Brown Defeats Coakley; Will Democrats Change Course?

Last night, Republican candidate Scott Brown defeated Democrat candidate Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts special election for the vacant United States Senate seat resulting from Edward Kennedy’s death. The five point margin of victory for Brown was a reversal of voter sentiment from just a couple of months ago, when he trailed by double-digits – but it was even more shocking considering that registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state by a factor of three.

This election is another in a line of indicators that today’s Democrat agenda is failing to be accepted by the public. Massachusetts is the third Barack Obama state to vote a Republican into office since the presidential election in 2008. Virginia and New Jersey both elected Republican governors last fall, ousting the Democrat predecessors.

It would seem that the tea party movement and the general disgust with congressional policies and procedures are having more of an impact than any Democrat is willing to admit. Unfortunately for them, the Republicans are no longer in power, so there is nobody to blame for the government’s failures but themselves. Their radical agenda has apparently been played too quickly and too bluntly. The detestation of Republicans over the last several years did not seem to tip off Democrats on how to exercise their power and in which direction the American People wanted to go.

Perhaps all of them misread the results of the 2008 elections.

We were not fed up with the ideas of smaller government, fighting terrorists, or recovering domestic fuels. We were not clamoring for the adoption of a new health care system. We were not demanding a halt to carbon emissions. We certainly were not advocating an egregious spending spree and the massive expansion of federal debt.

Both Barack Obama and John McCain spoke frequently about improving the efficiency of government, our relationships with other nations, and our economy. They had some similar views on health care, global warming, and immigration. In fact, aside from a few minor differences, they could have been running mates. Those on the political right could not get excited about a candidate that represented essentially everything they despised about the then current Republican Party leadership.

But as most people are now aware, Obama’s campaign promises which actually drove voters to him were generally deceptive. Many people were screaming from the rooftops about his duplicity and the intentional masking of his radical agenda, but as predicted, they were labeled “racists”, “rednecks”, “kooks”, “right-wing extremists”, or were blamed for “McCarthyism.” Obama’s defenders refused to believe that he would raise taxes on anyone other than the “super-rich” or that he would exponentially increase our deficits. Some even claimed – quite absurdly – that he was a fiscal conservative.

However, today we know that much of what Obama stated about his agenda was a lie. And most Americans didn’t sign up for that. Most of the poor saps that voted for him wanted change. Well, now they’re finally starting to see it.

Scott Brown’s election to the U.S. Senate is a staggering blow to the Obama administration’s agenda. It complicates all of the legislation that was planned for the next few years, including health care, cap-and-trade, immigration, and education “reforms.” How we go forward from here is up to the still Democrat-majority Congress. What will they do? How will they interpret these last few losses?

The White House and congressional leaders claim that this latest election will not change their course on health care. Does this mean that they will further defy the People through unseemly tactics and political maneuvers? If committing political suicide is acceptable to them in order to pass game-changing legislation, then they may be well on their way to legislating themselves out of office in November. The citizenry is speaking quite loudly about not wanting Congress’ version of health care reform, which is awful at best. In order to be passed, good legislation does not require bribery of politicians, shutting down or shutting out debate, number games with costs and coverage, and political maneuvers evocative of 20th century tyrannical regimes.

We the People are not buying it and voters are making that very clear – especially in states where Democrat voters outnumber Republicans. But as of right now, Democrats don’t appear to want to acknowledge it. The Party seems to be falling out of favor with the public in record time.

Nevertheless, the question remains: Will Democrats reverse course to save their political careers, or will they do everything in their power to fundamentally change the structure of our economy and government while they still hold large congressional majorities and the White House? Will they continue to fight for their longstanding “progressive” agenda and risk their political livelihood, or will they temporarily reconcile with the American People and sacrifice Obama to what will inevitably be a one-term presidency anyway?

Scott Brown’s election may have prevented a filibuster-proof Democrat majority in the Senate, but this is just the beginning. The battle against expansive and oppressive government is far from over.

Copyright © 2009 by RationalLiberty.com

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