An earthquake shook American politics last week. The epicenter was in Massachusetts, one of the bluest states in the union, and a Democratic Party stronghold since 1962. For 40 years, the Massachusetts seat in the United States Senate belonged to Democratic Party icon Teddy Kennedy.

On January 19, it was plucked away by a Republican.

Scott Brown’s election was many things. It was a vote against Barack Obama and his radical liberal agenda. It was an outburst of dissatisfaction at Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership. And it was, more than likely, a harbinger of future losses for Democrats and victories for Republicans (both in midterm elections later this year, and quite possibly the presidential election in 2012).

But there are some things Massachusetts was not. The election was not an expression of deeply rooted trust or adoration or support of Republican leadership. It was not an outburst of an abiding, sincere hope in the Republican Party. And it was not a sign of a coming brighter age in America. The reason it was none of these is simple: Scott Brown was elected as an alternative option, not the solution.

The distinction is huge.

Americans treat politics like some people treat medication. An ailment sets in, so the person searches for a pill. He researches online, counsels with doctors, and eventually settles on a medication he believes will cure the illness. The pill works somewhat, for a while. Eventually he realizes the medication is not doing exactly what he was promised it would. He still has the ailment, only now it’s accompanied by a host of horrible side effects. The time comes to search for another pill. Thankfully this is America, and new pills are constantly hitting the market. Sometimes, however, the new pill is just a “newly improved” old pill.

America’s politicians and political parties are like these pills. Each is sold as being a better option than the others, yet not one ever successfully treats the cause of the ailment. Every politician and political party comes with its own set of deficiencies and side effects. Devoid of the knowledge and ability to ever heal America’s ailments, every politician and political party, with its requisite side effects, only works, over time, to exacerbate the pain and suffering. Americans inevitably become frustrated, which drives them to search for new medication elsewhere.

The lesson from Massachusetts is that America is tiring of Barack Obama and is in search of another pill.

From the outset, Scott Brown’s election strategy was clear and specific: Exploit the local (and national) antipathy toward the president, then package and sell Scott Brown as the alternative. In tangible terms, this meant promising to stop health care, to curb the trend toward big government, to fight against Mirandarizing terrorists and to not raise taxes. In essence, be everything President Obama is not.

It worked. In November 2008 Barack Obama won Massachusetts by an impressive 26-point margin. Fifteen months later, Martha Coakley (the Democratic candidate for senator) lost Massachusetts by five points. That’s a 31-point swing—in 15 months! (The swing margin was similarly large in last November’s gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey—two states carried by Obama barely a year earlier—where voters replaced the incumbent Democrat governors with Republicans.)

The point is, Brown’s victory was a result of tapping into anti-Obama sentiment. He wasn’t elected as a candidate with viable solutions to America’s problems.

Throughout the campaign, Brown’s Republican PR machine pledged endlessly to attack “Obamacare” as it moves through the Senate. Yet there was no talk of how Scott Brown would solve American health care. Brown promised to engage in an important fight against giving Miranda rights to terrorists. Yet he never delivered a strategy for defeating terrorism. He campaigned against raising taxes. But he never laid out workable solutions for bringing down America’s burgeoning deficits.

After the Republican victory, Drudge Report ran the headline “Now … Will He Run for President?”—as if Scott Brown holds the keys to leading America and solving its mounting problems. Republican leaders and journalists reveled in what they consider an impending renaissance in Republican leadership. Pundits salivated over what Massachusetts portends for Democrats and for Barack Obama and his radical liberal agenda. Truly, it was a repulsive sight of self-aggrandizement and arrogance!

And just think—15 months ago, Republicans were in the boat Democrats now appear to be in. As recently as November 2008, and beginning with midterm elections in 2006, America was searching for alternatives to Republican leadership!

In the Los Angeles Times last week, Tim Rutten observed, “There is a deep and increasingly restive anger stirring in the country. Its focal points at the moment may seem to be health care and ‘big government,’ but if there were a Republican in the White House, they might just as well be tax cuts and ‘limited government’” (emphasis mine). Fifteen months ago, Americans were tired and frustrated with President Bush and Republican leadership. They’d been taking the Republican pill for eight years, and America’s problems had only grown worse.

Throughout 2008, Barack Obama billed himself as the alternative, a candidate of change and transformation. Convinced that Bush wasn’t working, Americans followed the hope that Obama would start fixing America’s problems. Now Americans are realizing that the change this administration is delivering is not the change they seek; Massachusetts is a sign they’re frustrated by the Democratic pill and are searching elsewhere.

Scott Brown saw this frustration and cannily exploited it. But ultimately, Brown is just another pill. Perhaps he’ll come with a few benefits, but he’s also saddled with side effects, with futile policies and ideologies that address symptoms but never the cause. Inevitably, Massachusetts will begin to search for another pill.

The Massachusetts election furnishes a larger, more significant lesson: It’s a stark reminder that American politics is an exercise in futility! America bounces from one party to another, one administration to another, one president to the next. Meanwhile, its problems and ailments are never treated, never soothed and healed. Each pill comes with side effects that only cause America’s general health to decline more rapidly.

In coming months and years, the American electorate may well send greater numbers of Republicans to Congress, to governor mansions and maybe even to the White House. In their new positions of power and responsibility, these leaders will have the opportunity to confront problems, and go to work at healing America’s many festering wounds. They will fail miserably. Why? Because they’re a mere alternative option, and not a politician or party that understands the solutions to America’s many sicknesses!

Perhaps this outlook on what some would argue is the greatest political system in the world strikes you as being fatalistic and depressing. But it’s a simple observation of history and reality. Despite the endless elections and routine changes in leadership, the mind-numbing pledges and promises, and even the well-intentioned efforts of politicians, America’s place in the world and its political, economic and moral health is in rapid decline. It has been for years, decades even!

This does not mean an ideal form of government does not exist. It does! And when it is embraced, it produces strong, selfless leaders who rule with the knowledge and intent to foster peace, prosperity and happiness in every crack and crevice of society, who build and sustain strong, robust economies, who ensure stability and harmony with other nations and peoples. When problems arise, and ailments set in, this form of government knows how to treat and heal the problem—it delivers practical, workable solutions!

Americans are tired of electing alternative options. They yearn for candidates who inspire a genuine and sustainable hope, that have radical yet plausible solutions that will work. Did you know you have that option now? If you’re intrigued, then request your free copy of Mystery of the Ages.