If absolutely nothing else comes of the 2009 election season, one thing is clear. The populace is 1) angry, 2) frustrated with their government on most every level and 3) will take matters into their own hands in order to change the political landscape. And many of those who had never paid much attention to politics before are now the seeds that are transforming the way elections might be run for the foreseeable future.

A lot can, has been and will be read into last night’s results. From the network and cable news pundits to the largest political sites and forums to the smallest blogger, there will be an extraordinary amount of analysis of what is usually a boring and little noticed election cycle.

However, in my opinion, the most important events happened before the first ballot was cast. And the most important of those were that a good percentage of the American citizenry decided to finally start taking matters into their own hands and shedding the snakeskin of the political class, who for far too long have “spoken” for them, even as most of that class worked against them, overtly or covertly. The rise of the Tea Party, the elevation of the Town Hall and the return of a true citizen candidate is transforming the very fundamentals of the political landscape of this country to it’s very roots. Even as the Political Class looks it’s nose down at such rabble and brushes them off as one would a tick on a hot summer day.

The Rise of the Citizen goes way beyond the usual and predictable Party/Talking Points/Media babble that has so dominated the political conversation for far too many decades. It is grassroots at it’s finest and was seen most clearly as an election consequence in the NY-23 race.

For here, the disconnect between the Political Class and the Citizen was at it’s most stark. A few powerful party leaders bypass the usual party primary, select a candidate that is the ultimate political cross-dresser and pour tons of money into her campaign. When it leaks out that the political cross-dresser is a radical leftist, they circle their wagons, bring in some aging, political big guns to help shore up the cross-dresser’s support. All the while, derisively sliming all those that question the troubled nomination in the first place.

And then, almost suddenly, like a David taking on Goliath, a Citizen Candidate emerges from nowhere, energizes both the local populace and catches the notice of highly influential conservatives the country over and with just a matter of a few weeks of campaigning nearly pulls off a stunning win.

It just goes to show that the days of being led by staid party leaders, recycling endless campaign money and uttering empty, predictable and shallow media bytes in order to achieve a “victory” that usually ends up in an appeasing and spineless victor are over. Like a football team building from the ground up with a new owner, GM and head coach, the whole gameplan and playbook have changed dramatically.

Party leaders on both sides ignore this at their peril.

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