When Did the GOP Become the Voice of the People: Watch Out Scott

Coming of age at the tail end of the Vietnam-era protests and in the context of the anti-establishment protests, especially living in Massachusetts, I was saturated with the sentiment that the GOP was the party of the the elite who drove Cadillacs while sipping champagne served by the chauffeur. I remember vividly my teenage friends across the street, whose father was a staunch Republican (I now remember he was also a small business owner who employed scores of people for decades delivering heating oil and who donated thousand of gallons of fuel to the needy...but that didn't matter then), sipping ginger ale that was labeled "Gold Water" during the end of the 1964 presidential campaign (could there have been a more unfortunate name for a GOP candidate with the possible exception of Silverspoon). There was a palpable dislike for those associated with the GOP. It may have been my environment that perhaps exaggerated the feeling; but I don't think I am too far off.

Of course we also forget that Barry Goldwater was a Major General in the U.S. Army Reserve, a staunch defender of individual rights who absolutely rejected the so-called New-Deal Coalition that perpetuated the Roosevelt-era expansion of government. We forget he was known as "Mr. Conservative." We also forget that he was pilloried by the left as a radical reactionary who was out of touch and out of the mainstream. He was trounced by Johnson in the 1964 election and was marginalized by the left as a wing-nut "libertarian." What we also forget is that his efforts became the foundation upon which Ronald Regan based so much of his ideology and personal positions -- positions which catapulted him to the White House as a consummate outsider. Listen up Scott.

The election in Massachusetts sets up a perfect storm for both parties and for Scott Brown. Since when did a pick-up driving, National Guard serving, direct speaking Republican become a man of the people? Well Scott Brown did in the past ten weeks; but he is simply the right person at the right time, perhaps like Ronald Reagan. The seeds for the wave that brought him to this point were sown by years and terms of Democratic entitlements and imperious behavior. It seems to me that while Democrats were bestowing entitlements on the "people" they somehow decided that they, too were entitled. Entitled to tell us what we needed, what we wanted and what we deserved. More importantly they decided they were entitled to their position of power.

And they squirmed during the Reagan and Bush eras. Tax cuts? Largest peacetime expansion of the economy in history? That meant the people were controlling things; not government. That meant there were winners and losers; that the free market functioned. They argued against strong national defense; against aggressive foreign policy, Yet Germany was freed; Russia disintegrated. After 9/11 our borders were secure -- until this year.

And now after just 12 months to the day, what have we seen? The epitome of entitlement: we need to use our majority to consolidate our power by ransacking the treasury, nationalizing the economy and running up debt while telling the world we are sorry we were once powerful. Every response this administration has taken has involved the annexation of power. Most recently, a teenage moron is almost able to blow up a plane. What to do? Create more government agencies. Cap and Trade? Whether its good policy aside (and its not), more agencies, more regulation. Every power grab alienates the people more and more.

So where does that leave Mr. Brown? In a strange and dangerous position. It is very heady to have accomplished what he has; he and his family should be proud. In a very real way, he has been thrust into the role of Mr. Smith going to Washington...as a man of the people (perhaps not as gullible as the movie character but certainly as untainted). Less than an hour after the Mr. Brown challenged the president to a game of two-on-two basketball, GOP pundits were suggesting the newly-crowned senator as the person to offer the GOP reply to Mr. Obama's state of the union address.

Both parties will and have already started to try to co-opt him. What the GOP and Mr. Brown (and he may already) need to understand and to remember is that this win comes from beyond the GOP base. Only in a state with 45% independents could such a groundswell of non-party generated enthusiasm have occurred in such a short time. Unlike his opponent, Mr. Brown was not a hand-picked party ideologue ready to tow the Pelosi line.

Mr. Brown needs to govern his actions with that in mind and the GOP needs to listen to people who gave him the power to act. This does not preclude bi-partisan cooperation -- the foundation of a two-party system. What it demands is that the effort to move this country forward must again be with the voice of the people in mind. The GOP has to embrace its new and unfamiliar role as that voice and it needs to constantly to remind the Democrats that they have been consistently deaf to that voice -- in the past year and for a very long time.

I could be wrong; I have been before.