Today is a quintessential moment in the healthcare debate for the entire nation. A special election is being held in the state of Massachusetts for the United States Senate seat that was formerly occupied by Senator Edward Kennedy. Senator Kennedy maintained one of two senate seats in the state of Massachusetts as a Democrat for the last 46 years until his death from a cancerous brain tumor on August 25, 2009. There was bipartisan mourning over his death, despite his being a liberal Democrat. He was a wealthy man who truly did look out for the underclass. He supported meaningful legislation for the disabled and championed other socioeconomic justice issues. He was a man of a rare breed today who knew how to do deals by reaching across the aisle to gain consensus. Last summer, there was virtually no hope or thought of Republicans seating someone from their party in Kennedy's senate seat. Who should fill Kennedy's vacant senate seat was merely a quiet debate among Democrats until recently when Democratic candidate, Martha Coakley's, poll numbers plunged. After all, Sen. Kennedy took that chair in 1962 in a special election, after his brother John was elected President of the U.S. Kennedy was elected seven times more and held the seat until his death, so the transition to a new democrat should have been a shoe in, right?
Not so fast, the healthcare showdown may boil over into the Massachusetts senate election today. With the Democrats holding 60 seats in the senate currently, they can prevent any filibuster on the healthcare legislation at hand. However, if Republican candidate, Scott Brown, captures the vacant senate seat leaving Democrat, Martha Coakley, in the dust, then, he will hold the 41st vote in the senate for the Republican party. His vote and your vote for him could be the key to stopping this ill-conceived healthcare bill in its current form.
Alas, the tide in America has changed and the tipping point has been reached over healthcare. Americans showed their distaste by ousting Democratic governors recently in both the New Jersey and Virginia elections. And now, Americans are more angry and disillusioned than ever after viewing overtly dirty deals being cut in exchange for Senatorial votes for Obamacare every day and are voicing their disgust. Democratic candidate, Martha Coakley, has plummeted from a once substantial lead in the polls, and the Democratic infighting has begun. Democrats charge that Coakley refuses to campaign on the weekends, that it has negatively affected her campaign, and could cost them the senate seat. The reality is, just like in the gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia; Americans are going to vote in Massachusetts to send an enormous message to Washington that they are on the wrong path and that they do not like being excluded from the democratic process. Even President Obama swooped in over the weekend to "rescue" the Massachusetts senate election for the Democratic Party by stumping for Coakley, much like he did in New Jersey for the governor. The Republican governor subsequently won both in New Jersey and in Virginia. But in Massachusetts, Republican challenger Scott Brown has emerged on the scenes and his numbers continue to rise in the polls as discontent with Obama's version of Universal Healthcare continues to get hammered out behind closed doors in secrecy of the American people. Americans no longer have the wool pulled over their eyes and see Washington for the cesspool of special interest money making that it is and they want it cleaned up. They want to be represented, not sold out.
If Brown wins tomorrow, make no mistake, it will not be an election that dishonors the legacy of Senator Edward Kennedy, but rather a vote FOR Senator Edward Kennedy, his brother John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and all others who believe in not shoving this version of universal healthcare down American throats, but rather in constructing a better healthcare system via the democratic process that reigns in costs, abuse of services, and types of medicine & treatments covered.
So, if you live in Massachusetts and are tired of having a backdoor healthcare plan shoved down your throat, you need to vote for CHANGE, and that would be Scott Brown. Brown holds the key to stopping this ill-constructed boondoggle healthcare bill that will benefit only Big Pharma and the Big Insurance industry. Bills of this magnitude need to be done in daylight with public hearings involving the American people who have the experience of navigating the healthcare system and the doctors and other healthcare professionals who live and work in it. Lawyers in Washington lobbying for Big Insurance and Big Pharma, as well as those industries themselves, are going to be the primary beneficiaries of your new healthcare policies if this legislation goes through. Voting today is the chance for Massachusetts to Speak Out and America to Speak On about healthcare that you have been waiting for. You can do that today via your Massachusetts senatorial vote. Moreover, Washington D.C. is being put on notice by the American people each and every time that they get out to vote between now and 2012: change in Washington may involve 535 votes to get rid of all incumbent senators and representatives, not just democrats. And, while "saying NO," in and of itself is not an acceptable alternative, it could be just the beginning.
May God Bless America and bring back accountable officials in Washington D.C. and a democratic process in legislation. Now, GO VOTE and call everyone you know in Massachusetts to get out the vote!
Kimberly Wilcox is currently freelance writing about financial politics, as well as Healthcare policy, specifically, Chemical Injury and its medical & lifestyle consequences. She is a lifestyle coach to others with chemical injury, chronic fatigue, autism, Gulf War Syndrome & Fibromyalgia, as well as to professional athletes desiring peak performance without use of illegal PED's. She is an expert on Green Living and her new book will soon be published about the Green Life that she has been forced to live for the last decade.
