The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Union Rank-and-File in Massachusetts Deserted Democrats in Droves

Posted on | January 22, 2010 | 13 Comments

The Wall Street Journal today notes that Republican Scott Brown got more union votes than Martha Coakley. That would be big news if I hadn’t already reported a week ago that SEIU members were supporting Brown and if I hadn’t reported on Election Day that an AFSCME local official was supporting Brown.

The plural of anecdote is data, and with the help of Da Tech Guy, I got plenty of anecdotal evidence in Massachusetts of a massive blue-collar backlash against Coakley, Obama and the shove-it-down-our-throats approach to politics.

But it’s not just Massachusetts, it’s everywhere nowadays. People are tired of the “insider consensus.” They’re tired of experts and intellectuals and politicians who don’t seem to understand that “We The People” want meaningful input into the process of governance. Last year, I explained the concept of The Ordinary American:

The Ordinary American is not a journalist, a movie producer, an academic or a politician. News media, entertainment, education and politics are endeavors that shape public attitudes, and for this reason the elite have striven f or decades to exclude from those fields anyone who might dispute their consensus. . . .
Ordinary Americans may be Democrats or Republicans or neither. They may be gay or straight, black or white, Hispanic or Asian. They may be rich or poor, but most are somewhere in the broad middle. They don’t define themselves by the categories of ideology or identity politics that are so important to the elite.

Liberals just don’t seem to understand why Ordinary Americans are fed up with the Obama administration’s arrogant we-know-better-than-you type of governance. Here’s another anecdote: My buddy Chris Cassone — the “Take Our Country Back” singer — was talking to one of his liberal musician friends. When Chris said he was performing at a Tea Party rally, the friend said dismissively, “Did those people ever figure out what they’re so angry about?”

Of course, if you actually listen to Tea Party protesters, they’re quite specific about their grievances, especially the out-of-control deficit spending that is heaping debt on the heads of their children and grandchildren. This is why I despise yuppie NPR Republicans like David Brooks who use “populism” as a pejorative and turn up their noses at grassroots conservatives. These elitists are effectively urging the GOP not only to abandon the limited-government principles of Ronald Reagan, but also to abandon the kind of working-class voters who powered the Reagan Revolution.

Whether it’s moose-hunting Sarah Palin or truck-driving Scott Brown, voters will listen to a limited-government message if it is presented to them by an Ordinary American candidate who doesn’t talk down to them. In 2008, I dubbed this concept “Libertarian Populism,” and it’s the real secret of why the GOP is starting to get its mojo back.

SMALL GOVERNMENT = BIG VICTORIES

Category: Da Tech Guy, Election, Labor Unions, Massachusetts, SEIU, Tea Party, Uncategorized

Comments

13 Responses to “Union Rank-and-File in Massachusetts Deserted Democrats in Droves”

  1. Chuck Cross
    January 22nd, 2010 @ 4:12 pm

    Very well said.

    As a person that Irving Kristol (may he RIP) would describe as a “common person” as opposed to an intellectual like himself, it is enjoyable for me to see it “stuck” to the intellectuals when enough commoners like me get pissed off and toss a metaphorical monkey-wrench in their policy-shaping gears.

  2. Chuck Cross
    January 22nd, 2010 @ 11:12 am

    Very well said.

    As a person that Irving Kristol (may he RIP) would describe as a “common person” as opposed to an intellectual like himself, it is enjoyable for me to see it “stuck” to the intellectuals when enough commoners like me get pissed off and toss a metaphorical monkey-wrench in their policy-shaping gears.

  3. Dandapani
    January 22nd, 2010 @ 7:45 pm

    They why is Palin spending her working Joe creds stomping for McCan’t? I don’t get it. She is losing a lot of credibility by campaigning for that anti-Regean, Big Government and illegal alien loving loser!

  4. Dandapani
    January 22nd, 2010 @ 2:45 pm

    They why is Palin spending her working Joe creds stomping for McCan’t? I don’t get it. She is losing a lot of credibility by campaigning for that anti-Regean, Big Government and illegal alien loving loser!

  5. snaggletoothie
    January 22nd, 2010 @ 8:14 pm

    It bothers me that SP is so directly aiding the head RINO, especially since we are headed for another battle over amnesty and McCain has that issue so wrong. I would prefer to see Hayworth in that seat. But I can’t expect SP to agree with me 100%. She might have very good reasons for what she is doing. Maybe it is something as old fashioned and maudlin as loyalty. But even if she were dead wrong, I think it would be best to cut her some slack and allow her some human frailty. As conservatives get their act together out in the wilderness I don’t think we need too many circular firing squads.

  6. snaggletoothie
    January 22nd, 2010 @ 3:14 pm

    It bothers me that SP is so directly aiding the head RINO, especially since we are headed for another battle over amnesty and McCain has that issue so wrong. I would prefer to see Hayworth in that seat. But I can’t expect SP to agree with me 100%. She might have very good reasons for what she is doing. Maybe it is something as old fashioned and maudlin as loyalty. But even if she were dead wrong, I think it would be best to cut her some slack and allow her some human frailty. As conservatives get their act together out in the wilderness I don’t think we need too many circular firing squads.

  7. RC
    January 22nd, 2010 @ 8:54 pm

    Good article but the plural of anecdote is NOT data, not by a long shot. Not being able to distinguish between anecdotal stories and true data is one of the prime reasons why the scientifically illiterate in the country have been able to be fooled by the progressive liars.

    More on topic, that’s exactly what makes Palin and Brown so popular, the group of people that crave to be “ruled” by their “betters” is NOT the majority, most of us generally think there is no reason a “regular” person can’t serve quite well at the levers of government for a short period and then go home. A lot of us are sick to death of the ivory tower, ivy league suits that “know” what we peons need/want better than we do.

  8. RC
    January 22nd, 2010 @ 3:54 pm

    Good article but the plural of anecdote is NOT data, not by a long shot. Not being able to distinguish between anecdotal stories and true data is one of the prime reasons why the scientifically illiterate in the country have been able to be fooled by the progressive liars.

    More on topic, that’s exactly what makes Palin and Brown so popular, the group of people that crave to be “ruled” by their “betters” is NOT the majority, most of us generally think there is no reason a “regular” person can’t serve quite well at the levers of government for a short period and then go home. A lot of us are sick to death of the ivory tower, ivy league suits that “know” what we peons need/want better than we do.

  9. Massachusetts Aftermath: ‘We the People’ and the Brown Revolution | Right Wing News
    January 22nd, 2010 @ 7:40 pm

    […] union rank-and-file in Tuesday's Massachusetts Senate election. Why? I argue that it's because liberals have ignored the pro-freedom message of the Tea Party movement:But it’s not just Massachusetts, it’s everywhere nowadays. People are tired of the “insider […]

  10. The Greenroom » Forum Archive » Massachusetts Aftermath: ‘We the People’ and the Brown Revolution
    January 22nd, 2010 @ 7:45 pm

    […] in Tuesday’s Massachusetts Senate election. Why? I argue that it’s because liberals have ignored the pro-freedom message of the Tea Party movement: But it’s not just Massachusetts, it’s everywhere nowadays. People are tired of the “insider […]

  11. SEIU Chief Andy Stern’s Threat to Dems – Pass ObamaCare or Else! | The Lonely Conservative
    January 22nd, 2010 @ 9:28 pm

    […] their agenda down the throats of the nearly 90% of Americans that aren’t in a union. Heck, even their own members aren’t on board with the […]

  12. Thomas L. Knapp
    January 23rd, 2010 @ 12:58 am

    Stacy,

    “Libertarian populism” existed long before you started trying to sneak the Peckerwood Populist egg into its nest.

  13. Thomas L. Knapp
    January 23rd, 2010 @ 5:58 am

    Stacy,

    “Libertarian populism” existed long before you started trying to sneak the Peckerwood Populist egg into its nest.