The media, mainstream and otherwise, are enthralled over former Republican State Senator Scott Brown’s victory over his Democratic rival, Massachusetts’ liberal Attorney General Martha Coakley, in securing the Senate seat vacated by the late, iconic fixture Teddy Kennedy.  Unsurprisingly, the GOP is energized and the Democrats overwrought by this unexpected turn of events.

But Brown’s win is not likely to foreshadow any a sea-change in American politics.  Just as President Barack Obama’s campaign promises of a new era of transparency, an end to earmarks for pet projects, and no tax increases for those earning less than $250,000, those promises turned out to be the kind of propaganda anybody with a functioning brain knew they would be, Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts will not result in a massive return to constitutional principles.

Even if Brown were totally sincere about a return to constitutional ideals — his pro-choice views and support, in theory, for increased government control over medicine notwithstanding — the problem is that America’s entrenched government bureaucracy has gone over to the dark side. It is filled to overflowing with liberal-leftists. Any career constitutionalist bureaucrat is a pariah who will not be promoted, no matter who is running the Administration. That fact is not likely to change, for a variety of reasons, among them:

• Government employee unionization, which leans left;
   
• The double-standard applied to political correctness, vis-à-vis liberals and conservatives (the difference between Harry Reid’s gaffe concerning candidate Obama’s “light skin” and lack of “Negro dialect” compared to Trent Lott’s oblique racial allusion at the late Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party is but the latest example);
   
• Political appointees overseeing agencies and increasing staffs of liberal new-hires (as opposed to conservative appointees who commit to slowing growth and decreasing staff, thus in this case handing the liberal-left the advantage);
   
• Ongoing conservative whine-fests, as opposed to bold, new initiatives to address the nation’s problems;
   
• A liberal-left Governor’s Association, from which many candidates emerge and from which state counterparts to federal legislation are spawned;
   
• Mandatory workshops for government-employees typically aimed at promoting political correctness;
   
• A government culture that recruits and trains “change agents,” mostly aimed at ensuring a liberal-left status quo among citizens’ groups (“stakeholders”) and state and local affiliate organizations (e.g., police and sheriff’s departments, state education agencies, child protection service agencies, immigration offices, etc., all of which have counterparts in federal agencies and receive money from them);
   
• Public education and teacher-training systems that have aggressively promoted Marxist socialism for some 40 years, coupled to the people’s failure to retain substantive knowledge that at least embodied a few key contributions and ideas that eventually led to cherished American virtues. (How many parents or teachers, for example, can recite, off the top of their head, anything noteworthy about staples of our culture that everyone once knew: philosophers Aristotle, Disraeli, Sir Thomas Hobbes and the authors of the Federalist papers; artists Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, Bonnard, Manet, Monet, Degas, Van Gogh, Sisley and Cézanne; or literary greats like William Makepeace Thackery,  Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Browning, Oscar Wilde, Cicero, Emily Brontë and Honoré de Balzac, to name just a few?);
   
• Failure of traditionalists and constitutionalists to insistently preserve American ideals in the media, coupled to the leftist media’s expansion and near-takeover of entertainment and news. (Why did we not place key constitutionalist advocates on the Boards of some of these organizations?);
   
• Public acceptance of appeasement and non-confrontation across-the-board (also known as “working within the system,” even when it’s rotten); and,

• Ignorance concerning the elements of real debate (most people believe debate to be a contest of memorized note-cards, bereft of any technique or understanding).

It is obviously a little late to recapture any of the above, much less re-institutionalize those things that were once considered part and parcel of “the public welfare,” political appointments being just one part.

Yes, there are pockets here and there of good sense and real intellectual prowess, a few examples being found among the Tea-Partiers, homeschoolers and readers of this Website. 

But how many are we?  Are we too few, too late?


Beverly K. Eakman is a former educator and retired federal employee who served as speechwriter for the heads of three government agencies and as editor-in-chief of NASA’s newspaper at the Johnson Space Center.  Today, she is a Washington, DC-based freelance writer, the author of five books, and a frequent keynote speaker. Her most recent book is Walking Targets: How Our Psychologized Classrooms Are Producing a Nation of Sitting Ducks (Midnight Whistler Publishers).

 

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Lee Gonzales said:

When we win our numbers will still be small Ms Eakman, I agree that there isn't much of an ideological devide between Scott Brown the winner of last night's race with "liberal " Democrat Coakley, but the winner - Brown- won despite the 3 to 1 margin of Dems to Repubs. A minority of voters put him in the US Senate. Those voters who took the time to go to the polls pulled off a win. The majority stayed at home. That is what we have to keep in mind as we carry on our crusade to restore the Constitutional republic - it can be done with a tiny but determined minority. Many others have despaired at our small numbers but we have to realize that those small numbers can grow to the point that we can gain those necessary numbers and the money to get the job done.

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January 20, 2010
Votes: +10

Charleston Voice said:

Biographical Sketches of the Left Yes, Ms. Eakman has it nailed! Before you get all gooey and wet, understand that Brown's election will mean some form of government national healthcare will be passed. The Republicans have no problem legislating laws which are un-Constitutional. Their mission is not assuring FedGov obedience to the Rule of Law, but advancing totalitarian agendas of their own. Until Americans understand and know their own rulebook, our enemies will continue to stomp on our liberties. The GOP, like the Democrats, are parties without principled and honorable leaderships. You know that. Then why do you get all fired up accepting another stooge into the Klan? You know the “lesser-of-two-evils” strategy didn’t work. Been there, done that. Get a grip on your sensibilities and common sense. The idea is to find and elect those who are genuinely principled from the gitgo. Sarah Palin expressed delight to Beck by pointing out that she thought McCain and the GOP leadership were hearing the Tea Parties. That comment gives real meaning to me on Republican Party strategy which will fail to achieve lost liberties. WE DO NOT WANT A LEADERSHIP THAT WILL WHIPSAW IDEOLOGICALLY TO GET ELECTED by a fickle populist electorate. It’s not unlike a drunk who’s staggered through his whole life, and now promising to redeem himself by only getting drunk on the weekends. Ponder a moment and ask yourself that if whom we elect to represent us have such little respect for our Constitution, what their personal lives must be living by the Ten Commandments! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am using the Free version of SPAMfighter. We are a community of 6 million users fighting spam. SPAMfighter has removed 71570 of my spam emails to date. The Professional version does not have this message.

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January 20, 2010 | url
Votes: +5

DDW said:

	Just remember God has always used small remnants to confound the "great", the "wise" and the "powerful". It's not over yet. I was beginning to think it was; I was wrong. Those who would rule, who are as arrogant and smarmy as the current bunch, reach a point where they think themsleves invincible. That is precisely when they can be defeated. WAKE UP AMERICA, WAKE UP!!!
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January 20, 2010
Votes: +8

mutantcoil said:

	"We're past campaign mode" Sen-Elect Scott Brown (R) held a news conference to discuss his victory. Watch @ 5:15 minutes. "We're past campaign mode. I think it's important for everyone to get some form of health care. So, to offer a basic plan for everybody, I think is important." http://c-span.org/Watch/Media/2010/01/20/HP/R/28644/Republican Scott Brown wins MA Senate Seat.aspx
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January 21, 2010
Votes: +3

Michael Jiroch said:

Scott Brown's Victory mean little to nothing at all. He may have had an ideology that he campaigned with, and then there is moving into the D.C. beltway, which turns even the best of men (women) into complete whores. Too many times the American people have banked a man with well intentioned good beliefs only to be let down time and time again. Just look at Obama. I no long have faith in the federal gov't. to do the right thing for the people, no matter what party they represent. So, please commentators on all networks and editors across the nation. Give it rest, already. He will be swallowed up by the Political machine and spit out like all the rest.

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January 21, 2010 | url
Votes: +2

Lee Gonzales said:

	The point is to "NOT give it a rest" We should not think that Congressmen and Senators can't be elected unless they tow the establishment line. Look at Ron Paul and look at the pressure that his supporters put upon Congress to back his bill to audit the Fed. Imagine 10 more like him. If you can't then why are you in this fight?
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January 21, 2010
Votes: +5

William Bradford Dean said:

Stop Complaining We have finally won a victory against the Axis of Evil--Morocco Bama/Pelosi/Reid--and all you can do is look at the negatives. Of course Senator Brown isn't going to fix anything now or in the future--but at least he derailed the above named traitors in both houses to the point where other politicians of both parties are going to start reneging on their slavish worship of these three weasels. Give thanks that we won a small victory--in the great scheme of things our Nation will come out ahead. And by "We" I don't mean Republicans. They are as bad as the Democrats. If the Dems. are the party of corruption and crime, the Reps. are the party of enablers and cowards--they have been looking the other way for too long. I was a Republican since Goldwater/Johnson in 1964. Now I am a happy Independent. Both parties can kiss my a**!

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January 21, 2010
Votes: +3

Lee Gonzales said:

Glad Brown won? Yes, but.... I would have liked to have seen the lesser known Independent candidate Joe Kennedy win. But for goodness sakes I am glad Brown beat Coakley. Let's be realists, the guy Brown just keeps saying at every interview that he still wants government run healthcare. He tells us he doesn't like the Pelosi-Reid -Obama " type, but he voted for socialized medicine in Massachusetts. How good can he possibly be? What was Edward Kennedy's lament when Nixon offered his version of government-run health care? He said that he should have supported it Nixon's version of government health care. We'll see how Republican "independent" Senators fromMaine Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins do to help the "Pelosi-Reid-Obama" trio of economy wreakers. Maybe Brown will show his true colors sooner than you think.

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January 21, 2010
Votes: +1

Lee Gonzales said:

Start the campaign now to knock Kerry out of his Senate seat Everyone who pays the least bit of attention to the political scene understands the situation in Massachusetts. It wasn't dubbed "the People's republic of Massachusetts for nothing." But even Taxachusetts isn't beyond seeing a Constitutionalist elected to the US Senate someday. Joe Kennedy can start campaigning for Kerry's seat. Maybe this time he'll get more people to help him out. Meantime outwest McCain has teamed up with Shawn Hannity's type of "conservative" -former Alaska Governor Palin to return that RINO to Congress for another 6 years. Why isn't she out campaigning for Chris Simcox? I point these things out to bring you Republican cheerleaders down to earth.

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January 21, 2010
Votes: +2

Pat Henry said:

snatching defeat from the jaws of victory In this case, I disagree with the post. While one man's victory is small in numbers, I believe it CAN indeed portend victory for Constitutionalists. It DOES, in fact. Don't try to prove me wrong! Let's speak and act for momentum. This is the year for Change. True change! Just as the high priest prophesied (not knowing it), so the current "king's" heart was turned and will be turned like courses of water. Only prayer and real effort on the ground will make the difference (not sitting back spectating). CHARGE!

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January 22, 2010
Votes: +2

Libertyprevails said:

I beg to disagree, we sent a message.... While it is true, we don't really know if Scott Brown will follow through on his promises, understand this victory for what it truly is. This was a DIRECT message to the radical liberals of our government that we will not tolerate the socialism being shoved down our throats. It is NEVER too late to stand up against the corruption of our Country and Constitution. We The People must rekindle our heritage of Together We Stand, Dived We Fall and In God We Trust. This is the foundation of our Country and it's up to us, the Patriots, to RESTORE THE ROOTS of our Nation.

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January 31, 2010
Votes: +0