Re-Elect Sen. Jeanne Shaheen

We’re seeing a relentless succession of television ads for candidates these days, almost every one of them either negative, out of context or totally lacking in truth. Take it for a fact that when a candidate in a political ad says he or she is going to tell you the facts that the facts will be nowhere in evidence. No political party and no candidate in my hearing escapes this regrettable observation in election 2014.

Still, there are a couple of things that we ought to be aware of in going through these ads. And let me be specific about one race: the election for U.S. Senate between the incumbent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and the Republican challenger Scott Brown. Their campaigns have mostly focused on what’s wrong with the other candidate, and a lot is said about Brown being a carpetbagger from Massachusetts and Shaheen being an Obama clone. Never mind that. In as civil a way as I can view it, here’s what’s important about this race.

Brown is a Republican who claims he will be an independent. Unfortunately I don’t find much evidence to back this up, and it seems likely that if and when he arrives in the Senate, he will join a party who whose members have largely been unwilling or unable to participate in the governing of the country for the last six years, so earnest has been their determination to keep President Obama from doing so.

The Republican Party is currently the party of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, who are, sadly, among the least formidable intellects to have led the GOP in in recent times. The party includes the likes of Ted Cruz and his Tea Party colleagues, whose brand of convervatism has done created more alienation than affection in America. I don’t doubt anyone’s belief that they are acting in the nation’s best interests, but the results so far suggest that interest has not been well served by their style of governing, or rather their disinclination to govern.

I don’t believe Scott Brown is a bad person. I disagree with much of what he says, but then political advertisements don’t exactly encourage strict adherence to truth. As a person, Scott Brown seems reasonable and likable. But how that might translate into a senator from New Hampshire who is part of a Republican Party which projects a negative, exclusive philosophy and which seems to have no serious focus beyond opposing the President leaves me wondering if this is really the best thing for our country.

So we come down to the bottom line: while Jeanne Shaheen may provoke some measure of disappointment — she is a politician, after all — she has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to look beyond provincialism and partisanship to vote often for what she believes is better for America. I don’t agree with all those votes, and I’m a Democrat. But I have respect for her. I have some respect for Scott Brown as well, but I’m not convinced Scott Brown will be able to rise above the partisanship of his party.