Fear vs. Courage

Exit polls show people over 61 went for Joe Lieberman by a 2 to 1 margin. While the rest of America voted across the country for change, when it came to our senator, seniors voted to “stay the course”.

So why did Connecticut seniors vote to “stay the course”? Was it Joe’s experience? Would they “stay the course” with a doctor having 30 years experience but consistently makes misdiagnoses? Yes, I see some returning to that doctor irregardless of his ineptness. Would they “stay the course” and keep returning their car to the same mechanic, even after he continuously made faulty repairs? Yes, we all know people, young and old, who do that very thing. Would these same seniors “stay the course” and keep calling the same inept plumber or electrician? The answer is yes and most of us have done it. Having said this I guess it’s easy to stay with the experienced politician who makes bad policy decisions.

So maybe it comes down to the fear of the unknown, the fear of change. Working on the Lamont campaign it was uplifting to see our most ardent and loyal volunteer callers being seniors, perhaps knowing they needed to be doubly active to offset their peers. Many were veterans, not chicken hawks, of Vietnam, Korea, and even WWII. These seniors knew the difference between live fire and hollow rhetoric. One D-Day veteran pilot spoke of his missions over Normandy beaches and his need for “one more mission” to convince people of the failed policies of the Iraq War. Other seniors spoke of the terrible deficit bill being presented to their grandchildren because of these “failed policies”.

So I want to salute these seniors that had the courage to stand up for change. These seniors know that real change begins with a change in leadership, as did the rest of America. They know that sometimes, like in Connecticut on August 8th, and across America on November 7th, courage wins out over fear.