Pockets and Bedrooms

Paul Hsieh has a nice Op-Ed up at Pajamas Media about the meaning of the Scott Brown victory in the Massachusetts special election to fill the Senate seat vacated when Ted Kennedy died. Here's the last lines:

The independents have spoken — and they want the Democrats out of their pockets and the Republicans out of their bedrooms.

Will our politicians listen?

Maybe the policians will listen, but I am doubtful. As Harry Binswanger recently said on his HBL discussion list, the American people as a whole don't agree with Objectivism. This means that Americans are still altruists, still believe we are all our brothers' keepers, and still look to the government as a source of "rights" or "entitlements" for ourselves and our "brothers." I believe there is a growing minority of Americans that is beginning to understand that government's proper function is to protect individual rights, but it's still a small minority. And as long as most Americans believe that altruistic welfare programs and business regulation are constitutional, pressure groups will be in politicians' faces lining up for the government dole, promising campaign funding in return.

And politics is always about getting re-elected.

Although Brown seems better on a lot of issues than most politicians, he's not an unmitigated good. Hopefully, Scott Brown will retain his focus on economic issues, and walk his talk in that respect by consistently voting against taxes and entitlements and business regulation. If he does, and Massachusetts re-elects him, then I'll really feel hopeful.