Massachusetts Flip Flop

Five years ago, Massachusetts had the very interesting prospect of having a Republican governor (Mitt Romney) be given the authority to name a replacement for the US Senate Seat occupied by then Presidential candidate John Kerry if Senator Kerry were to win the election. You see, Massachusetts, like many states, had a Constitution that empowered the sitting governor to name a successor to a US Senate seat if said seat were to become vacant. Well, as you likely already know, the Massachusetts legislature is seated with a super Democratic majority. They quickly took the Constitution into their own hands, and passed an amendment revoking that power from the governor, and turning it to the people through a Special Election. Let that sink in. The governor no longer has the power to appoint someone to an open US Senate seat. The people will now do so through a Special Election, within 5 months of the seat becoming open.

Well, as the story went in 2004, Senator Kerry remains a Senator. Mitt Romney stepped down as governor and pursued a presidential run himself in 2008. The governor of Massachusetts is a Democrat, Deval Patrick. And now, in August of 2009, our country lost one of its long-standing leaders and Senators, Edward M. Kennedy. And per the amendment passed in 2004, a Special Election will need to occur. See above. A seat is now open. Within 5 months, an election will occur where the people will vote to name the successor. Again, this was voted in by the Democrats in 2004, "to empower the people to utilize their right to vote".

But hang on. Don't go so fast. The Massachusetts governor is now a Democrat. And there is some crucial legislature about to pass through the chambers of Congress in Washington (think Healthcare). The Democrats could use that seat now. Senator Kennedy's seat will remain unfilled for several months until the Special Election can occur, passed into law by the Democrats just five years earlier. But now, since the Democrats will be the impacted party, a call for swift legislative action is being made to reverse that law and to re-empower the governor to appoint someone to the seat. And by the time I write my next entry, I suspect it will be passed into law and we will have a new US Senator from Massachusetts. (Let's hope Governor Patrick doesn't pull a Blagojevich on us. But I don't think he will. There is so much integrity in Massachusetts politics for something like that to occur. I mean, who would manipulate law with backdoor deals and such?)

I am not a fan of Republicans. And I am not a fan of Democrats. True stories, like the one above, can be told and re-told over and over again about both of these parties. I ask you this, is this why we elected these people to office? Did we ask them to tear up, and then tape back up our Constitutions? To pick and choose which elements they like, and to discard the elements they don't? To flip flop based on who is in office, who has the majority, who has the most at stake? And to do it under the guise of "this is what Teddy wanted as a dying wish"? Using a man's death to swindle deals is disturbing, if you ask me.

On whichever side of the aisle you reside (or if you are like me, you don't pay too much attention to aisles, but rather to the individuals standing in the chamber), I hope this infuriates you. I hope it disgusts you enough to seek true change. Our president campaigned and got elected on a premise of "change". In 2004, Massachusetts changed law to suit the needs of an elected majority, NOT the needs of all individuals, as all our constitutions propose. And now, in 2009, our President supports another change, yet again to suit the needs of an elected majority (his majority), NOT the needs of all individuals. Until we elect officials that strive to represent 100% of their constituency, and not just the 40something% that got them elected, we will continue to see stories like the one above.

Change. Yes, we can. Hope. Change is coming. Yeah, right.