Yesterday the world turned upside down

in Massachusetts.

For the first time in decades they elected a Republican senator.

He was elected to take over Ted Kennedys spot. This is just fine by me because it is the elective process in action. The good people were tired of being led in one direction and changed via the elective process. A bloodless revolution, so to speak.

Teddy Roosevelt once said our freedoms were defended by four boxes. The soap box, the ballot box, the jury box and the cartridge box. After the election results someone wryly commented that the soap box and ballot box seemed to be working well enough so the cartridge box could stay shut.

I was glad to hear it.

I followed the election for a number of reasons. Frankly, I expected a lot of trouble and accusations of voter fraud from groups like ACORN and the SEIU. I really thought there was going to be trouble in the Bay State.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear few real accusations.

To Senator Brown, I'll say this: Study the political genius of the late Ted Kennedy very carefully. He can teach you a lot.

In my opinion, the three best politicians this country ever produced were three liberal Democrats. FDR was one, 'Tip' O'Neal was another and Ted Kennedy was the third.

Now, anyone that knows me is aware that I am not a liberal Democrat by any stretch of the imagination, but I'll give credit where credit is due.

Ted Kennedy understood politics.

'Tip' O'Neal once said, "All politics is local." How right he was. Ted Kennedy knew this, also and brought it down to a very local level.

Ted made damned good and sure he brought the bacon home to Massachusetts. The Bay State got their money's worth of Federal funds and projects.

What is more important is that Ted did an awful lot for the guy in the street.

His staff was trained to cut red tape and take on little things for little people.

I would imagine that there are quite a number of Bay Staters that owe their jobs to Ted. I personally know of one couple that had Ted's office staff cut through a lot of red tape to facilitate the adoption of their daughter.

What Ted was smart enough to realize is that everybody has one vote. One single vote. The guy living in a rented trailer on the wrong side of the tracks has the same vote that the fat cat on Beacon Hill has.

Guess what? There are a lot more little people than there are fat cats.

The fat cats can generally take care of themselves, but the little guy feels screwed in that he has no real recourse of action when the hammer of red tape and bereaucracy falls on him.

Enter the graces of Ted Kennedys office.

Like I often say here, it doesn't take much.

Generally it only took a staffer to pick up the phone and make a single call to get something taken care of. "Hello, this is Tom from Senator Kennedy's office...Right...I knew you would help...Thank you."

And the missing paperwork (or whatever) would be magically reappear.

You can bet $2 to a stale Krispy Kreme that that lousy phone call was good for several votes come the next election. That little guy has friends.

If Scott Brown studies the political genius of the person he was elected to replace, then he can have a job for life.