Patient Power

Cato’s David Boaz on Scott Brown’s victory

David Boaz, Executive VP of the Cato Institute, has a well-linked post with some good insights. Some excerpts:

Scott Brown takes over a seat in the United States Senate that has been held by one family (including its seat-fillers) for just over 57 years, since John F. Kennedy was elected to it in 1952, before Brown was born. Massachusetts hadn’t elected a Republican senator since 1972. …

… [T]he Brown victory is a flashing red light with a siren warning Democrats not to proceed with a health care bill that voters don’t like and a big-government agenda that Americans weren’t voting for in 2008.

Brown is no libertarian. But he campaigned against the Obama-Reid-Pelosi health care plan and against tax increases, so he will be part of the opposition to the current governing agenda. …

How does an entrenched political party respond to a successful rebellion? Well, one way is for both the local and national officials to refuse to certify the results of the election and try to ram unpopular programs with the votes of rejected legislators. Would Democrats try to do that with more elections looming in just 10 months? Harry Reid and Barney Frank say absolutely not. Expect a lot of scrambling this week.

Read the whole post:The Brown Revolution.

For more conjectures on Brown’s victory will affect pending health care bills see James Capretta’s post at National Review.

• Putting the Scott Brown victory into perspective
• Health care “reform” is all politics now
• AP on health bills: “meaningful negotiations occur behind closed doors”
• Mandated insurance…runaway costs…price controls, political rationing
• Senate passes health care bill. Is the battle over?