Posted by Tina
I hate to bring this up during this joyous time just before Christmas but when I think of how our soldiers are sacrificing for America I realize it would be shameful to let it go. Some things are too important to set aside. What’s happening in Washington DC is unprecedented and anything but indicative of the ideal created for us by the founders. It sickens me to see the power grab unfolding in the name of the people.
Two stories caught my attention today. Read them and weep…for America:
Earlier this week I asked why Democrats continue to push a national health care bill, even though dozens of polls show a solid majority of Americans don’t want it. Are President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid irrational? Politically tone deaf? What could possibly account for their rush to pass legislation that the public decisively rejects — less than a year before the 2010 elections? ** I outlined the theories of a Democratic strategist who asked to remain anonymous. He said that Pelosi is determined to fulfill the Democratic Party’s destiny — a national health care system — and believes losing 20, or even 40 Democratic seats in the House would be an acceptable price for achieving a goal the party has pursued since Franklin Roosevelt. The president is looking for a crowning achievement and has the comfort of not running for re-election in 2010. And, the strategist said, Reid believes that whatever losses Senate Democrats sustain in 2010 will happen regardless of whether health care is passed. ** After the column was published, I heard from many readers with their own ideas. ** “The Democrats are playing for the long term,” wrote one reader. “They know that, once they’ve planted a new entitlement, it will grow as fast as they can water it with taxpayer dollars.” ** “The only way to fully understand the motivation for pursuing this legislation is that it creates dependency,” wrote another. “The unstated, but ever-present, goal of health care reform is to make as many Americans as possible as dependent on the federal government as possible for as much of their lives as possible.”
Political power is the major motivation for these Democrat lawmakers. They have engaged in unprecedented dirty tricks to achieve their aims. The bill they will pass without Republican contribution or support has been written largely in secret with deals forged behind closed doors. They have acted against the will of the people and also thrown their own constituents under the bus, as they say, to get something, anything passed this year. Their behavior is shameful enough for what it means in America but that isn’t the end of this sordid story. Consider the wider audience:
“They’re laughing at us,” by Perry Fisher – American Thinker
They’re laughing at us. All over the world, they’re laughing, some more discretely than others. We may not like it, but we have to acknowledge it. There’s just too much material. We’re we are the world’s first super power joke generator. ** You know where they’re laughing at us the hardest? Iraq. Baghdad. ** You know who? Legislators. ** In a remarkable, but still tender bit of anthropology, really good people – military, State Department and civilian – have been advising newly democratized Iraqi leaders about the ways of democracy, including law making. ** Three WEF (Worst Enemies Forever), Shi’ites, Sunnis, and Curds, are bumpily affecting self-government. ** They are coached to let every voice at the table be heard; not get to far ahead or behind constituents; to be civil to one another; to establish level playing fields and fair rules; to avoid stacking the deck; to be open with the public and to listen to them, individually and as a group. The military advisors, being high-ranking officers, encourage leaders to set the example and keep everyone informed. The basic lessons of democracy, the stuff of election campaigns.
Our legislators make a mockery of the democratic process in our republic. I don’t know about all of you but I want the authentic America back, the America Ronald Reagan described, the America that is like a “shining city on a hill”. The behavior of our legislators has been inexcusable for decades but now it is over the top and downright embarrassing.
Our mistake is that we’ve been uninformed and complacent; our mistake is that we have trusted them. After we throw these turkeys out and replace them with a new crop we should require that they spend the first hour of each work day being reminded of the heritage we share. One element of their education should be designed to create in them a sense of humility and caution. Another should be a strong reminder that they are there to serve. More than anything they should be required to memorize and recite speeches and writings of the founders and great statesmen of our national infancy. Yes, they, and their staff, should be forced to attend school each day before they are allowed to write one word of legislation.
Pray for our country.