Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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and Finally . . . W FEUD FOR THOUGHT cast a vote for boston WE MAY BE THE NATION'S POLITICAL PUNCHING BAG, BUT WE'RE STILL SETTING THE COURSE OF HISTORY AND NATIONAL POLICY. BY ERIC BREWSTER ith election time upon us, it's easy to pick on the flaws of the two-party sys- tem. But many around the nation also take sport in casting aspersions on Massachusetts as a liberal breeding ground. The irony is that what gets done here policy-wise is eventually adopted by the rest of the country. Here in Boston, where 52 percent of voters are registered Independents (surprise!), history suggests the best party line might be no party at all. If only instead of voting Republican or Democratic, we could just vote Boston. Three hundred years of evidence argues that voting Boston means voting progres- sive. From the tax complaint that turned into the Revolutionary War to the Obamneycare plan that has both parties running dizzy today, Massachusetts has been ground zero for moral activism longer than America has considered itself the greatest country in the world. To Boston, voting progressive means voting for more: more freedoms, more rights, and in a rare exception, fewer Chick-fil-A restaurants. It's a historical tilt that has often made us Public Enemy Number One to the country's conservative core. But with impressive consistency, the rest of the country comes around to the ways of the Bay State. Before the nation was even a nation, the Commonwealth's constitution became the model for that of the US. The 1850s saw Boston become the center of the abolitionist movement under the helm of William Lloyd Garrison's news- paper, the Liberator, and we all know how that ended. The 1919 Boston police riots launched then-Governor Calvin Coolidge, a Republican, to national prominence and set the standard for maintaining municipal law and order. In more recent memory, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004. Since then another 17 states have fol lowed with legislation approving marriage licenses, civil unions, and domestic partnerships. This election makes voting Boston more difficult than most. Romney broke ground with his healthcare plan in 2006, only to have Obama adapt it on a national scale and force Romney to flip on his own landmark legislation so he could play the role of oppo- nent. For Bostonians, the election boils down to a hallmark of Boston foresight running against a candidate whose hallmark is acknowledging Boston's foresight. It's no secret that as a state, we lean Democratic in national elections, having not voted red since Reagan was on the ballot in 1980 and 1984. But seven of our last 12 governors have been Republicans. And though all Congressional seats are currently held by Democrats, Republican Scott Brown won a nationally symbolic Senate seat in 2010. The stereotyped Massachusetts Liberal epitomized by John Kerry can be sneakily cen- trist on paper, which tells the story of our political history, ancient past to abrasive present: The state's progressivism transcends partisanship, holding remarkably con- stant regardless of who has been in power. What keeps us knocking at Future's door? To some extent it is a holdover of Revolutionary vigor, a root-for-the-home-team pride in progress. A nuanced tradition of political thought doesn't hurt either, with few cities so steeped in academia alongside the common man's ideal. Perhaps it is simply that Boston voters know what neither party can wholly embrace—that history looks back and marches forward. Regardless of political stripes, voting Boston usually turns out to mean voting American in hind- sight. Which is just how we like it. BC 136 BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM ILLUSTRATION BY DANIEL O'LEARY