Kill the Chicken

Ok – so following on the heels of the last post, maybe the theme of this post is not-so-politically-correct, but then I don’t get accused of being politically correct all that often anyway…

Today’s primary election in Delaware (along with Nevada’s, South Carolina’s, and Alaska’s earlier contests) brings to mind an old Chinese proverb – “Kill the chicken, but make the monkeys watch” (or in some translations, “Kill the chicken to scare the monkey” – my Chinese isn’t that precise – but I’m sure you get the point either way.)

There’s lots of chatter out here in conservative blogland about the message that is being sent with these elections and the relative merits thereof. The consensus seems to be that the success of these come-from-behind (or out-of-nowhere) TEA party conservatives is a good thing for the Republican party because it will serve as a reminder to the “elitist RINO” faction that they had better toe the conservative line or suffer the consequences. I have some reservations about the validity of that philosophy in that I’m not sure just what exactly the “conservative line” is. Be that as it may be, however, I do think the message has real potential as a warning for all incumbent senators and reps running for re-election for the next seven weeks: Vote against the will of the majority of the American electorate and the odds of your continued employment could be in jeopardy. This goes for all incumbents – Republicans and Democrats alike. I base this astute observation not so much on the results mentioned above as on the turnout.

Conservative voters are motivated.

In Montana last June we saw almost a 2-1 advantage of Republican ballots over Democrat in a state that traditionally is pretty even. In Delaware – a heavily blue state – today the turnout was 12% Democrats, 32% Republican. Other states have experienced similar numbers. You can say all you want about the quality of the candidates, the message, and how and with whom it resonates – but in the end the motivation of the electorate trumps all conventional wisdom when it comes to election results. “They” said O’Donnell couldn’t beat the really popular Castle. “They” said the same thing about Joe Miller running against the entrenched Murkowski machine. And “they’re” still saying that Sharron Angle can’t beat Harry Reid. “They” don’t have a great track record this year so far.

I say if the Obama administration tries to shove any more of their unpopular agenda down the throats of the American public, any incumbent who supports that effort is likely to be toast in 2010 and those senators who are safe this year, but are running in 2012 better learn Chinese real fast. The majority of Americans are fed up with being ignored and dissed by their elected officials.

You saw it last year at the town hall meetings and you’re seeing it this year in the primaries: Round up the chickens – it’s time to teach the monkeys a lesson.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *