When Scott Brown was elected to the Senate in Massachusetts, it was because he rode a “wave of voter frustration” (Associated Press) and “capitalized on voters’ disaffection with the status quo” (New York Times). “Anger” and “antipathy toward federal-government activism,” more than support for Brown, drove Massachusetts’s voters to go with the Republican (Washington Post). When Oregon voters approved tax increases on corporations and families making over $250,000, however, it was because the voters had finally decided to “behave like responsible adults” (Newsweek). It showed that Beaver State voters had bravely “gnawed back fears of tax hikes” (The Olympian) and...