Yes We Did!

The title of my post comes from a popular Facebook profile photo that began showing up everywhere in the exhilarating aftermath of Scott Brown's incredible victory last night. Along with many other South Florida conservative activists, I cheered the election returns at Wings Plus in Coral Springs, where we took over an entire room and greeted every election update with the same kind of uproarious exuberance I recall from childhood and adolescence -- whether watching Ronald Reagan give a speech, or the Philadelphia Eagles score a touchdown.

That Brown's Rocky-style victory in the final round occurred on the one-year anniversary of President Obama's inauguration, and as a result of the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy earlier this year only intensifies the satisfaction and excitement among tea party activists across the country. It is also quite fitting that Massachusetts -- site of the original Boston Tea Party -- would fire the opening shot in a crucial mid-term election year.

Building on the momentum of New Jersey and Virginia's gubernatorial races last fall, the second American Revolution ushered in 2010 by electing a candidate who believes in cutting taxes, limiting the size and scope of government, defeating Obamacare, and keeping the USA on offense against radical Islamic terrorism (even going so far as to defend waterboarding) -- in the most liberal state in the country!

Who'd have thunk it?

Now I understand that many of us are to the right of Scott Brown on some significant issues. Like the majority of my tea party friends on Facebook, I too wish he held a pro-life stance, although he opposes partial-birth abortion and supports parental consent for minors. However, given the perilous circumstances we as a nation find ourselves in as a result of "hope and change", it is even more critical to judge each race on its own merits.

A special-election senatorial race in liberal Massachusetts is quite different from a special-election congressional race in upstate New York. In the latter case, Republican party bosses -- not the people -- hand-picked a candidate who was at least as far to the left as her Democratic opponent. The situation was further exacerbated when Newt Gingrich inexplicably endorsed Dede Scozzafava for simply having an "R" after her name, but otherwise supporting odious legislation like Card Check, among other affronts to American freedom.

In that particular situation, supporting a true conservative like Doug Hoffman, the man the Republican establishment should have coalesced around, sent a clear and necessary message to the GOP elites in Washington that their conservative base was no longer willing to go along to get along. And they've further crystallized that message by refusing to donate to the RNC, in favor of donating their hard-earned money directly to conservative candidates.

But with the USA on the precipice, quibbling with Scott Brown for not being an ideologically pure candidate in a liberal state where "unaffiliated voters" (i.e. Independents) and Democrats far outnumber registered Republicans would've been counter-productive and self-defeating. Aside from the fact that abortion is a states' rights issue, in an age of radical Islamic terror, out-of-control deficit spending, government takeovers of private industry, Cap and Trade, Obamacare, milquetoast foreign policy and disturbingly weakened national security, it is but one of many in a long list of evils.

As the cliche goes, battles must be chosen wisely, and in politics, strategy sometimes trumps ideology. In the areas that matter in terms of defeating the Dems' statist agenda -- strong national defense, fiscal responsibility, lower taxes and limited government -- Scott Brown is in alignment with conservatives. And the fact that grass-roots conservatives have mastered the internet (a medium previously utilized almost exclusively by the left), is a testament to the power and determination of everyday Americans when they recognize the urgent need to fight like hell for their freedom. If we didn't see it before, we now know for certain that no matter where the race is run, its outcome affects us all.

Will Scott Brown possibly disappoint conservatives at some point in the future? Given the fact that, like everyone else in public office, he is also a politician, chances of that are pretty high. There are no perfect human beings, and therefore, no perfect candidates.

However, with Obama and the Dems in meltdown mode, Obamacare on the ropes and the rest of the administration's radical plans for America in jeopardy as a result of a principled guy in a pick-up truck who didn't consider it beneath him to shake hands with his fellow citizens outside in the cold at Fenway Park (and otherwise work his tail off to actually earn their votes), any future disappointment will be tempered by the euphoria of the moment they called the race for Brown.

Between that and the fact that the "truthers" on Facebook are having hysterical fits over Brown's "we win, they lose" approach to Global Jihad, it's a richly satisfying victory, indeed.

I can hardly wait for November.