According to Luke: A steady eye on the real issue
I’m sure many on the left side of the aisle were watching the election results from the Massachusetts special election Tuesday to replace Senator Ted Kennedy in dismay. For 40 years, Kennedy stood and fought for the people of Massachusetts as their senator. Before that his brother John, the other Kennedy, held the seat.
Most TV pundits and political experts are calling the election a referendum on President Obama. Many more are wondering how a seemingly decent and likable woman made such a bad candidate, and late night talk show personalities find it hilarious that the Democrats just lost to a man who modeled nude for Cosmopolitan magazine in the 1980’s. No doubt Republicans are happy that Democrats no longer have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and can no longer get their healthcare overhaul through on numbers alone.
Majorities, like victories, come and go. The Democrats dominated early 20th century politics for nearly 50 years. The “Solid South” earned its name because of it propensity to consistently vote for Democratic candidates. Our state of Florida used to be under solid Democratic control. The fact that the Republicans finally won a Senate seat in Massachusetts isn’t appalling, just unexpected. It’s part of the natural ebb and flow of American politics.
The thing I found more upsetting about the results Tuesday is the current state of our political system. What’s so bad about having one Republican and one Democratic senator? I’m positive not everyone in the state of Massachusetts is a Democrat. It should really be the same way in Washington. Nowadays whenever one party gets a majority, they use it to shove their agenda down the throats of the opposing party. Equal representation has turned into a race to the majority. The losers are the American people.
It’s a shame that Democrats can’t pass comprehensive healthcare reform without 60 votes to stop a filibuster. As backroom deals are cut and egos are massaged, 46 million Americans still don’t have healthcare. It’s a bigger shame that something as helpful and needed as healthcare reform is slowed down with the threat of a filibuster anyway.
I’m not ranking sins. Both parties are guilty.
Americans are now more deeply divided than ever. Elections are held for the purpose of getting more people than the other guy, and then the winners use that majority to put forth whatever agenda they want. Supporters of one group or party paint their opponents as unqualified at the very best and often as unmentionable vulgarities.
For all Ted Kennedy did for the American people, he did just as much for Republican fundraising. Republican’s have bragged about their fundraising under current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. After Joe Wilson shouted “You Lie” to President Obama he recorded massive fundraising gains, as did his opponent.
After the 1856 Presidential election, in which Democrat James Buchanan beat Whig John Charles Freemont, Abraham Lincoln said of his party’s defeat:
In the late contest we were divided between Freemont and Buchanan. Can we not come together in the future? Let bygones be bygones; let past differences be as nothing; and with steady eye on the real issue, let us re-inaugurate the good old ‘central ideas’ of the republic. We can do it. The human heart is with us; God is with us.”
People don’t talk – or act – like that anymore.
-Luke Inhen
(Photo credit.)
Add comment January 23rd, 2010
