A Picture Worth Thousands of Votes

Why did voters in Mass. put a centerfold Republican in the U.S.Senate?

photo:
http://www.kansascity.com/stargazing/story/1693812.html

However pretty the new senator, the answer is ugly. Selfishness motivated the voters. Charisma and a strong message, however stupid, won over the crucial 5% that determines most elections. Asked what he thinks made his win, Scott Brown replied, "Terror and Taxes." The Cheney message is alive and well. And our democracy is sick.

Obama credited anger and frustration, the same feelings that put him in office, as the cause. What does that mean? Simple; it means that people vote for change without even understanding what the change proposed is. Did not Obama promise us universal health care? Then why do those who voted for him no longer want it?

Remember, Mass. has universal health care already. Scott Brown, a state senator in 2006, voted FOR it. This is part of the selfishness of this vote. Many seniors over 65 have medicare and are opposed to universal health care for the same reason. It is the miserly elitism of the populace, holding on to slight advantages over others, that motivates the electorate, not any supposed elitism of Congress.

To a degree, these sorts of mass swings of political position are a type of insanity, the mass insanity of tea baggers, for instance,  that will elect Republicans who are nothing more than the pets, the barking dogs, of special interests-- the insurance industry, the oil companies, big pharmaceuticals, the rich and powerful who would not lift a finger to feed or give aid to the impoverished right wingers who support them. Plato said it long ago, in a democracy any ass can walk the streets proclaiming his position as the best. Popularity and charisma win people over, while selfishness, often misguided,  trumps knowledge, goodness, and wisdom.

Jack Miller
1/20/10