One Down
With today’s announcement that Arlen Spector has changed parties, we now have our first bit of evidence that the tea parties, pitchforks, and torches have made their first imprint on the political scene. Spector has decided to move from the Republican Party to the Democrat Party. In doing so he has proven two of the reasons why so many people have become active in the tea party movement.
Tea party attendees want their elected officials to stand for a set of principles, one of which is a smaller, less intrusive government. Spector was one of three Republicans to vote for the stimulus bill of President Obama. His mistake of principle has caused him to be challenged in a Pennsylvania primary for the GOP nomination for Senator. Spector is trailing his challenger Pat Toomey in the polls by a wide margin. Republicans of Pennsylvania are holding Spector responsible for his vote. They are willing to take the chance of losing a Senate seat to the Democrats rather than have Spector represent them in name only.
Spector had forgotten the principles of Reagan under which he was originally elected. For years Republicans in Pennsylvania, like the many others around the country, were willing to accept his moderate voting record just to keep his seat a Republican one. The tea parties of April 15th were a sign that those days are over (as I wrote last week in another post called Lesson of Tea Parties). Loyalty to party is becoming a thing of the past. People from this point forward are loyal to principle only. Spector represents the old school game politicians believe we are still willing to play where party loyalty trumps voting accountability. His decision to switch parties tells me he has come to realize there is a new game in town. He didn’t think his vote on the stimulus would be held against him. He figured the state NEEDED him. He was wrong.
Spector’s solution to his new predicament offers additional evidence supporting the tea party uproar. Term limits whether by law or attitude are required because we have politicians who look at it as a birth-rite to remain in Washington so Spector’s decision to just switch teams should have been expected. The man had fought cancer and continued to stay in office. Why should he let a defeat in a primary keep him from occupying an office he feels he owns? He said he was not ready for the primary electorate of Pennsylvania to decide the end of his time in Washington. In affect he was saying he and only he will decided when his time is over as an elected official. Imagine every incumbent up for re-election in November knowing today he or she was going to lose to a challenger in a primary back home. It is my hunch eighty percent of them would be switching parties before the sun comes up tomorrow.
Arrogance rather than honor is what fuels most of our current elected officials. Spector again confirms the disenfranchisement of the people. These sorry individuals we have serving us all across the country just won’t go away. In the coming days we will hear Republicans worrying about the loss of one more vote in the Senate. I say good riddance. Principles matter more than party. We now have one down and a few hundred more to go. The continual growth of the tea party movement will turn what Spector has done into a trend.
I would suggest the next Republican to be “spectored” is this man, Gresham Barrett. He was booed continuously during a speech he gave at a tea party in South Carolina. The fool did not have enough respect to apologize to his constituents and leave the stage but instead tried to make a political speech to the crowd. What has happened to Mr. Spector and Mr. Barrett is the future. A future I hope becomes a reality in North Dakota in November.
