Election Musings

Unless you've been harvesting the Moon's organic crops in the last 24 hours, you've heard that my home state elected a previously little known state level politician, a Repulican, to the seat held for so very long by our beloved Ted Kennedy. This morning, my Faceplace feed was full of hatred and vitriol from many, many who are looking at this race from outside the state. They wail and rail at all of us "Massholes" (a term which certainly applies to our city driving techniques, but it's like calling someone's sister an idiot because you've heard them do it. It's ok to call one's own sister an idiot, but you're offended when someone else does it) for "destroying" health care and civil rights by electing this man. Well, I'm an educated, socially liberal woman who votes in MA and though undeclared, aligns herself with the Democrats at every opportunity. Sure, I'm concerned that perhaps my state has made the wrong choice, but I understand why it happened.

I'm sorry indeed that Democrats from out of state have lumped the entire population of this state together as architects of evil because of the approximately 1.2 million voters who expressed disappointment in the current agenda. Perhaps they should be angry with the more than 1.5 million voters who didn't turn out at all. Perhaps they also need to understand that voters in MA had an opportunity to make a statement about the direction of the Democratic party, and they did. You might not like it, you might not approve, but you should recognize that it means the need to re-energize the Democratic party, and rethink some of the agenda.

Perhaps Brown will block the current health care bill. I'm philosophically a Democrat, and I'm ok with that. We desperately need health care reform, we don't necessarily need this health care bill. On most other matters, he will be the most junior gentleman on the Senate, and he will be up for election again at the end of Senator Kennedy's original term in 2012. He needs to stay open to the voices of all MA voters if he wants to hold his seat. I think that will keep him moderate. I don't think he's single-handedly going to change existing policies or create legislation that will drive us backward on a social or civil level.

Here's what I'm asking the Democratic party to do: start listening to all of us, even the moderates, embrace some fiscal responsibility, and keep on pushing for civil rights and equality. Give me a candidate that really inspires me. Give me someone I can identify with. Give me someone I'm psyched to elect, not just someone I feel the need to elect in order to protect a party designation.

I'd like to remind everyone that we in MA passed same sex marriage first, and that, for what it's worth, (and where I'm sitting, it's not entirely comfortable) we passed mandatory health insurance legislation more than a year ago. We still have a senior Senator who's a Democrat.

And for those of you who will hate on Scott Brown for his 80's Cosmo spread, remember that we Democrats would be appalled if people criticized a woman who had modeled in her past and now wanted a political career. It's so irrelevant. Also remember that we loved Teddy, but he had a checkered past, too.

Now stop hating me on Faceplace because of where I live, and use your outrage for all of our good. I'll be back with renovation updates, recipes, and the usual drivel tomorrow.