You may be Right

As the great philosopher Billy Joel said, "You may be right, I may be crazy, but it just might be a lunatic you're looking for..."

It is interesting to see all the reactions to the Scott Brown victory over Martha Coakley on Tuesday. Some disappointed Democrats are pouncing on Ms Coakley for her supposed failures. Elsewhere, Starry eyed Liberals are ranting on their Facebook pages that the Massachusetts Redneck truck drivers voted against homeless orphans getting health care coverage. (I guess these were the same Rednecks who voted for Deval Patrick and Barack Obama). Local Conservative talk show hosts are gloating and taking credit for mobilizing their listeners to produce the sudden last minute surge for Brown.

Of all the analyses, I think Brown himself nailed the reason for his victory: People are fed-up with the status quo. So fed-up that they were willing to vote for a guy that most of us would label Conservative. I say most of us, because my favorite Conservative (George) worries that Brown might be a RINO (Republican in name only).
Another example of how we tend to see what we want to see?

My vote for Brown was directed at the current health care bill, which he has promised to vote against. I am not opposed to health care reform, I am against this "train wreck" of a plan, which would immediately increase the cost of health insurance for most working families an added 15-20% and give them less choice and less access. Not mention that NO one would get ANY benefit from this plan until 2014 for Crissakes!

I think we can do better. I am hoping that sending Mr Brown to D.C. as the messenger will help the Dems get rid of the special deals that have been written into the bill and focus on providing healthcare coverage to people who can't afford it.

By breaking the super majority in the Senate, Brown's election could serve the country well. Instead of maintaining a polarized status quo The Dems will have to seek common ground with Repubs to get anything done.

Maybe it's a little starry-eyed of me, but I'm hoping that the threat of getting thrown out of office will make our elected reps pay more attention to the voters and less attention to the special interests. Yeah, I know, You may be right...

But, the beauty of this vote is this: If we made a mistake, we can fix it in 2 years, when Brown comes up for election again.