Keller @ Large: Is One Party Rule Acceptable?
BOSTON (CBS) - I covered Scott Brown's campaign kickoff speech last night in Worcester, and as you'd expect, there was a fair amount of self-serving hyperbole in it.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
Podcast
Most notably, Senator Brown decried the tendency of what he called "establishment candidates" (i.e. likely Democratic nominee Elizabeth Warren) to "wage class warfare" and "use terms like 'us' and 'them.'"
His campaign, Brown promised, would "always be about 'We the People.'"
Just a few paragraphs later, Brown was inveighing against how "Washington wastes far too much of your heard-earned money," and how Warren would "fall right into line with the Washington mindset of more spending, more debt and more taxes" if she were elected.
I counted at least five references to this dreaded "Washington" monster in the speech, five more references than there were to "Republicans," and that's not even counting the references to the "political class."
Us vs. Them?
Class warfare?
It seems two can play that game.
But along with the self-serving rhetoric, Brown also made some points well worth further consideration and discussion.
He accurately recalled the attitude of the Democratic ruling class in our state after Ted Kennedy's passing: "Which Democrat would move into the seat?"
And he suggested that he wound up winning "because we respected voters enough to give them a choice."
And Brown added: "Public offices do not belong to any party by right."
Be honest: do you really agree with that?
Do you value voter choice and shared power, or find it better to have the party you prefer calling all the shots?
In the election that Brown won, voters rejected one-party rule.
Ten months later, they voted into statewide office every Democrat they saw on the ballot.
Which election was the fluke?
Scott Brown's fate this fall may well answer that question.
Whether or not you support him, it's a valid question, one we all have to think about.
And if you're a partisan of either party, consider it this way – is one-party rule OK with you only if it's your party doing the ruling?
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
