What Really Happened In The Midterm Elections

By Alicia Colon

The cynicism expressed in that 1978 film has been around for decades but it exploded in last week's midterm elections and explained the success of the grassroots Tea Party movement.

Americans who turned out in droves to remove incumbent politicians and replaced many with Tea Party candidates recognized that the American way was being threatened by the socialist policies of the Democrat Party.

But contrary to what many believe, this was not a mandate for the Republican Party, which has just as many lukewarm supporters of the principles that made this country great. GOP primaries eliminated those candidates that did not share the ideals of the newly awakened voters and it's hoped that the newly elected congressional majority will not be corrupted by the D.C. lobbyist machines of the special interests.

No one expressed this sentiment more clearly than Senator-elect Marco Rubio (R-FL) in an appearance on Fox News the day before the election. As a conservative Hispanic, I cheered and clapped when I heard the first-generation Cuban American confirm what we believe this country is all about:

"Well, let me tell you what the important - most important issue in the Hispanic community is in this country. And that is economic empowerment. It's the desire to leave their children better off than themselves.

"It's why people come to this country. It's why they work hard. They want their kids to have the chance to do everything that they themselves did not. By the way, this is a universal hope of all people. But only in America has that dream been realized so consistently.

"And it's the dominant issue in the Hispanic community all across America. There is only one economic system in the world where that dream is possible time and again. And that is the American free enterprise system. And we have to make that case. We have to make the case that big government - big government doesn't really hurt the people who already made it.

"It hurts the people who are trying to make it. It hurts the worker who's trying to become the owner. It hurts the employee who is trying to become the employer. And we've got to make a legitimate, genuine case that the American free enterprise system is the best economic system in the world, particularly for people that are trying to provide a better future for their children and their families."

That is exactly what President Obama, the mainstream media, and the entrenched politicians in Washington do not get.

Mr. Obama is now complaining that it was poor communication that was to blame for Americans not understanding what he was trying to accomplish. He's either tone deaf or just plain arrogant enough to continue denying that it was his policies that were clearly understood and rejected by the voters.

Ramming through a health care program that voters did not want was a direct hindrance to the free enterprise system by mandating that small businesses provide coverage they couldn't afford. It impeded employment incentives and inflated the unemployment figures dramatically. Ditto for the cap-and-trade legislation, which sets guidelines for companies based on faux global warming statistics.

Refusing to extend the Bush tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year and thus raising everyone's taxes by a huge margin prevented companies from determining if they could afford to hire new employees.

Spending trillions of taxpayer dollars in a stimulus program that did not stimulate jobs was evidence of an administration bankrupt of solutions to heal the economy.

In addition, the Democrat mantra of soak-the-rich ignores the fact that it's the rich, not the government, that create private sector jobs either directly or indirectly by their spending habits.

These egregiously disastrous policies woke up a nation that remembered the words of Abraham Lincoln that our country and its government "of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Right-wingers like Glenn Beck made this edict a clarion call for action and the Tea Party activists took up the challenge to take back America.

What's important to remember is not that the Republicans seized control of the House but that there are now more than 30 new Tea Party representatives that have no connection to the GOP establishment.

In fact, the GOP hierarchy was reluctant to recognize this grassroots group as a viable entity and some worried that it might pose a threat as a third party. However, the Republican National Committee chairman, Michael Steele, who's been a target of these selfsame elitist Republicans, recognized at once that the Tea Party movement could bring back the GOP to its original roots by sticking to principles rather than always struggling for political power.

The members of the mainstream media, who always bent over backward to portray Sarah Palin as a moron whenever she appeared at Tea Party rallies only exposed their own meager grasp of history.

When Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the leftwing blog the Daily Kos, tweeted that Mrs. Palin had said to her supporters, "Don't party like it's 1773 yet," he commented sarcastically, "She's so smart."

His tweet was followed by equally historically challenged fellow tweeters such as the Public Broadcasting Service's Gwen Ifill, who chimed in with their own insults, thinking that Mrs. Palin had made a gaffe by not saying "1776." The Boston Tea Party, of course, was in 1773, as true patriots can tell you.

Both the Democrat and Republican Parties are now on trial. The American people are watching closely to make sure that those they elected will keep their promise to restore integrity and prudence to the nation by stopping the hemorrhaging of the national treasury.

This is no time for the GOP to gloat. This is no time for it to seek revenge against the Obama administration. This is no time to listen to the doomsayers who do not appreciate the brilliance of our Constitution, which makes this salvation possible.

It's time to get to work to fix the problems that are crippling this country, which otherwise is headed for the same fate as the European nations now reeling under the yoke of socialism.

If there is one thing to take away from the 2010 election results, it's this: The people have spoken and they are now in charge.

Alicia Colon resides in New York City and can be reached at aliciav.colon@gmail.com and at www.aliciacolon.com