The recent election of Scott Brown to the Senate seat that was held by Ted Kennedy has caused quite a stir among both parties. The Republicans are claiming a victory against Obama and liberal ideologies, while the Democrats are claiming that this has more to do with a poor campaign by Martha Coakley and co. The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in-between.

The people are obviously upset over the direction of our country. Many people are worried that we are too far in debt and that recent government expansion is equivalent to a Socialist take over. Some of these fears are legitimate criticisms and some are ignorant misconceptions brought about by hype, fear and a Republican propaganda machine.

The problem with the hype and fear created by the Republicans is that it has the possibility of ending reform that the United States needs in order to remain a country. Things like healthcare reform, education reform, financial reform and so forth. This includes increased spending for healthcare and education. We need to do this because the private sector has repeatedly failed at providing the services that the citizens have demanded.

It is clear that the people of Massachusetts do not want the death penalty, pro-life laws or the repeal of their universal healthcare system. In fact, many of their citizens love the universal healthcare system in Massachusetts. So, why the backlash against Coakley, the Kennedy’s and the Democrats?

Coakley ran a horrible campaign with insufficient support from the DNC. It is because of these problems that the current health care reform is threatened.

Paul Krugman wrote a piece entitled, “He Wasn’t The One We’ve Been Waiting For”

Here it is. You can see his blog by going to http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com

Health care reform — which is crucial for millions of Americans — hangs in the balance. Progressives are desperately in need of leadership; more specifically, House Democrats need to be told to pass the Senate bill, which isn’t what they wanted but is vastly better than nothing. And what we get from the great progressive hope, the man who was offering hope and change, is this:

I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements of the package that people agree on. We know that we need insurance reform, that the health insurance companies are taking advantage of people. We know that we have to have some form of cost containment because if we don’t, then our budgets are going to blow up and we know that small businesses are going to need help so that they can provide health insurance to their families. Those are the core, some of the core elements of, to this bill. Now I think there’s some things in there that people don’t like and legitimately don’t like.

In short, “Run away, run away”!

Maybe House Democrats can pull this out, even with a gaping hole in White House leadership. Barney Frank seems to have thought better of his initial defeatism. But I have to say, I’m pretty close to giving up on Mr. Obama, who seems determined to confirm every doubt I and others ever had about whether he was ready to fight for what his supporters believed in.

I think Krugman, along with many other pundits and wonks, are failing to see the long-term implications of this election. Yes, in the short term it is going to impede the Democrats ability to pass legislation.

However, what we are going to see now is either a passing of the Senate version, which I doubt will happen. Or, a series of smaller bills that will target specific aspects of the enormous healthcare bill. We will see bills designed to end pre-existing conditions and that will probably be about it.

What we won’t see is a single payer plan with a government option or co-op option. We won’t see an end to for-profit health insurance and we will not be able to negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceuticals or import drugs from Canada. But this does not mean we won’t see these things happen in the next few years.

The healthcare crisis in the United States is about to hit new highs. State governments cannot pay for the services they provide, so they no longer provide those services. We will continue to see a rise in unemployment, a decrease in funding and a call for leadership (Republicans) that won’t do anything to fix the problems. Insurers are about to get even stricter with their pre-existing conditions and their rates will also continue to climb by about 15% every year. Which means a lot of businesses will choose to no longer offer healthcare, in fact this may become the norm in the United States in a few years.

The Republicans are great at offering a voice of opposition. They can rally people together and stand against just about anything. But, when it comes time for new ideas or solid leadership they crumble and wilt away. What the Republicans have done in the past is increase our debt to records highs, both Bush’s and Reagan managed to do this. We have seen our military spending escalate out of control and become a much larger burden on our great country then universal healthcare would ever be.

We have seen erosion of our rights and an increase in government via homeland security, illegal wiretaps, bases overseas, control over media and in may other facets of our lives. This is due to a Republican Presidency.

So, the Democrats are now trying to take control over an economy that has grown wild since the Republicans stopped regulation. They are trying to reign in excessive spending, while trying to stop the collapse of the world’s largest economy. They have done a great job. We are now even seeing a profit being made from the bank bailouts.

We can all agree that our country is in FUBAR territory. We must act accordingly to make sure we can maintain our democracy and the service that we all expect. The Scott Brown campaign did a great job of seizing the moment against a lazy and ineffectual Coakley campaign. This point should not be missed. But, the Democrats are not in a losing mode just yet.

Howard Dean in a video on MSNBC has said that this is a wake-up call. There is still time for the Democrats to readjust their message and to maintain their stance on the issues that matter to accomplish reform. The people gave Obama a mandate and they still yearn for this change. The job now is for the Democrats to re-convince the American people that they are the best people for the job.

Video of Howard Dean: The Message of Massachusetts Election Results Is ‘We Gotta Be Tougher’ http://bit.ly/7h6Z3H

If you like this article; check out these ones too!

The Meaningless Gubernatorial Elections of 2009. http://bit.ly/4vxegZ

Who’s to Blame? http://bit.ly/6Y2abF

Scott Brown and Martha Coakley on the issues. http://bit.ly/8P5Kl3

EUtimes.net: Impending Civil War in US http://bit.ly/7sKzCE

Related posts:

1. Fanatical and Ignorant
2. Franken becoming Dems Future Leader?
3. Scott Brown and Martha Coakley on the issues.
4. Fishing for Reform
5. Health Care FTW!