Test Your Understanding Of American Politics The Huffington Post, January 20, 2010 Happy new year, I guess....my haiku take on the real lesson of Massachusetts... Given: Massachusetts' bipartisan health care reform a few years ago is the model for what Obama and the Democrats have been on the verge of passing in Washington. Scott Brown supported the bipartisan Massachusetts health care reform (which has given the state near-universal coverage) Scott Brown opposes the Democrats' health care reform in Washington, and told voters he'd be the 41st vote to stop it. Massachusetts voters, who overwhelmingly support the Massachusetts health care reform, have sent Scott Brown to Washington to stop Washington from enacting at a national level the popular plan Massachusetts enacted a few years ago. Which of the following explains Scott Brown's victory over Martha Coakley? (Maybe I'm missing something, but I think these are the only three options): Scott Brown is a disingenuous idiot. Massachusetts voters are confused idiots. I'm an idiot, for expecting logic or reason to play any role in American political life at all.