The Specter Haunting Specter

I'm from Pennsylvania, so I've had Arlen Specter as one of my senators for most of my life. I've disagreed with him at times, but in general he always struck me as more or less of a rational adult. If his refrigerator broke, I think he would probably talk with his wife about whether it could be fixed, and if not, what size, color, and extra features they wanted, and where they could get it for the best price and most efficient delivery and installation. I don't think his response would be to go on TV or the radio and scream about how refrigerators were breaking all over this country because those wishy-washy tax and spend liberals were too busy eating arugula and drinking lattés to buy a new refrigerator every two years like they're supposed to and the reason they weren't buying refrigerators every two years, my friends, I think we all know this, don't we? The reason they weren't buying them is the same reason liberals do anything: because they hate America.

Specter was never like that, as opposed to certain Rick Santorums I could name, so I never thought it was a disgrace to live in a state that voted for him. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm very sympathetic to the principles of Goldwater-style conservatism, and I'm equally sympathetic to the classic Democratic belief that government can help society move forward. Voting rights come to mind in this regard, and the fact that elevators get inspected occasionally. If we'd had serious adults looking at the financial system over the last few years, we all might have been better off today.

It's obvious that Specter's switch from Republican to Democratic was a poltical calculation—he says so plainly—but it's a political calculation based on his perception that a moderate—a serious adult, in other words—isn't what the shrinking base wants these days. The base obviously wants simplistic slogans delivered with sneers and screeches. The Democrats are trying, as best they can, to deal with some incredible messes. The ice cream has melted and the meat has gone bad and we need a new refrigerator like now. And like I said, I think Arlen Specter is a refrigerator-crisis-dealin'-with kinda guy. Serious adults tend to want to solve problems in a rational way. People who just want to make money by entertaining the ignorant rabble with simplistic slogans are not serious adults. They're the intellectual equivalent of little kids who bang metal pots with metal ladles because they enjoy the hellish racket they're making. It's entertaining for a certain mentality, but it's not really something that solves problems. Serious adults solve problems. I think that on a certain level, a majority of people get that. The results speak for themselves, don't they?