The World Turned Upside Down
The fifes and drums played a martial version of "The World Turned Upside Down" as General Cornwallis turned over his sword to General Washington. No one would ever believe that the colonies called America could ever separate themselves from Great Britain. The small defeating the mighty rarely happens in world politics. David and Goliath is a story that Americans revere because it is a metaphor...as a if we shared the same destiny.
Last night the fifes and drums were playing the same song in Massachusetts. The Commonwealth is a fitting location for this type of a story to play out. The most blue state in the Union, Massachusetts has a history of electing some of the most liberal politicians anywhere. Ted Kennedy, Barney Frank, not to mention Jerry Studs...but last night was not so much a repudiation of liberalism as it was a stand against tyranny. Voters sent a simple message to their leaders. You are not listening to us...do I have your attention now? They are also signaling that when they voted for change, they meant, putting an end to back room deals. Ending the corruption and performing their duties in the light of day was what they were promised and they damn well better get it!
It is important that the right message be taken from the results of the prior evening...Party is not why Scott Brown won. A powerful message coupled with his ability to listen to the voters of Massachusetts propelled him to what many thought was impossible...victory in the most blue state in the union. Anyone running for office in the near future should pay attention to the Brown campaign. He seemed to pay attention to the axiom many of our grand parents often repeated...you have two ears and one mouth, use them accordingly!
Perhaps hope and change can happen in the near future. It certainly means a rapid change in how our representatives behave on our behalf! In Scott Brown they have a good example. While we watch what happens next, I can't help but feel that hope is spreading in Massachusetts and if it is contagious perhaps the rest of us will be infected.
Thanks Senator Brown for rekindling that spark!
WOW
On this we agree...people who voted for the president were looking for true hope and change. They wanted more open government, true health care reform, and a solution to the economic problems facing our country. Instead they received leadership that arrogantly squandered the good will...and the hope that things could change.
We disagree on many things... but on this I think we agree. Obama needs to deliver on his promises, he needs to work with all of the people's representation to achieve his goals. While I do not support many of the presidents solutions, it does not diminish the fact that he does understand we have problems.
True leaders rise to that challenge by finding solutions, even if they are not his idea! I am a conservative, god fearing, gun owner, and can agree with your assessment of the democrat party and our president!
BAH!
And how long do you think before the good people who elected Mr. Brown become irritated and disillusioned by him as well. We live in an age where we expect, nay, DEMAND immediate action and resolution. It's been what? Years? Decades? Centuries? that the health care system has been a mess and we expect our fearful leaders to fix it in 12 months (then we are scared witless because they appear to be shoving reform through the political process too fast)? Or we think unemployment and a poor economy are going to recover overnight? Get over yourselves!
The problem is that we have these people who run for office who think they are going to be the ones to "bring change" (and most of them probably mean it at first), instead the political machine chews them up, spits them out and the faithful American public use what is left to fertilize their begonias. What we really should be doing is patching them up like a Rocky Balboa and sending them back in to keep up the good fight.
It never takes long for a hero to become a zero in Washington. What would really impress me would be to see a zero become a hero and really save the democracy our forefathers envisioned (or at least what we've been told they envisioned).
Good points, All..
I too was excited by Senator Brown's election. I figured Pigs would fly out of my arse before I'd see this kind of upset in Massachusetts. I believe it gives a real sign for the pulse of middle America. Many are waking up and finally realize that something is just not right here.. Hey wait, these criminals are ransacking my house and stealing from me!!! Well, WELCOME to consciousness people!
Good points All, but seriously: the sad truth is so many of us are looking for a savior, looking for the Government, or someone to save us. Give us great health care, good food, good schools, safe neighborhoods, etc. blah, blah, blah I could go on all day. To hear people talk I cannot believe what they "expect" the Government to provide them. Pull yourself up and provide for yourself.
What so many short term memory Americans fail to realize realize is all these things must come from US!! No government will "save us" - we must do the responsible thing, work hard and save ourselves. It's easy to forget though, when the system rewards bad behavior.
We need to vote EVERY incumbent who is not fiscally responsible out EVERY time, EVERY election until these wing-nuts get it, you work for us. You pay attention to what the majority wants. You let the people vote, don't jam it down our throats without a voice.
Oh yeah, voters were so mad at Bush and Cheney they voted for a guy who echoes many of the Bush-Cheney policies. Gee, when I got in office, I realized we really ARE at war.. Hmmm.. Yep, that’s the kind of logic you get with a community organizer in charge of the country. Obama may be "Brilliant" but he still needs a teleprompter to speak to 3rd graders.
President Obama said Wednesday that the anger that elected Brown is the same anger that elected him. You’ll never get it, Barry!
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Vote 'em out, vote 'em all out. Give them a term to start improving things and being responsible, if they do not, vote them out again!
Anarchy now!
Yo Jehardy,
When I hear this pull yourself up by your own bootstraps macho sermonizing, it just gives me goose bumps all over, then I have to reach for a box of tissues.
I'm with you. We don't need no stinking gummint. Anarchy today, anarchy forever!
Shepherds are for sheep,
Infidel
It Falls On Us...
Hi Judy,
In the end you are correct, it falls on us. I am happy Scott Brown won his race in Massachusetts, but counting on any one person is setting yourself up for heartbreak! If we the voters do not hold these people accountable it will all be for naught!
For years we have been accepting lies, excuses, and betrayals from Washington. We overlook it when it's "our guy". We have to become resolute in throwing out those who do not keep their word, regardless of who's guy it is...we live in uncertain times, if this republic is going to survive, it must have a renaissance of people who put country first.
The question is where are they?
Bah, humbug!
I think you've hit the nail on its head, Terri. Our hero went to Washington and got chewed up, but I keep hoping that he'll remake himself, as I believe he it the brightest that we've had in a very long time.
But with this week's Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited spending by corporations in elections (I'll never understand how a corporation can be considered a person with all the rights of person), our democracy and representative form of government is history. America has become a fascist state, of the corporations, for the corporations, and by the corporations through and their well financed lackeys.
Not a Hero!
Michael...he was not elected to be a hero! He was elected to bring change to a government that the majority of Americans no longer supported. He was elected on promises to make government more open, more accountable...on this score...mission not even attempted. The players really haven't changed under Obama, in fact you might say that he has amplified on policies he claimed to despise under his predecessor.
America doesn't need a hero...it needs elected officials that keep their word, people who are beholden to the people that elected them. Obama may still be that guy...time will tell. While I do not support his policies, I will be among the first to recognize him, if he does in fact simply keep his word!
A poor choice of word on my
A poor choice of word on my part. I should have said, LEADER. And I agree, things have not changed, sadly. Too many of the horrible Bush/Cheney policies are still in affect, however, with an opposition party of no, it is almost impossible to make things change when they weld so much power through obstructionism. These are the fascists who support only more fascism, as witnessed by the recent supreme court decision. They have no ideas on how to solve our great problems, other than more of the same failed policies of the last 30 years.
Bush is Gone...
If President Obama does not make the changes he promised during his campaign, with control of the house and a clear majority in the Senate, then that failure rests with him. Obstructionism is an excuse...if the president wants change then he must be willing to compromise. All or nothing did not work even when he had a filibuster proof Senate.
His arguments were within his own party. Blaming Republicans might be fashionable propaganda, but as another famous democrat president once said "The buck stops here"!
True LEADERS don't make excuses!
Gotta say I agree with Scott
Gotta say I agree with Scott on this, Michael. The Democratic party is a disgrace to the people who elected them. This was apparent to me after the 2006 elections. That election was not about any hero, it was about people voting for a change in policy, and then getting shafted.
Losing Kennedy's Senate seat is, to me, a reflection of the pent up anger amongst the liberal base, not an embrace of the Republicans, in spite of what the elite conservative media tells us. This goes back to the Clinton years where he spent his tenure passing Republican programs. Obama is just another Clinton. No matter how much he sucks up to the conservative agenda, they will still call him a flaming liberal and then kick him in the teeth, and then go for a cup of tea.
If Obama is so smart, he should realize by now that he is going to get kicked in the teeth no matter what he does, so he might as well support the people who elected him, rather than the owners of the country. "Keep hope alive."
That's all folks,
Infidel
Yo Scott my friend, this was not, as I see it, a repudiation of liberalism, but a repudiation of the Democratic party. Liberal voters did not show up and who could blame them. The Dems have betrayed the people who voted for them since at least 2006.
The health care scam is a hideous sell out to the corporate elite. Obama is a disgrace to liberalism. He has put a hemi in Bush policy.
As a bleeding heart liberal atheist and gun owner, I am glad the Dems took one on the kisser. I wonder how long before they turn the other cheek. So sad.
Repent, the end is Rear.
Infidel