Massachusetts has not elected a Republican to the Senate sine 1972. I suspect today will not be the start of a new trend.
Took me about 45 minutes to get over to Brighton today so I could cast my ballot. Chatted up the old lady running the registration list, who said voter turnout had been high and steady. In a state in which Democrats outnumber Republicans 3 to 1, that's a good sign for issues like health care, finance reform, clean energy, the right to family and the right to choose.
Mom asked me the other day if I was worried about one-party government. And I am. But on the same token, if the country has willed into being an imbalanced Senate, well, that's a reflection of current values, philosophies and priorities -- which will no doubt change soon enough. I'm not much for so-called "strategic" voting; while I certainly understand the value of two-party government (and would, quite frankly, prefer significantly greater diversity than that), it's not more important to me than having a representative in the Senate whose vote at least resembles my leanings.
I'm also worried about a minority party being able to derail the legislative process for the sake of being contrary. I'm not saying the current power dynamic is anything close to ideal. It would be intensely refreshing to see greater transparency and cooperation breathed into our consistently disappointing Congress. But a vote for Scott Brown wouldn't get us any closer to that.
Perhaps if I had seen a single bright idea come out of the Republican Party in the last year, I'd feel differently; but in my book, it's still the "Party of No" without any fresh alternatives to offer. While I would desperately like to see more bi-partisanism on Capitol Hill, the very nature of the concept requires two to tango -- and for as much as the Republicans have been "shut out" of the process, they've made twice the effort to pull that door closed themselves.
With any luck, the President can help restore our House Divided at the Republican Conference next week in Baltimore. Provided the idiots -- on both sides of the aisle -- will let him.
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