No matter how many posts that Jeff, Bill, or myself make showing what we feel is a better way, I’m left wondering how much good will it do? Just a look through the squawkbox or the letters to the editor show that people aren’t truly interested in ideas like freedom or personal responsibility. Instead, they seem to geniunely want the Nanny State that so many of us truly fear.
Last week, I wrote about a letter to the editor about a man who wants tobacco regulated by the FDA because he got cancer from smoking. There is nothing in his letter to show that he has shouldered any of the blame for that himself. It’s as if Big Tobacco forced him to smoke and keep smoking, which led to his cancer.
On Wednesday, another letter to the editor had a woman lamenting about signs and cars, all but begging local officials to step in because she has a hard time making a turn, even claiming that the alleged code violations were to blame for her being rear ended at that intersection. No mention of how she was rear ended because the other driver didn’t apply the brakes correctly.
Several months ago, I watched a television program about the American Nazi Party trying to hold a rally in a jewish neighborhood. What got me was how many people thought that their speech should be banned because it was hateful, and yet had no conception that banning hateful speech may seem tame, but then they can ban “zionist” speech, or anything else for that matter.
There’s the now famous woman who voted for President Obama because she believed that she wouldn’t have to pay for a house, a car, or anything else. She honestly thought that Obama would provide for everyone, without a single thought of what that would mean for this country. There’s no thought of what kind of home or car you would get if tax dollars had to buy everyone one. Trust me, you wouldn’t want it.
I’m finding myself disgusted not just with this nation’s politicians, but with the voters of this nation. They are the ones who send these people to Washington. They’re the ones who seem convinced that throwing more money at education in this state is the answer, despite the fact that no matter how much you throw at it, we still rank near the bottom of the entire nation.
They are the ones who demand a national health insurance to the point that both candidates from the Big Two Parties had plans to put into place, despite the facts that national health insurance hasn’t been shown to work worth a damn. They are the ones who will push this nation towards rationing of healthcare and a single payer system.
If you don’t believe the damage that people in this country can cause, take a look at California. With California’s ballot initiatives, the people of California have approved spending for every pet project anyone can think of, but they can’t pay for it because they can’t raise taxes without a super majority in the state legislature. So, now California is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. They’re about to go belly up, and the voters caused it.
They’ll do the same thing here unless we do something.
Grass root effort is what is called for. Get your facts ready. Pick a topic or two and become an expert. Then, when someone says “but Obama will take care of health insurance,” you can counter with what all will really happen. Things like long lines and rationed healthcare and what that will mean for them. When someone talks about how Obama will cut the deficit, point out how he’s only cutting a small percentage off of something he jacked up to astronomical proportions.
Become experts on policy, and raise the level of debate in this nation to new heights.
No, not everyone will listen. Some people really want socialism, even if they don’t realize it. Socialists aren’t bad people, so keep that in mind. They just don’t see things the same way. Be respectful in your discussions, which is something many of us have a hard time with. We’re passionate. That’s good. You’re motors revving high, so keep it there. But don’t let them label all who oppose socialism with the broad brush of hating poor people, or “angry white men” or any other stereotype.
We have to draw a line in the sand, and that line is now. We will never change this nation until we can change the attitudes of the people within it.
You are right on, post points, except for the one that the majority want a nanny state. It’s apathy and the fact that the slient majority are just not aware of the issues. I’ve been writting Letters to the editor and various other ways. Slow, but based upon what I see in the paper, and hear from idividuals that read it, it is slowly working. They are waking up. Tea Parties are working in waking them up. Don’t give up, keep writting.
Unfortunately Mike, I pray that you’re right. Unfortunately, what I tend to see is people who want freedom exclusively for the that which they personally accept, and not for anything they find objectionable. They will stand side by side with people like you and I so long as it’s what they personally believe as well. Yet they will not defend one’s right to yell at the top of their lungs that which they would spend a lifetime yelling at the top of their lungs against. To many want selective freedoms, and don’t seem to understand that an assault on any freedom is an assault on all freedom.
I won’t stop writing, but I have accepted that it will not be through this alone that change will be made. I spoke at the Albany Tea Party. I will speak at any venue that will have me. I will speak for the cause of true freedom until there is no longer breath in my body. I will take to the streets if I have to. I will not let them strip away more and more freedoms and pretend that we are still a free land.
Today, Iraqi civilians can keep a full-auto capable AK-47 in their homes for protection. The United States military set that rule in place. They made the Iraqi’s free in a manner that our own citizens can’t enjoy. We defend the right of free speech and human rights all over the globe, but no mention is made of our own rights abuses. Laws like the US PATRIOT Act, the most misnamed law on Earth, has destroyed the fourth amendment for generations to come. The tenth amendment is a thing of the past, now only good to be shown in a museum next to dinosaur fossils and knightly armor.
But make no mistake. I. Will. Never. Quit.
I swore an oath in 1993 to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” I will keep that oath.
Guys: it seems like you are hitting the proverbial wall or realizing that you are writing logical stuff and the nation would be better if the voters would selection leaders who follow similar logic.
In your democratic society, informed voters get to vote also. When I worked on Capitol Hill, I actually liked the direction Newt was heading as speaker before exited stage left. His basic concept centered on providing a fair shot through a quality education for every American child. If you worked hard, stayed focus, kept your nose clean, prepared for a vocation and (I am going there) exercised personal responsibility, you maybe had a spot a good life and possibly a great life.
On the other hand, those who did the opposed should understand that their crappy lives was a result of their actions—you made your bed. I have said it before and I will say it again: Obama will in time dropped the hammer on the lazy dreamers using the JFK mantra “ask not what this country can do for you…..” If a significant number of kuckleheads turn their lives around and/or stop starting families they can’t afford, that would be big.
slyram’s last blog post..President Obama’s Islam Speech and the Two-State Solution
And just what kind of Democrat are you?
In all seriousness, this is all me. I don’t know if Jeff or Bill share my frustration, but you’re right. We need an informed electorate, and I personally feel that the media either can not or will not do the job correctly. We do what we can here, but we’re somewhat limited in how many people we reach so far.
I actually agree with a good chunk of the Contract With America. I just wish they’d have followed through with more of it.
I do share your frustration, to a degree. But I’m an eternal optimist. No matter how bad things get, I’ll ALWAYS remember two things:
1) They could get worse.
2) I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they get better.
Like you, until the very moment I die, I. Will. NOT. Stop.
I love it when people play the blame game, it is always someone else fault that your life is so bad. I lived in Egypt where it had not rained in 8 years whos fault way that? I lived in africa where men and women were killed by the thousands for no reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Who’s fault was that? American is a country that is growing and it will have many growing pains as it tries to reach maturity. Just do the best you can do. Learn to think of others before you think of yourself and teach this to your kids and it will work out I promise.