The Counterrevolution Continues

More and more Americans are rejecting the empty rhetoric of hope and change and the government-knows-best philosophy of President Obama and his congressional allies.

This response to the radical policies of this administration - embodied in the tea party movement - is what I refer to as a counterrevolution in A New American Tea Party. It is a gut reaction millions of Americans are having to the rapid expansion of the size and reach of government and the fiscal crash course our nation is on. These aren't Democrat and Republican issues - these are American issues.

All things considered, it should not be too surprising that my home state of Massachusetts may be 24 hours from electing Republican Scott Brown to the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat.

President Obama just visited MA to boost Democrat Martha Coakley's support. The only thing is, President Obama is part of the problem for Coakley, not part of the solution.   The underlying factors behind the unexpectedly close race in MA are symptomatic of a larger dissatisfaction with the President's radical agenda.  His big government boondoggles have his support at record lows nationally.  A mere 26% of likely Massachusetts voters approve of the President's flagship health care plan dubbed ObamaCare.  Only 48% approve of his job rating - this in a state that he won handily. Nationwide, a recent Washington Post poll reveals that 58% of Americans favor smaller government.

Massachusetts voters are right to be skeptical.  They have had a taste of "universal" health care.  The result? Long waits and higher prices. It is no surprise that they appose their own plan and exporting such a flawed policy to the rest of the nation. As Jon Keller writes in today's Wall Street Journal:

Support for the state's universal health-care law, close to 70% in 2008, is also in free fall; only 32% of state residents told Rasmussen earlier this month that they'd call it a success, with 36% labeling it a failure. The rest were unsure. Massachusetts families pay the country's highest health insurance premiums, with costs soaring at a rate 7% ahead of the national average, according to a recent report by the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund.

When the folks back in my home state of Massachusetts - and believe me these aren't "right-wing radicals" - think the government is overstepping its bounds, it is time for President Obama and Democrats in Washington to make a major course correction.

Regardless of who wins this race, the fact that what should have been a done deal for Democrats is this close signals a victory for the tea party movement and serves as a warning shot over the bows of big spending, big government incumbents off all stripes as we enter the 2010 election cycle.