To Blog or Not to Blog?

It’s been 2 months since my previous blog. Why so long? Discouragement mostly. Citizens barraged Congressional telephones and emails in order to send a message. The overwhelming majority of Americans did not want the National Health Care bill passed. Obama, Pelosi, and Reid were determined to pass it anyway, and did.

The techniques used seem so foreign to our Constitution, i.e. - buying off votes from states with outright bribes, exceptions, and promises; using the “Slaughter” rule to “deem” a bill passed; and writing a bill that is so cumbersome, no one really knows what is in it.

So those who opposed the bill mobilized and let their representatives hear - we don’t want this bill. It didn’t matter; they passed it anyway.

I think I must feel a bit like the British colonists did in the 1770s. They’d protest, they’d boycott, and they’d petition. The boycotts worked to a degree, but never did bring about real change. No wonder the Framers included within the 1st Amendment that citizens not only had the right to petition, but to expect a redress of grievances. They went further than saying we had a right to complain; we also had a right to expect their actions to be corrected. Some would argue that the colonial situation was different as they had no representation in Parliament. What’s the difference? The sitting Senators and Representatives may have been duly elected by their constituents, but when they blatantly ignore the opposition of the public which is desperately attempting to contact Congress yelling, “Stop, stop, please don’t destroy our system!” and yet continue to do so, where is the representation?

I attended the Tax Day Tea Party protest, here in Eugene, OR, on April 15. A radio guy interviewed me. The press was out in force, as was the law. The media went on to cover the event as a small but angry gathering. The cops knew their job would be easy. Sidewalks and lawns around the federal building were covered with well-mannered, law abiding folks carrying personalized signs of protest. The was no swearing. There were no threats to passerbys. There was no pushing or shoving. No evidence of littering. Protesters made sure that the sidewalks had ample room for non-protesters to walk through. The vast majority of motorists honked in support. Somewhere around 20 motorists flipped me off in the course of 2 hours. (Personally, I can’t imagine driving past a group of protesters with whom I disagree, such as LGBT, PETA, Greenpeace, Socialists, Neo-Nazis, SEIU, etc, and flipping them off. Call me quick to generalize, but I’m guessing none of the protesters I was gathered with would do so. How do some become so comfortable to yell or gesture that phrase?) At one point, a lady crowded in next to me and blatantly put her sign in front of mine so the motorists would see hers, not mine. I thought, “Wow, this is out of character for this crowd.” Another guy caught my attention due to his shirt which read “F--K Hippies.” I looked at their signs: No Socialism - Close the Public Schools; No Socialism - Close the Public Libraries; No Socialism - No health care for the needy; in each case, the Social part of the sign was in red letters. Ah, I got it. These two were here to get photographed or noticed, trying to make the Tea Party protesters look like heartless jerks who wanted to close schools, libraries, and have no provision for helping others. The next day on the news, my suspicion was borne out with a story about an Oregon teacher who had been suspended from his job for posting a website advocating disrupting the Tax Day rallies with such tactics, and even gathering as much information as possible on the Tea Party protesters, including social security numbers.

Conservatives, Libertarians, and Constitutionalists are looking forward to next November. Elections have proved to be the vehicle of peaceful protests in our country. We look forward to voicing our discontent by unseating representatives who don’t seem responsive. I have my fears though. How many dead people will vote? How many prisoners? How many polling places will be manned by ACORN and SEIU thugs and bean counters? Will Obama appoint an elections czar and make an Executive Order that the czar, and only the czar, can validate election returns? Extreme? It happens in other countries and has happened here on a more limited basis; does wishful thinking protect us?

So far, President Obama has

taken over GM

taken over banking control

taken over mortgage control

taken over student loans and education

taken over health care

wants to take over the internet

wants to take over the decision to give illegal immigrants amnesty

wants to take over the radio airwaves

When he said he would fundamentally change America, he wasn’t kidding. When Bush (not exactly a spendthrift) left office, we had a national deficit of about $450 billion. In less than one year, Obama’s administration, with the cooperation of Pelosi’s and Reid’s Congress, pushed this to $1.85 trillion - quadrupling the deficit. Whereas he promised to have troops out of Iraq within the first 7 months, we are now there 16 months into his term while escalating in Afghanistan - relying on the alliance of Karzai, a leader with known ties to the opium world. As Iran and North Korea become nuclear powers, our President has vowed never to resort to our use of our own nuclear arsenal. Obama bows deeply to Muslim leaders and walks out on an engagement with the Israeli prime minister. Medicare and Medicaid are bankrupt, and now we’re going to model National Health Care after them, legally requiring citizens who don’t have private insurance to buy the government plan (since when does the government have the right to force a purchase of anything?). Is this the kind of change his voting block was hoping for?

So why a 2 month hiatus on blogging? I read this demotivator: “Blogging: Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few.” And I knew I was guilty. People don’t want to be burdened with bad news. As the Declaration of Independence says “...and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” In other words, we will suffer under a bad government because we’ve gotten used to it; even if it means allowing the country to fall apart. But I’m no Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry nor Samuel Adams.

So I think this is my swan song - most likely my last political blog. I may get rejuvenated and change my mind. But until that happens, if it happens, the fat lady has sung, and I will put my pen back in its scabbard.

The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men. Samuel Adams