Why Scott Brown Won in Massachusetts

By Jill Chapin

January 25, 2010

Most pundits don’t get it. Neither do most politicians grasp the singularity of purpose as to why lifelong Massachusetts Democrats did not vote for a woman, a Democrat or party ideology.

There is very little that Senator-elect Scott Brown has in common with those who catapulted put him into the U.S. Senate. But savvy voters knew that reining in healthcare reform could have a domino effect on everything else. They knew that a 41st Republican in the Senate could accomplish this. And they also knew that after serving this most important role, he can be replaced in a mere two years when his seat is up for re-election.

It was a one-issue decision, one that had enormous national repercussions, and so they put aside all else that Scott Brown stood for to accomplish what would otherwise have been impossible for the rest of us to do.

They put the skids on the current healthcare reform, but not because they are heartless for the plight of the uninsured. No, it was the convoluted, bloated, unintelligible, budget-busting healthcare reform wending it’s unwieldy way through Congress that galvanized otherwise loyal Democrats to send a powerful message to downsize this monstrosity of a bill.

I have relatives in Massachusetts who are all lifelong Democrats, as are virtually all of their friends. Yet the word from their home state is that healthcare reform, with all of its secret shenanigans – including a last-minute deal with Nebraska to exempt that state from the entire cost of a medicaid expansion – sealed their steely resolve to click the reset button on this special-interests laden “solution” to our healthcare woes.

To be sure, it didn’t hurt that the 41st senator was plucked from a state where 98% of its citizens already have insurance, so they weren’t too keen on subsidizing Nebraska. But neither are the other 48 states.

Yet the talking heads on the network and cable news, and the op-ed pieces in so many papers across the country haven’t yet grasped this simple truth that the American public intuitively understands. We are joyfully refusing to let any spin unravel this most refreshing example of the people reining in this out-of-control healthcare overhaul.

Pundits can question Democratic challenger Martha Coakley’s standoffish style in campaigning, or the president’s late endorsement of her. They can point the finger at this blue state suddenly succumbing to an avalanche of a conservative invasion. Yet native Massachusetts Democrats would have a good laugh at the idea that their lifelong relationship with the Democratic party could be torn asunder by an eleventh hour infiltration of a Republican counter-offensive. Armchair quarterbacks can opine on the understandable unrest about the economy or terrorism, or immigration, but this was a one-trick pony that pranced into town.

That’s it. That is why Scott Brown is soon to be seated in the very place where his popular predecessor spent a good chunk of the 20th century trying to push through a healthcare reform package that was too big and too unknowable decades ago, and is even more so today.

How could the analytical experts not zero in on the public’s understanding that if Medicare is rampant with fraud and waste, why on earth would we opt to add another gargantuan layer on top of it, with no better way of controlling it than our track record with Medicare would indicate?

At least Milton Friedman’s words speak to the public’s distrust. As he so aptly put it, “If a government were put in charge of the Sahara Desert, within five years there’d be a shortage of sand”.

Jill Chapin

Jill Chapin has been a guest writer and columnist in several Los Angeles area papers for over fifteen years. She has written a bilingual parenting book titled, "If You Have Kids, Then Be a Parent!" and a children's book entitled, "My Magic Bubble."

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