By some quirk of fate, the most liberal state in America has been governed by a Republican for the last 16 years! And now, in the course of political cycles, an African-American Democrat has been installed as the new Governor of Massachusetts. Governor Deval Patrick promises "change."
He says, “For a very long time now we have been told that government is bad, that it exists only to serve the powerful and well-connected, that its job is not important enough to be done by anyone competent, let alone committed, and that all of us are on our own.”
Huh? Just WHO has been saying government is to "serve the powerful and well-connected"? And what is this about lack of competence or commitment? But that is the way a "big government" liberal sees things! The poor peons out there must be "taken care of" from the cradle to the grave. Government must replace family, church, and, I guess, God!
One citizen, Beth Gilbert of Norfolk, MA, puts it this way: “When you elect a Republican governor, part of their bargain is they don’t really believe that government can solve the people’s problems. That’s probably what’s led to higher expectations here.”
Yep, higher expectations. I am not sure whether Ms. Gilbert is stating this as a positive or a negative, but the point is a good one. Except I think that the Republican phylosophy is not that the government CAN'T solve the problems, but that it SHOULDN'T. The more that the people come to EXPECT the government to help, the less they will do for themselves. History is filled with failing civilizations that have been "top heavy."
As far as the fact that this is the "first black governor" of Massachusetts, and only the second US
governor since reconstruction (wait, wasn't "reconstruction" only in the South!), I for one don't see any significance in the color of a candidate's skin. What was it that Martin Luther King, Jr., said? Something about character, I think.By the way, it seems that Massachusetts has been sort of split on the governors in the past century. Check out masshome.org, where the list of governors reveals more REPUBLICANS than Democrats since 1914. One of the Republicans, Calvin Coolidge, became President of the United States. One of the Democrats, Michael Dukakis, was soundly defeated by our present President's father George H.W. Bush in 1988. Will the exiting governor, Mitt Romney, repeat "Silent Cal's" rise to the top, or repeat Dukakis' flop?
2 comments:
I just finished a post on my blog about Mitt Romney, and the Christian reaction to a Mormon presidential candidate. My Mom and Dad told me that more than a few of their friends at church have said they couldn't vote for Romney. My Dad was somewhat appalled at that, and had asked me for my opinion. I personally wouldn't have a problem voting for a Mormon, so long as that Mormon was a true Reagan conservative. I would be interested in knowing what your opinion was, Henry, and also the opinions of others who read this.
I saw your post tonight (6/7) and will post to it tomorrow. However, I see Romney as a pragmatic Bush style Republican (more like the father than the son, but leaning conservative).
I believe he has come over to the pro-life side, but his pro-government views (such as in health care) seem to put him outside of the Reagan mold.
However, time will tell. The earliest polls don't seem to show much hope for him or any other strong conservative. McCain and Guiliani seem to be the front runners. See my post with the electoral maps for more details.
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