Ted Kennedy Dies, Saves Country Five Months Later

So, Teddy Kennedy finally did something beneficial for the country, even if it required dying to free up his Senate seat. (That's the kind of self-sacrifice I can decidedly wish on all Progressive politicians.) That seat has now been provided to Scott Brown, courtesy of the temporarily sane Massachusetts voters.

Mr. Brown said some sensible things during his campaign — that the current health bills in Congress are unhealthy and that jihadists should be fired upon, not allowed to file motions in criminal courts. But he also voted for RomneyCare and still believes that "everyone should have health care," apparently provide for by the State.

BROWN: I believe that everybody should have health care, it's just a question on how we do it. Do we do a one size fits all plan? Do we allow the states to actually get more involved and do what we did? [From an interview with Meridith Viera.]

Not what an advocate of the free market could wish for, but not the worst thing he could have said, either. No doubt, far and away the best one could reasonably hope for out of Massachusetts. And, in any case, if ever there was a national emergency that hinged on the outcome of an election, this was it.

[In his defense, he did follow up with this (when Viera tried to instill some guilt with the already-hackneyed line about MA voters happily having socialized medicine and therefore not caring if it were 'denied' the rest of the country):

BROWN: Well, I think we should allow the states to do what's important for their own states, have the federal government incentivize those individual states.

Bad, but still far better than what Coakley's election would have fostered.]

In any case, the deeper issue has little to do with Scott Brown's election, as useful as it is in throwing serious sand in the Progressive gears. It's this: shifting the ratio of (good, or at least less destructive) Rs to Ds in D.C. is a good first step. But the problems in this country are not chiefly political and they won't be solved by Washington, no matter who is in power.

What needs to happen is for Progressivism, in all it's ugly, destructive forms throughout the entire culture — the arts, education, journalism, science, and business — to be utterly rejected and replaced.

Replaced with what? With the values of a long-overdue Second Renaissance: observation-based rationality, Randian self-interest, romantic realism. (More on that in an upcoming post.)

That's the only way we're ever going to make any real progress and Scott Brown is unlikely to be much help in that effort. So, by all means, celebrate staving off socialized medicine (for a while) and putting a real scare into the Democrats. But don't let down your guard and keep pushing for reason and freedom.

The window is open to allow for some fresh air, but in this stagnant culture it will take a few strong fans to remove the stench for good.