The same people that were calling the 2008 elections the end of the Republican Party are now calling the Scott Brown election in Massachusetts the end of the Democrat’s agenda. I believe the pundits and politicians are completely misinterpreting the message of these results.

Having spent the last 6 months talking with voters throughout our area, I can tell you that they are equally frustrated with both parties. People want to change the way Washington is working. They detest the backroom deals that have absolutely nothing to do with effective policy making and everything to do with special interests and ensuring that politicians get re-elected at the expense of moving our country forward. Whether it’s the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” or the sweetheart deals that were cut in the Senate to force passage of healthcare legislation, Americans are sick and tired of earmarks and pork barrel spending.

The result of this process is centralized power where Washington bureaucrats make decisions not based on merit, but based on politics. Sadly, this approach has destroyed the confidence that many Americans had in our system of government.

It is time we take serious measures to restore our confidence in government once again. It is time we put an end to the pieces of Washington that clearly exist for political gain. At the top of this list should be an end to earmarks.

Proponents of earmarks claim that they represent only a small percentage of the federal budget. While this may be true, it ignores the detrimental impact earmarks have as the root of runaway spending. Perhaps Congressman John Kline of Minnesota, who recently swore off earmarks entirely, put it best when he explained, “In order to secure funding for a transportation project in my district . . . I was forced to vote for a bloated $286 billion transportation authorization bill that included the infamous $223 million ‘Bridge to Nowhere.’” While the “Bridge to Nowhere” was never designed to benefit many people, I’m sure it would have earned a lot of goodwill from the few Alaskans that it would have affected.

Let’s be honest about this. Not all earmarks fund “Bridges to Nowhere” or “Mule and Packers Museums.” But even if an earmark is going to a worthy project, good elected officials at some point will have to choose between supporting their local funding or voting against legislation they know to be flawed, at the peril of those very projects. Earmarks are at the root of the problems with big-government, and fuel a process that favors those who believe in using their power for political gain.

Over time, too many elected officials begin to think Washington is the solution to all of our problems, which is the very mentality that has lead to massive intrusions in the free markets and runaway government spending.

The shocking election results over the past several months show that voters are sick and tired of politics as usual in Washington and are looking for real leadership. The individuals who provide this new leadership will find that they not only will earn the trust of voters, they will have handed back power to the American people. After all, isn’t this where it belongs in the first place?