Americans are mad as hell and they aren’t going to take it anymore. Especially angry is the great unwashed-and-ignored middle of the political spectrum, all those folks who were left behind when the GOP fled right and the Dems stampeded left. The middle-of-the-road, the common sense, the bipartisan, the all-things-in-moderation crowd finally had a chance to make themselves heard. And man did they howl!
Today in Massachusetts, Republican Scott (“Who?”) Brown, riding a wave of independent support (more than 50% of the state’s voters are registered independents), won Ted Kennedy’s vacated Senate seat. Unthinkable just a few months ago. Brown promptly declared Kennedy’s seat “the people’s seat,” fully aware that his was not just a Republican victory.
Are you listening, Washington? Your two polarized parties are soon to feel the full fury of “the rest of us” out here in the political center of America. The mainstream, where the non-Washingtonians live. But while you’re anticipating that, have fun trying to figure out what to do now about health care reform.
Here’s the problem. People have talked about the rise of independents and centrists and everything else for decades. But it never amounts to anything substantial. Come election day, people still tend to vote the same way unless there’s a real reason not to, and I just don’t see that changing.
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Well, for starters, the independents decided the Massachusetts Senate race. They make up 51% of the registered voters in that state. Here in Colorado independents make up about 1/3 of the electorate. I don’t see a viable third party yet, but when that many voters decide to disassociate themselves from the two major parties, those parties have to pay attention.
(Or maybe I’m just one more delusional independent voter … )