When the Democrats won control of Congress and the Presidency two years ago, they faced two monumental options: make such a significant political change in America that Democrats would dominate government for the next 30-35 years or fail miserably and lose control back to the Republicans for that same time duration. Saving you the theoretical terminology, which I paid a lot of money to learn in graduate courses, we can skip right to the point where an odd, third option has occurred: the country’s political dynamic has shifted far to the right.
In order to truly explain why this happened, I would need some sort of chalk or white board where I can draw not-so-scientific charts and graphs. Yes, I would be stealing that concept from Glenn Beck. I would not however steal the real pie and éclair graphical option, because I am on a diet. Taking a look at the recent history of the media combined with the decline in the attention span of the American public, one can see a trend. It started back when the attractive JFK was victorious against the sweaty and sick looking, yet more informed sounding Richard Nixon in first televised Presidential debate. What started? Entertainment in politics. People no longer wanted to just hear a smart guy, they wanted to see someone with poise and a message…whether that message be intelligent or not. A case in point was when the Washington Post, just before the State of the Union Address, questioned whether anyone could remember anything that President Obama has said in any of his ‘amazing’ speeches. Not to be biased, Sarah Palin can talk about nothing and present herself as completely uninformed (if it’s not written on her hand) and still bring crowds to its feet. Couple these personas with the fact that you can vote your favorite American heroes off of Dancing with the Stars in less than a week and you have a recipe for sharp political changes.
People want to see colossal changes in politics immediately. They wanted to see a withdraw from Iraq, they wanted to see the economy improve and they wanted to have free…no wait…80% of the country didn’t want health care reform, but you get the point! So when a political party or ideal is in complete control of all of the decision making in American politics, they’d better make changes quick or the American electorate will. When one extreme doesn’t get the job done, the impatient people will put faith in the opposite extreme to achieve the goals that they want. We had teetered in the middle throughout the Bush Administration as he narrowly won against an Al Gore who sold himself as centrist at the time and had a fairly close race again with John Kerry in 2004. In 2008, America faced two options, liberal and liberaler. Now, in 2010, with the electorate frustrated, we are seeing no longer the emergence of the ultra-conservative Tea Party, but as of Tuesday, its success.
The American people want a positive change, and until they get it, they will continue to shift back and forth between political ideals…even if that means ignoring the fact that government takes an extreme amount of time to get anything done. The American people are expressing their opinions with their votes and the trending opinion nationwide is very simply this: two years of ultra-liberalism failed; it’s time to give ultra-conservatism a try.
Tim Young was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He
has served his time in government working for multiple Senators on the
Hill as well as former Governor Ehrlich of MD., the Social Security
Administration, and NIH. A spokesperson, manager and strategist for
multiple campaigns, Young has amassed quite a resume of political
experience, ranging from national to grass roots. He holds a law
degree from the University of Baltimore and has completed the
coursework needed for his doctorate in Public Policy. An award
winning stand-up comic, Young leads the creative teams for multiple
non-partisan lobbying efforts as well as nationwide PSA's. 
