JUST WHAT DID THE MID-TERM ELECTION RESULTS REALLY MEAN?

The real message from the mid-terms may have been very different from what the political parties are trying to sell.

...a 1950's voter registration poster

If all the political parties, including: Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Greenies, Independents, Tea Partiers, the Communists and all the others were to ask; "What did we learn from the 2010 Mid-Term Elections?" I´m sure there would be a plethora of responses.

The GOP would be saying that ,"The people are demanding less government and a repeal of ´Obamacare´ ". The Democrats would say that, "The ruling party always loses seats in the mid-terms and today the people are mad as hell about the lack of jobs,". The so called Tea Party members would spout some blather that the electorate was against tax increases, even though most of them in the Tea Party aren´t even aware that they had already received a tax cut from President Obama.

The other parties would also have their various political statements, and for the most part, they would all be wrong.

If you have any doubts about the real meaning of this month's midterm elections, let me refer you to the most notable winner in all of those contests. I am referring to Ms. Lisa Murkowski, the newly re-elected senator from Alaska.

What I think was the result of the last election was a cry from the voters for the politicians to "Get their damn act together and to find common ground for helping our country survive and once again become a prosperous and growing nation."

The election was also a demonstration of the widespread disillusionment with Washington and of national politics as practiced by everyone from Barack Obama to the leadership of both major parties.

I mention Lisa Murkowski due to her very rare "write-in election", the likes of which has not occurred since Senator Strom Thurmond harnessed the many highly racist forces in South Carolina to win his seat back in 1954.

The positive part of this particular election is that the Alaskans did not harness any of their negative forces, such as racism, as a reason for electing Ms. Murkowski as a write-in candidate. They were instead voting against the Tea Party candidate, Joe Miller, that had beat-out Ms. Murkowski in the state´s Republican primary. Fortunately, the more astute local citizens changed their opinion about the GOP candidate, after they heard even more of the bizarre and unsupportable policies of this, "candidate - Joe Miller". And, after he was then indorsed by the ½-term governor, Sarah Palin, that had quit as their own governor of Alaska…….that made their decisions absolutely final. Those very independent Alaskans had decided that they had made a big mistake in choosing the Tea Party´s, Joe Miller, as their Republican candidate .

History was then made when more than 100,000 Alaskans took the time to physically "write-in" Ms. Murkowski´s name on the ballot and to give her a 10,000-vote margin over Mr. Miller. In fact, the winning margin was so large, that even if all the votes Miller had challenged were thrown out, she would still have won by more than 2,000 votes. Miller continued for days refusing to concede to Ms. Murkowski´s big win, but to no avail, (at least so far).

What is so significant about this major write-in election win is that Murkowski could not have done it with just the support from one political party. Due to Alaska´s mixed demographics, it required that Murkowski seek support from Democrats and independents, as well as her fellow Republicans. What she also learned during this quest was that the people´s expectations of their political choices did not differ much from one group to another, regardless of their party affiliation, or lack thereof.

What the people really wanted, and what they were looking for, was best stated by Ms. Murkowski herself in her interview with the reporter, Judy Woodruff from the PBS "NewsHour". Ms. Murkowski stated: "I think what they [the voters] are looking for is the same thing that any Alaskan is looking for: [To] represent our state. Work together with people that have opposing viewpoints to build good policy that allows our state and our nation to go in a positive direction. I think that's what voters are looking for. I don't think that most are looking for somebody that is going to follow the litmus test of one party or another, and never deviate from it. I think they want us to think, and I think they want us to work cooperatively together. So, that's my pledge to all Alaskans, regardless of whether you are the most conservative Republican or the most liberal Democrat, I'm going to try to find a way that we can find common ground to help the state and to help our country."

Yes, this is a pretty good speech from a seasoned politician, but I personally think she´s right. And by winning a rare, state-wide "write-in" election, the public-at-large in Alaska seriously made their point. They want everyone in the congress and the administration to stop "pussy-footing" around and to, "fish or cut bait". The voters want their senators and representatives to stop throwing rocks at each other and to get to work getting some things done for those that put them in office.

They were also sending a lesson to the past "½ governor" that had quit Alaska in order to go to work for Rupert Murdock at FOX. They were saying loud and clear, "Sarah, your endorsement for Joe Miller meant "squat", and you are a quitter, NOT a loyal, tough-minded and independent Alaskan"

If only the rest of the country would say something like that to our so called loyal politicians.

Copyright G.Ater 2010

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