One cheer for Mr. Brown!

The election results coming out of Massachusetts has been greeted by many in the liberty movement with great joy. Mr. Brown’s victory has been heralded as the turning point in American Politics and at least one prominent magazine declared that his victory was the signal for our nation’s “return to conservatism”. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to catch the enthusiasm that some in the liberty movement have over this election. And the reasons are simple, the real losers of this election is the liberty movement.

First of all, let me say “one cheer for Scott Brown.” Yes, his election creates the 41st vote which allows for a potential filibuster relative to the Democrats’ health care plan. Though in practice, the door remains open for an attempt push through by parliamentary procedure. So his election is not a total loss. However, that is as far as I am willing to go. Nothing coming out of this campaign indicates that Mr. Brown will serve to stop corporate bailouts, a run away fed, governmental violations of our civil liberties, an imperialist foreign policy, or big government in general.

The underlying reality is that Mr. Brown’s positions and voting record hardly leads me to think that he will challenge the status quo of statism in Washington nor will the individual liberties (personal and economic) of the average American find a spokesperson in him. Mr. Brown’s platform consists of statist proposals and federal involvement in local issues. His foreign policy is more of the same. He is almost totally silent on issues of individual liberty. Mr. Brown is hardly a fair representation of the liberty movement nor can his vote be considered an advance for the movement.

There are those on the tea party and liberty blogs who claim that we had to vote for Brown, regardless of his flaws, because the Democrats would continue down the road to disaster. Again, besides the health care issue, what makes any of them think that anything will change? And I have to ask, “if we can’t vote our conscience and our ideals in an important election, when can we?” Finally, “when will there be an election that this claimed state of emergency doesn’t exists?”

For the establishment GOP the answer is simple. We will always have to vote our fears and we will always be one election away from disaster if we don’t vote for them. One would think that after decades of this rather worn-out, and shallow argument, people would begin to realize that nothing will change until change is forced upon the establishment. A good example of when people vote their beliefs, not their fears is the recent election in New York, where a third party candidate almost pulled out a victory against his establishment opponent. And why did the status quo candidate win, because her GOP counterpart endorsed her!

Following the election in Massachusetts, I happen to be watching MSNBC, who were sent reeling by the results. During their extensive coverage, a series of polls were put up on the screen. The numbers they quoted should be a real source of encouragement for the liberty movement.

In part, these polls showed that both Democrats and Republics in Washington has a negativity ratings in the 60% range. That two-thirds of the public felt that the nation was still going in the wrong direction. That Obama’s approval numbers slipped below 50%. If anything, there numbers clearly indicate that people are tired of the status quo, the so-called “two-party” system, and the on-going neo-con and neo-lib agendas dominating Washington. They voted for change in November, 2008 and still want it despite their huge disappointment with Obama.

So how do we give them the change they want? Well, you don’t start by compromising your beliefs to vote for the status quo. You start by getting the message out their that we have a vision of change. A vision that includes individual and economic liberty, fiscal responsibility, limited constitutional government, and a non-interventionist foreign policy. We locate and support candidates how embrace this message, not because it is politically expedient, but because they too have that vision. We demand more from the parties and not simply take their sad knock-offs as “our only choice”. We use each campaign as an opportunity to challenge the statist and proponents of the status quo. Hold their pathetic records and poor planning up to the ridicule they deserve. Finally, we recognize that change will take time and won’t come out of Washington and the other halls of power, but will arise from our communities. When the people no longer compromise their beliefs for the vain hope of temporary gain, that is when change will happen. Until then, let us not labor under the delusion that a single election will somehow stop the ruling elitist and the big government plans.