A Change of Opinion

Scott Brown beat Martha Coakley today to represent Massachusetts in the Senate. Normally I don't care at all about politics, but for some reason this election actually interested me, and I found myself invested, if only a little bit, in the outcome. Brown is a member of the Republican Party, while Coakley represents the Democrats. Until recently, the Senate Seat that was held by the late (Democrat) Ted Kennedy for more years than I can count was assumed to be Coakley's for the taking, especially since Massachusetts is a notoriously blue (Democrat) state.

The election garnered national attention because until Brown's victory, the Democrats held 60 of the 100 Senate seats. This, coupled with Democrat Barack Obama as President, meant that essentially any bill or law or whatever they're called that the Democrat party wanted passed was almost guaranteed to pass. By winning a 41st seat in the Senate, the Republican party can now put up a fight if they don't want something passed. To those on the right (Republican) this is equivalent to overthrowing a dictator, while those on the left (Democrat) see this as bogging down the political process.

I think that I became more interested in this election for a couple reasons. My dad has become quite Republican (conservative) in the past couple years, and since I am of voting age and was home until a couple days before the election he was constantly stressing how important he thought this election was. In addition to this, I think that I'm ready to become at least a little better informed regarding current events, and this election has been one of the major current events recently and has coincided with my change of thinking. Third, regardless of whether the party in control is the Democrats or the Republicans, I think that if a party can pass any bill they want because they such a majority of the Senate seats then something is wrong. I feel that the way our government is structured should prevent one party from having complete control over the other, so I guess for that reason I'm pleased with the outcome of this election. Also, I'm from Massachusetts, so the fact that my state had the chance to alter the national political landscape.

Explanation of title: The title refers to two changes of opinion. The first is the opinion of the people of Massachusetts as a whole, who have historically been fiercely liberal but just voted in a Republican Senator. The second is my opinion regarding politics and current events and whatnot. Whereas before I actively avoided anything remotely related to politics, I was interested by this election and its results.

Sorry if you don't care about what some kid has to say about politics and this post bored you. As always, feel free to leave a comment.