About
Learn More about our progressive online community for the Granite State.

Create an account today (it's free and easy) and get started!
Menu

Make a New Account

Username:

Password:



Forget your username or password?


Search




Advanced Search


The Masthead
Managing Editor
Mike Hoefer

Editors
elwood
susanthe
 William Tucker
The Roll, Etc.
Prog Blogs, Orgs & Alumni
Bank Slate
Betsy Devine
birch paper
Democracy for NH
Granite State Progress
Mike Caulfield
Miscellany Blue
Pickup Patriots
Re-BlueNH
Still No Going Back
Susan the Bruce
New Hampshire Labor News
Chaz Proulx: Right Wing Watch

Politicos & Punditry
The Burt Cohen Show
John Gregg
Landrigan
Pindell
Primary Monitor
Scala
Schoenberg
Spiliotes

Campaigns, Et Alia.
NH-Gov
- Maggie Hassan
NH-01
- Andrew Hosmer
- Carol Shea-Porter
- Joanne Dowdell
NH-02
- Ann McLane Kuster

ActBlue Hampshire
NHDP
DCCC
DSCC
DNC

National
Balloon Juice
billmon
Congress Matters
DailyKos
Digby
Hold Fast
Eschaton
FiveThirtyEight
MyDD
Open Left
Senate Guru
Swing State Project
Talking Points Memo

50 State Blog Network
Alabama
Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Rhode Island
Tennessee
Texas
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Voters elected exactly what they didn't want

by: Lucy Edwards

Sun Nov 14, 2010 at 09:52:16 AM EST
In a number of states the electorate chose the kind of people they said they didn't want running their government.  Really makes you wonder, doesn't it?  

If you listen to what a lot of voters say they want this year, especially in conservative states like Indiana where a huge chunk of the population identifies as Tea Partiers, it's candidates who are ready to break with the past, question long-held assumptions, relate to the concerns of regular people, and can bring a fresh perspective to the entrenched insiders in Congress.

And with that in mind, Hoosiers, by a 15-point margin, elected an old, wealthy Washington insider, who left Indiana more than a decade ago, and who's spent several years as a corporate lobbyist. Indeed, Coats intends to go to the Senate and vote on issues he handled as a lobbyist, and has no intention of recusing himself when his former clients will be affected by his votes.
Lucy Edwards :: Voters elected exactly what they didn't want
I am hearing a lot of arguments about whether our message is wrong or we can't get it out.  I suspect we need to find out what people think they know about our political system and the folks who inhabit it.  Our message might be OK, although I suspect it is not at all, and we just can't get it across because we have no vehicles to do so.  Or we might need to fix both.

I can tell you in my little corner there has been a long term accepted "wisdom" that Democrats shouldn't really talk about what they believe we need and why.  I tried a bit to push the limits, and so did my fellow state rep candidates, but I doubt that anyone was really paying attention to what I said.  The battle lines had been drawn somewhere else.  
Tags: , , , , , (All Tags)
Print Friendly View Send As Email
Voters elected exactly what they didn't want | 5 comments
Voters need to take responsibility (4.00 / 2)
Lucy--You and I have discussed this elsewhere--but I still take the view that voters are largely to blame for the mess we're in. Yes the Dems could message a lot better ( lord knows!) but a huge block of American voters never invest the time they need to understand issues.

Very few political writers ever make this point. It's always blame the government or blame the parties.

The American ideal of "responsibility" seems to stop at any hint that voters should take it upon themselves to be informed.

That's always been a drawback of Democracy and right now it is killing us.

I have no idea what to do about it either, other than to accept the
idea that Americans don't have the political will to solve our problems.

If you have it drummed into your head (4.00 / 2)
from the time you understand what your parents and the TV are saying that government is a problem, not a solution to problems, then you see no reason to spend your valuable time finding out what candidates propose or what party platforms are.  The only time you notice government is when it doesn't perform that way you need it to, and then of course it reinforces your belief that it doesn't work.  It's the perfect Catch 22.  

Meanwhile, those who can make a ton of money out of an invisible government get you riled up at regular intervals, just often enough to keep control of the machinery that makes them rich.  Once in a while they overreach and do something really, really dumb that obviously doesn't work, a la GWB and Co., and then us dummies who believe that government has an important role to play in a civilized society get a chance at running things, but with the deck stacked against us we are at the mercy of a headwind that makes progress nearly impossible, and the other side gets control again using their usual tools.  

I DO NOT HAVE AN IDEA WHAT THE SOLUTION IS, I only know that somehow we have to find a way to undo St. Ronnie's magic spell.  

[ Parent ]
I think it's tragic (0.00 / 0)
that most native-born US citizens don't know enough about their own country and government to pass a citizenship test. No wonder they are so easily duped by agendas that capitalize on their ignorance and convince them to vote against their best interests.

They. Don't. Care.
We do.
Rinse, repeat.
[ Parent ]
General rule (4.00 / 1)
Never blame the voters.

It's like blaming your customers for choosing an 'inferior' product made by someone else.

you gotta have a killer product (0.00 / 0)
at a killer price

note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other
[ Parent ]
Voters elected exactly what they didn't want | 5 comments

Connect with BH
     
Blue Hampshire Blog on Facebook
Powered by: SoapBlox