Can one Republican stop the Democrats?

February 8, 2010  
Filed under Opinion

On Jan. 19, the state of Massachusetts did something no one would have expected. They elected a Republican for their Senate seat. The former Senator for Massachusetts was Ted Kennedy, a very strong Democrat. He died on Aug. 25, 2009, after serving in the Senate for 46 years. A special election was called to fill his seat.

Scott Brown pulled in a surprising majority of the votes over his Democratic opponent, Martha Coakley. At the end of the night Brown had 52 percent of the votes while Coakley ended up with just 47 percent. The other 1percent of votes went to the third party candidate.  This is the first time a republican has been voted into office in 30 years.

“Tonight, the independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken,” Brown said. “This Senate seat belongs to no one person, no one political party. … This is the people’s seat.”

Why did this little state have a change of heart?  Like many Americans across the country, they were fed up with the liberals in office. They were tired of not being listened to.  A lot of the people were just plain scared that the healthcare plan would be put into action.  Scott brown promised to work for the people and with the people. Like he said above, it is the people’s seat. That is why, in my opinion, he was elected.

Now, what does this mean for President Obama’s healthcare plan?  I think the plan will be forced to halt or change. When Scott Brown was elected, the Democratic major majority was thrown out the window. They can no longer push the plan through with ease as they were anticipating to. They no longer have the power to override a GOP filibuster, which is when someone will delay or prevent a vote on a proposal by debating the proposal. This new Republican member has become a large speed bump in the process of passing healthcare.

In order to pass the healthcare plan, President Obama and the other Democrats will have to either revise their plan or they will have to sway Republicans to their side. However, no matter what they have to do, I have no doubt that they will keep pushing this plan.  People like Nancy Pelosi will not want to take no for an answer.

If Obama is wanting healthcare to pass, then he has to get it done fast. He does not have a year to wait. The Senate elections are coming up in November and by the way things are looking, some democrats will be losing their seats. People are getting fed up with the Democrats. If an almost purely liberal state like Massachusetts will elect a Republican to office because they are so tired of the corruption, then you can bet that other states will, too.

Will Scott Brown’s election make a difference in the future of the Senate? Whether it does or not, there will definitely be some revising and a slowing down of the Democrats.

Reactions to the Election

-“Without any change, I don’t think it is possible to pass the Senate bill in the House,” Nancy Pelosi.

-”Here’s my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts, but the mood around the country: the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office. People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years,” President Obama.

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Kali Hinman

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