365 Days

I have not been this angry about politics in quite a long time, it seems. To think, 365 days ago, I fell asleep on a couch in Washington, DC knowing that the next morning, I would bear witness to a seminal moment in human history, the inauguration of America's first black President, and the first - we thought - truly transformational leader of our time, Barack Obama.

I remember making haste to the West Lawn of the Capitol, desperately pushing my way through the thousands, and with tears in my eyes, listened and cheered one more time at the victory I helped create - not for me, but for my country, for my fellow citizens. Not an electoral victory, or a political victory, but a human victory, as I and the millions gathered at the Capitol on that cold January morning truly believed that we were on the precipice of a new American epoch, of peace and brotherhood, of teamwork and solidarity, of a renewal of the founding principles of this nation. We had come from the four corners and the nation and around the world, and we believed on that day the work truly began, that the hope was alive and well, that our dreams were coming true.

Now, one year later, our dreams lie in shambles, hijacked by the poisonous efforts of a small minority of very boisterous charlatans. Tonight, in Massachusetts, the place in this nation set forth from its creation as a Shining City on a Hill, the place where leaders are born and call home, the place which has given more good to this nation than anywhere else, tonight, in Massachusetts, the American dream is a dream denied. The people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have elected Scott Brown as their next United States Senator. He will take the same seat in the United States Senate as men like Adams, Webster, Lodge and Kennedy. A state senator from Wrentham will carry the legacy of these great men, a legacy to which he has avowed not only to deny justice but to do harm. And in so doing, Scott Brown will put the final nail in the coffin of hopes of those who spearheaded the movement for equitable access to health care as a fundamental right of citizenry in America, indeed the cause of his predecessor's, Edward Moore Kennedy, life. He will provide the necessary vote against any progress the country would wished to have made throughout the coming year. Tonight, progress became a victim of its own success, torn asunder by those few who seek to benefit from the misery of the many.

And so tonight, there are only words plain and clear for the actions of the people of the Commonwealth. Know that these truths are what you have done by your hand, Massachusetts. And that America is weaker for it.

Because of what you have done, Massachusetts, innocent people in this country will die, victims of a broken health care system built for the powerful and not the people. And their blood shall rest on your hands.

Because of what you have done, Massachusetts, our country is now set on an unwavering path towards inequity, injustice and strife.

Because of what you have done, Massachusetts, fringe beliefs held by a small minority of ignorant people will now be given credence, broadcast for all the world to mock as the "true character of America."

Because of what you have done, Massachusetts, our daughters, sisters, and mothers will wake up tomorrow second class citizens in the land they helped to build and help to lead.

Because of what you have done, Massachusetts, the hope of millions of young gay Americans to serve their country or simply live a life of freedom has been deferred yet again.

Because of what you have done, Massachusetts, we are once again faced with the certainty that the ever deepening divisions in our own society are the paramount markers of that society, rich from poor, black from white, gay from straight, men from women, entitled from those in need.

Because of what you have done, Massachusetts, a nation founded on the intrinsic human values of liberty, service and brotherhood has once and most likely for all lain waste to every one of its ideals for the sake of those divisions.

But, most importantly, because of what you have done, Massachusetts, tonight, you increased the chances that the baby crying out in hunger in the night is your brother, that the girl raped and left to die in an emergency room without quality and appropriate care is your sister, that the gay man beaten for being different is your son, that the immigrant rounded up in the night and sent a land not his own is your friend, that the person without work, left to freeze on a cold New England night without food or shelter, is you.