Wednesday, January 20th, 2010...
Don’t blame me. I’m from — wait… what?
Last night, in a special election to replace the late Senator, Ted Kennedy, my home state of Massachusetts elected its first Republican to the senate since 1978, Scott Brown.
Massachusetts has never elected a Republican senator during my lifetime. I’ve never known anything but Democrats (except for one Governor, once), from my home state my ENTIRE LIFE. It’s always been other states that voted Republican. Red states. Far away. Where rich families would inevitably end up like the Bushes. Not the Kennedys. And it’s not even like the Bay State is all uber liberal, vegan hipsters or anything — Massachusetts is very much a working class kind of place — it’s just that we’ve always been Democrats, and that’s that. Even New York, which is by and large perceived as the liberal bastion of the East Coast is really only Democratic in the City. Massachusetts has never had the “upstate” vs. “downtown” battle. The first shots of the American revolution were fired in the suburbs, after all, and as a first generation immigrant from the USSR, growing up in Boston since the age of six, the Bay State’s staunch Democratism has always had a sort of romance to it. Like, of course, there would be a unified sense of responsibility to uphold Democracy’s legacy here, kind of thing, in its New World cradle and all.
The realization that there was a maddening political divide tearing up the rest of the country didn’t even cross my radar until I was in college. Once I grew up and actually started to understand the polarizing nature of partisan politics, looking back on Massachusetts with that new perspective I think I just sort of assumed that my state was somehow smarter than the rest (all those college kids aside). We’d found a good thing, and we were sticking with it. We could not be tempted.
More a unifying sense of civic pride and responsibility than icky fundamentalist ideology, Democrat isn’t just how Massachusetts votes voted, it’s a part of our cultural identity. Like the Red Sox. Which is why the idea of a Republican winning the senate race in Massachusetts is just completely insane to me. It’s like imagining Boston throwing a parade down Comm. Ave. to celebrate the Yankees winning the World Series. I can’t even compute how this could happen. (Though, Jon Stewart explains it below, rather well).
In the 1972 Presidential election, Nixon won by a landslide. It was the second biggest electoral vote margin in United States history. Nixon got the majority of votes in 49 states. His opponent, George McGovern, could only get one: Massachusetts. A year later, Nixon’s VP, Spiro Agnew, resigned after being charged with bribery, extortion, and tax fraud. And the year after that, Nixon resigned in the face of impeachment over the Watergate Scandal. That was when wiseasses from the one state McGovern carried started sporting bumper stickers that read, “Don’t blame me. I’m from Massachusetts.” A sentiment that was more recently revived as “Don’t blame me. I voted for Kerry.” That’s just how Massachusetts is. Or… was.
Regardless of wherever else I’ve lived or been, Massachusetts has felt something like an insurance policy: No matter how crazy things got elsewhere, I could always go back to Blue. Until now, when the election of the first Republican senator in over 3 decades is an event so monumentally unimaginable, it shakes the whole foundation of what I’ve known as a lifelong institution.
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5 comments
January 20th, 2010 at
What a well written, although saddening piece. However, you should take heart. Here I live in Manhattan – the American Hong Kong if you will. Imagine my horror when New York State defeated gay marriage when Iowa – yes, Iowa – now allows it. It’s as though my high taxes (including city tax), tiny, overpriced apartment and manic lifestyle were for naught. I find myself living in a place that is less forward thinking than Iowa – a state perhaps a bit maligned until now. Why do I say you should take heart? It’s because if places like Iowa start becoming progressive and the lines between stupid and smart states becomes less clear, persons who consider themselves liberal, creative or even, dare I say it, intellectual now have options. I no longer need to live in formerly enlightened, overcrowded albeit sophisticated ghettos. Iowa is looking better and better. Perhaps I should open a gay, vegan bed and breakfast before real estate prices rise? And, if the trend continues, it will be the place with the best theater, coffee shops, music, art etc. in the country. Perhaps that will be what it takes to wake up call to states like Massachusets and New York – warning them that they are only a couple of more bad decisions/elections away from becoming Topekas by the sea.
January 20th, 2010 at
Raymond – “Topekas by the sea” and “American Hong Kong.” So awesome! I’m totally using these now.
I do wonder what has happened in Iowa that it’s suddenly become so progressive out of the blue. Would make an interesting case study, huh?
January 21st, 2010 at
Jenks wrote: I’ve never known anything but Democrats (except for one Governor, once), from my home state my ENTIRE LIFE.
The myth of an all blue Massachusetts is just that. William Weld (R) took office as Governor in 1991, followed by Republican Paul Cellucci, followed by Republican Jane Swift, followed by Republican Mitt Romney, followed by (centrist) Democrat Deval Patrick in 2007.
But overall, I share your dismay. Massachusetts was on a real roll – marriage equality, two people who weren’t white guys running for Governor (Kerry Healey and Deval Patrick), marijuana decriminalization, statewide universal health care, just a whole ton of progressive policies. So, yeah, it’s disappointing, but it shouldn’t have been unforseen or all that surprising that there are still enough teabaggers in the suburbs to screw things up.
-dc
January 21st, 2010 at
Dave, I just read something today that to me makes perfect sense as to the situation under which this could have happened – http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/1/19/827160/-My-Mom-is-a-Democratic-machine-operative-in-Bostonheres-her-explanation
January 26th, 2010 at
Definitely interesting. I live in western Massachusetts, but most of the more political folks I know have closer ties to the Boston machine. There was not widespread love of Coakley out here, although I’m in no position to dispute what happened during the primary.
There is also the issue of Emily’s list, and the contingent of the Democratic party for whom breaking the glass ceiling for women is the only issue. With no exit polls, and so much going into the race, there is likely to be speculation for years to come.
Thanks for the link.
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