Marci A. Hamilton: The Election of Scott Brown, the Newfound Power of Independents, and Why the Framers Would Be Smilings [sic]
On Tuesday, January 19, the people of Massachusetts elected Scott Brown to represent them in the United States Senate. If there had been any doubt after the election of President Barack Obama, it should now be crystal-clear to all following Brown's election: Independent voters are running the political show. The bad news for the political parties is that they have been marginalized. The good news for Americans is that we have shifted closer to the dreams the Constitution's Framers held dear for this country.
When the Framers gathered in Philadelphia, their charge was to fix the Articles of Confederation, which had failed to create cohesion between the states, making international trade and foreign affairs virtually impossible to coordinate. There were also severe economic problems because there was no uniform currency, and no shared fiscal policy or banking system. Times were bleak, despite the heady achievements of a decade before, when America had cut its ties to the unaccountable King George III and the English Parliament.
The Framers were supposed to simply amend the Articles of Confederation, but as they diagnosed the problems with that document, they rapidly moved toward re-creating government both for and between the states. One of the more serious faults of the Articles of Confederation lay in its allowance of the self-serving actions of elected representatives in the states. Instead of serving the larger public good for their citizens, many state legislatures turned into "vortices of corruption," in which private bills (those directed at benefiting a single citizen) took precedence over laws intended to serve the public and the public good. The reconstructed governing system set forth in the Constitution was intended to encourage elected representatives at both the state and federal level to focus on a greater horizon: that of the larger public good....
President Obama was elected because many voters, like myself, chose to vote for the candidate, and not the Party, at a time of tremendous need. The country's problems were -- and they continue to be -- severe: an anemic economy devastated by overreaching among lenders and Wall Street shenanigans, and a hell-bent religiously-fanatical enemy determined to destroy American values here and elsewhere. The Republicans had no answers, while Obama offered a calm demeanor, a sterling education, and a practical bent. We voted for him assuming that he would be more interested in solving America's problems than in special-interest deals and political agendas – that he would reflect the Framers' ideal leader. We fundamentally erred, and the Framers were correct. Power corrupts....
Even before the Scott Brown election, the President should have been humbled. The people are disillusioned: In Virginia and New Jersey, Republican candidates for Governor beat incumbent Democrats. The self-named "Tea Party" movement has challenged the big government, huge deficit spending, and increased taxes being simultaneously embraced by the Obama Administration. Now Brown has defeated Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, in the most Democratic of states. But whom did Brown thank most copiously for his victory – and most appropriately? Not the Republicans, but rather the Independents of Massachusetts, who actually outnumber Democrats....
All politics is local, so treating Washington and the White House as the only backdrop to this Massachusetts election is a mistake. Brown served 19 years in the Massachusetts Senate, and he has described his role there as being someone who always sought to solve the problems the people of Massachusetts faced, and someone who was interested in whatever solutions were offered, whether from political friend or foe. When I heard those words from Brown the morning after his victory, I imagined the Framers starting to smile. Almost immediately, though, I had to remind myself that it is far too early to know whether Brown will fulfill the Framers' ideals or the Framers' fears.