Susan and I sat glued to the election coverage last night, and when they called it for Republican State Senator Scott Brown, I was literally jumping up and down and fist-pumping. It hurt my bad ankle like hell to do it, but I did it anyway. I just
had to.
For those of you not in the loop, Brown won the US Senate seat formerly occupied by the expansive buttocks of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy in a Special Election yesterday. For conservatives in the Bluest of Blue states, this was historic! The last time a Republican won an election for US Senate in Tax-a-chusetts was 1972! That means that for all of my adult life, until last night, I've felt like my vote was useless. Like a blind man who can suddenly see, the voters finally woke up and decided they were sick of corrupt, one-party rule. Once again, we all have a choice.
Long-time readers know my leaning to the right all too well, and perhaps more than they'd care to. I've tried to lay off the political pulpit here and keep my focus on all things Harley, but an event like this just has to be mentioned. For years, like blind mice, people here would methodically check off the "D," seemingly ambivalent to either issues or candidates. In 1972, Massachusetts was the only state that voted for George McGovern over Richard Nixon. Before Nixon went to China, a reporter once asked him if he'd ever visted a Communist country before. His response was, "...just one....Massachusetts." He wasn't exaggerating either.
In 1984, I proudly stepped into the voting booth for my first time, and cast my ballot for Ronald Reagan. Even though I was only a teenager during the disaster that was the Carter presidency, I saw American pride reduced to the lowest of lows. I saw folks like my parents, who didn't make a lot of money, struggle through the recession back then. They were truly of the "middle class," and I can tell you honestly, the Democrats never did a damned thing to help them. I never got a "reduced lunch" in school, which would've helped them. We never got anything we didn't work for, but we could always count on the Democrats for one thing as sure as the sun would rise: higher taxes.
For the life of me, I still will never understand anyone who votes to have more money taken out of their paycheck to become part of wasteful, out-of-control government spending. If there were only ONE issue that would decide my vote for any candidate it would be LESS TAXES. Reagan knew it, and his tax cuts created jobs and brought us out of recession. Lower taxes always stimulate consumer spending and confidence. Obama inherited the same nightmare economy from Bush that Reagan got from Carter. The difference is instead of cutting taxes and creating jobs, Saint Barack wants to ram socialized medicine down our throats, costs be damned.
Scott Brown's election is in fact, a referendum on Obamacare. The majority of people don't want it. They know that it will only increase the costs and limit the services to people already struggling to pay for the insurance they do have. Until yesterday, Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress was determined to pass Ted Kennedy's "legacy," whether the people liked it or not. As the 41st Republican Senator, Scott Brown can and will stop it dead in its tracks. He wants folks to have health care, don't get me wrong, but not the "one-size-fits-all" type of plan the Democrats are pushing.
Yesterday, Obamacare was inevitable. We were on the cusp of moving further away from Democracy and closer to Socialism like a runaway freight train, with no hope of stopping it.
Today, we have a choice...
