01 Feb 2010 Hope and Change and Pick-Up Trucks, by Lisa Fritsch

Hope and Change and Pick-Up Trucks by Lisa Fritsch (bio)

Just a year ago, Americans were so eloquently sold on hope and change that came from a shiny, new black sedan of a limousine liberal.  It turns out what they really wanted was something that came from the likes of Scott Brown’s old Chevy truck.

Once dazzled by the illusion of Barack Obama’s hope and change sloganeering, it took Americans a year to the day to make it clear they are through with liberal shenanigans and are taking matters into their own hands.

Republican Brown’s election in Massachusetts to the U.S. Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy for almost 50 years is a definitive rejection of the Obama agenda.

Yet there are liberals still defiantly invested in the folly of Obama’s now-tarnished vision of hope and change.  If Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi stubbornly continue to push the President’s unpopular bill of goods despite the new math in Washington, they risk unleashing the full wrath of the American voter upon themselves and their colleagues this November.

Scott Brown’s victory is less about opponent Martha Coakley’s poor campaigning than an awakening to conservative values in the bluest of blue states.  It’s a major step toward enacting true hope and change over the politicians’ desires.  It’s something all parties and persuasions should take to heart.

Brown’s win in Massachusetts exhibits the mood of the rest of America.  Unlike our global neighbors, Americans are no longer under the spell of bouffant speeches and bankrupt promises.

The jig is up for the Democrats, and Republicans would be wise to take note of conservative momentum of now. 

For fear of appearing unrefined, racist or out of touch (or all of these things, if you watch MSNBC), Republicans have been resistant to embrace true conservative voices in their ranks:  the southerner “hicks” so offensive and uncouth to the Georgetown elite; abortion opponents who fight for the right to life over the self-serving wisdom of Washington aristocrats; NRA members who know the last defense against tyranny is self-defense and those who may or may not believe in climate change but know cap-and-trade will devastate our economy. 

Now is not the time to shy away from the pro-lifers. With confident compassion and humility, one can articulate that being against abortion is not about limiting a woman’s choice or ruining her life, but rather choosing love and the beauty of a woman’s ability to give it.

Now is the time to speak proudly about clinging to guns and religion, for both are critical in keeping our nation at peace and in freedom.

Now is the time to call a terrorist a terrorist, lest we all become faceless potential hijackers.

Spoken in earnest and with conviction, conservative values are the values most Americans trust.

For Republicans, Scott Brown’s victory should not make them overconfident.  It is not enough to simply rest on the discontent and distrust for the current Washington culture.  There is still much work to be done.  While Brown is no Jesse Helms, any return to a platform that is diffuse and weak ramblings of conciliation will mean renewed defeat.

Brown’s win undoubtedly caught the Democrats’ attention.  While a leopard cannot change its spots, expect at least some Democrats to try to alter their message to broaden their appeal.  That’s what Bill Clinton did after his 1994, and it worked. 

While liberals sulkily chalk Martha Coakley’s loss to bad campaigning, PMS bloat or some other null excuse to justify their continued push for this administration’s ill-fated agenda, conservatives must be ready to lead.  Brown’s campaigning for reason on taxes, terrorism and health care is what the people in Massachusetts – and the rest of America – favors.