December 16, 1773 – On a cold Massachusetts evening, thousands of oppressed American citizens gathered around Boston Harbor to voice their displeasure with their government.  After decades of being taxed, tyrannized, and having their grievances ignored, those Massachusetts citizens did what Americans ultimately do – They put their lives, their families and their fortunes on hold in order to protect liberty.  And on that night, amongst the shouting and the confusion and the tea floating in the harbor, liberty was protected.

History has a way with irony.  On Tuesday, January 19, 2010 – over 236 years after those Americans lit the brushfire that ultimately would begin to burn so hot and so bright that it exploded into revolution – liberty, once again, will place its hope in Massachusetts.  And what once seemed impossible, has now become plausible.

Can Scott Brown really win?  Six months ago, it was impossible.  Six weeks ago, it was improbable.  Six days ago, it was inconceivable.  And yet, with less than 48 hours to go,  the Democrats are jumping on the panic button with both feet.  Bill Clinton was dispatched to Massachusetts over the weekend in an attempt to breathe life into Martha Coakley’s flailing campaign.  President Obama is heading to Boston with Coakley on Sunday in what appears to be a last-ditch effort to rally the left’s “unenthused” base.  In the meantime, all of the polls – including Coakley’s own internals – show Scott Brown surging.  While the race remains “within the margin of ACORN” (H/T Steven Crowder), keep in mind that, as late as mid-October, all of the polls had Coakley enjoying a very comfortable 25 to 30 point lead.

How can this be?  How – in the bluest of blue states, the birthplace of American socialized medicine, the home of Barney Frank - can Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat (err, sorry – the “People’s Seat”) be on the verge of turning red?  Some will credit the socialist agenda of the far-left, as manifested in the health care debate, which, oddly enough, has turned out to be even too much for the “People’s Republic of Massachusetts” to stomach.  Some will call it a reflexive, knee-jerk repudiation of the relentless barrage of programs and pork which have been thrust upon us by the tone-deaf politicians in Washington over the past 12 months.  Still, others will point to the fact that Coakley has presided over what may very well go down as the worst political campaign in modern American history.

While I do not discount the cumulative effect of any of these factors upon the race, I do believe that there is something much larger at play here.  You see, America – ALL OF AMERICA – remains a place unlike any other in the history of the world.  And while we waiver and tire and falter from time to time, in the end, we will always protect liberty.  For the people of Massachusetts, that time is now.  Let freedom ring…