This past Tuesday, the voters of Massachusetts voted in a special election, electing Scott Brown, to fill the seat vacated when Ted Kennedy passed away last Summer. We’re told that this was a “victory for liberty” and somehow the election of a big government Republican will send a message to the Democrats in Washington.
First, the New York Times, bought into the hype by claiming, “Mr. Brown is running directly against the health care plan, and Ms. Coakley is standing by it. Should Mr. Brown win, it would undercut assurances Mr. Obama has been offering nervous Democrats that health care will ultimately lift them at the polls. “This is Ted Kennedy’s state — why can any Republican be competitive here?” asked Dick Armey, a former congressman who leads a conservative grass-roots organization that has been active on behalf of Mr. Brown. “The reason is health care.”
Now, former Republican turned Libertarian politician Wayne Allyn Root claims, “This was NOT a Republican victory. Those who think it is are sadly mistaken. Just as Obama’s victory was misunderstood from day one- it was never a vote for Obama and the Democrats. It was a vote against Bush. Scott Brown’s victory was a vote for conservative fiscal principles…against universal healthcare….against bigger government…against socialism…and against Obama.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. When Brown was in the Massachusetts Legislature he:
—Opposed a ballot proposition cutting the state income tax
—Voted for Romney-care, more taxes & more government control
—Has never proposed abolishing even one tiny Big Brother program.
The election of Scott Brown was NOT a “victory for liberty”, it was a lateral move that supported the status quo and the Republicratic Duopoly. As one reader of Independent Political Report commented, “The 1% of Massachusetts voters who voted yesterday for Joe Kennedy are the ones who actually voted in favor of the free market. Everyone else who voted in Massachusetts yesterday voted against the free market, whether they did so knowingly or not.”