A new poll commissioned by the Washington Post expresses the attitudes of Massachusetts voters, which led them to elect Scott Brown, the Republican nominee, to the US Senate vacancy created by the death of Ted Kennedy.
According to the poll, frustration with the direction of the government, dissatisfaction with the health care plan of the Obama Administration, and opposition to federal government activism motivated their vote in the special election.
This is very interesting, as it demonstrates just how confused and stressed so many people are these days, not only in Massachusetts but throughout the nation. We are in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the 1930s, and millions of Americans are being badly hurt by loss of employment, homes, and most important of all, what all people need: a sense of security!
People were angry in 2008 at the Bush Administration and voted the GOP out of power in Congress even two years earlier than the repudiation of the Republican presidential candidate, John McCain. Now they are furious because Barack Obama has not had a magic potion to solve the myriad of problems that people face on a daily basis, so they struck out against the Democratic nominee and by implication, the Obama Administration.
In 2008, the American people wanted a movement toward regulation and government activism, but now they seem, by this state poll, to repudiate it!
But do the American people really want us to go back to the era of Bush, the GOP and sweetheart relations with big business and the banking industry and the corporate world?
Or is it rather that they may vote the Democrats out as the scapegoats, put the GOP back in, and then throw the rascals out again when they realize the Republicans have absolutely NO solution to the economic problems we face?
In other words, the American people seem to think Rome was built in a day, as the saying goes. They are unwilling to give any person or party a decent chance to resolve issues, and instead are like children who want what they want NOW, not later. There is no desire to accept delayed gratification.
And as far as Massachusetts disliking the health care plan, the explanation is clear. Due to Republican Governor Mitt Romney, Massachusetts in 2006 adopted a statewide health care plan which covers 98% of the people, more than any other state, so why should citizens of Massachusetts be enthused by a plan they do not need?
And unfortunately, the ultimate reality is that a vast majority of people cannot have empathy or concern for people they do not know, so the fact that 45 million or more Americans do not have health care does not concern them, because after all, they have health care, so who cares about others? Only if they actually know someone in that reality of lacking health care might they feel some concern, but then again, think of the money they are saving and then put the idea to bed and dismiss it from their mind.
Conclusion is that the sense of “We”, rather than “Me”, still dominates the American psyche, partly by human nature, but a lot of it by the promotion of “Me” since the advent of conservatism under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. And also, finally, we are in for a long period of back and forth support of both political parties, as nothing that either party does or represents is bound, it seems, to keep public support for long. We are, indeed, in a deep period of crisis on a massive scale. The American spirit of optimism is GONE, for a long time, tragically! 🙁