The lesson of Massachusetts


EDITOR:

I hope that the recent events in the Massachusetts senate race are not lost, particularly on the constituents of the 17th congressional district. Several weeks ago The Vindicator ran an article about the upcoming election for this congressional seat. In that article Dr. William Binning of the Political Science Department at YSU said, it would take a miracle for a Republican to win this seat. Well maybe, but we should learn some important lessons from the election results in Massachusetts.

First and foremost, “we the people of the United States” are still ultimately in charge of our own destiny as a nation. I think that sometimes that reality escapes us because of our own complacency, apathy or even a false sense of helplessness. Also, when I hear people refer to our government as “they” I just cringe. These folks just might need a primer on American civics. We are a “republic” which means the sovereign power of this government resides in the whole body of the people. Simply put, all of these representatives work for us and serve only at the pleasure of us.

Second, politicians themselves should never assume that a strong party affiliation and/or incumbency guarantee them re-election. As strong as the Democratic Party is in Massachusetts its nominee was soundly defeated for a seat that they held for nearly a half-

century. As Senator-elect Brown stated during a recent debate, “this is not Ted Kennedy’s seat, it’s not the Democrats’ seat, it’s the people’s seat.” To that point, it should not be assumed that the 17th congressional seat belongs to the Democrats. It doesn’t. Before we just hand this seat over to them again, let’s ask ourselves what have they really done recently to deserve holding on to this seat. In my opinion, the current occupant of this seat seems to be more beholden to the national party and to the speaker than to his own constituency.

Last, but certainly not least, miracles in political races do indeed happen. As Americans, basic rights and convictions unite us. When our elected representatives ignore those rights and convictions we should become angry. In turn, that anger should appropriately call our attention to the injustice that needs to be addressed, and then we are spurred to righteous action. And that, my friends, is how miracles in political races happen.

ROCCO J. PARRO

Poland