republicans have pulled off something miraculous. They snagged a Senate seat in the formerly great State of Massachusetts.

Sarah Palin: Someone get this woman a book PLEASE!

Duh of the day. I am sure there will be many more of these. Really stupid answer in many many ways.

Election anxiety and one year of Obama

It hasn't really been a year, but close enough. Next week we Massholes get our chance to fill the vacant Senate seat left by the late great Ted Kennedy. I am a bit worried that the bad guys will win. There is some disillusion with the Obama Admin on the left, lots of anger toward Obama on the right, and (just as natural as the right anger) lots of apathy in the middle. Massachusetts is 3-1 Dem-Rebub in registered voters, but low turnout could mean victory for the evil Republicans. The right seems pretty fired up, and the left not so much.

The actions of the Congress and the President have been a bit weak for my liking. I would prefer much a more progressive health care bill, strong financial regulations, more federal stimulative spending, a more progressive tax structure and some actual action on expanding rights for gay Americans. So I understand the disillusion on the left. But I'm not angry. I understand that the right is very powerful, especially within the Democratic Party. Obama has dealt with this strength admirably.

The Obama Administration has negotiated with the legislature and made great progress on all the fronts I have listed, with the exception of gay rights. I cut them slack on the latter because they have had so many more pressing issues to deal with. The Republicans left behind a near wasteland of damage done by their years of ideological foolishness. America's standing in the world is at a low because Bush and his constituents found diplomacy distasteful. America's economic power was shattered by years of Republican and Democratic non-regulation of capital markets. The US health care system has failed lower income citizens and costs have spiraled out of control, mostly for lack of government participation in this market.

I would finish with the message to my disillusioned and angry citizens that this is how our constitutional republic is supposed to function. Elections create winners and losers.
Conservative TEA Party, Republicans: You lost. Keep up the obstructionism and inaccurate rhetoric. That is what you are supposed to do, and it is working. You will gain some ground in the mid-term election.
Disillusioned Democrats: Keep pounding on your people to move left, I want my government to go with you. Cut Obama some slack, he has to work with the very committed right wing. He could act like they don't exist, but that would just be out Bushing the Bushies.
Apathetic Middle: Shut the fuck up if you don't have an opinion. Don't vote, don't argue, don't even try. If you can't work up enough energy to have an opinion, then just plop your ignorant ass in front of your large television and keep your jokes to yourself.