by Heather D
Over the weekend we witnessed the continued assault on our Constitution, and liberty in general, when the Democrat majority in the House rallied their troops, twisted (or nearly broke) some arms and passed "The Affordable Health Care for America Act". If you are anything like me, you sat glued to your television set, intently watching C-Span, knowing in the pit of your stomach that Speaker Pelosi would never have brought the bill to the floor if she did not have the votes to pass it.
Some in this country want to believe that the assault on our rights will be stopped simply by replacing the Democratic majority with Republicans. These well-meaning Americans do not understand that establishment Republicans of today are merely Democrat-lite. They preach limited government out of one side of their mouth, yet vote for bigger government and less freedom, seeking more power for themselves and satisfying their most generous donors, dismantling the Constitution in the same manner as the Democrats that they claim to stand in opposition to.
One shining example of this is Senator Lindsey Graham, who has launched a very public war against Ron Paul, Ron Paul Republicans, and in reality, any Republican who supports the Republican platform, rather than paying lip service to it. Senator Graham recently teamed up with Senator John Kerry in an Op-Ed proclaiming the need for cap and trade policies, despite the fact that the bill would serve no real purpose other than to transfer wealth to a few and further destroy an economy that is already imploding. After a public outcry over this, it remains unclear where Senator Graham stands on this dastardly bill, but you can be certain that the danger of this legislation becoming law is still very real.
Taking this example (which is just one of many) into account, what are liberty-loving Americans who bleed red, white and blue supposed to do?
Believe it or not, the assault on our liberties did not begin 9 years ago with George W. Bush as president. It did not begin under Bill Clinton, John Kennedy or even Woodrow Wilson. Indeed, our very first president presided over the country when the first assault occurred when he signed the "Whiskey Tax" into law. Then Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, justified the tax "more as a measure of social discipline than as a source of revenue". In other words, this was a SIN tax, meant to punish those who participated in activities that some felt were socially unacceptable. This sin-tax rightly infuriated American citizens, having just lost blood and treasure fighting to be a free people, and they revolted in what is known as "The Whiskey Rebellion".
While it is disheartening to know that it took such a short time for the trampling of our rights to begin, the "Whiskey Tax" served to put the people on notice; when Ben Franklin warned that we had "a Republic if (we could) keep it", he truly meant that as a people, we had to be ever vigilant about guarding our rights.
Much time has passed since the first attacks on our rights were launched, and the passage of time has not been a friend to liberty. The further we got from our founding, the less involved the people became, until many readily and eagerly accepted the loss of freedoms as being a necessary evil. In fact, many do not recognize what is happening today as being a loss of freedoms at all; rather, they believe that they are powerless to "do" for themselves and could not survive without the benevolent hand of government to intervene on their behalf.
The loss of liberty at the hand of a power-hungry government is not new, but the reawakening of the American public is something that has not happened to the degree that it is today in a VERY long time. The key to winning any war is to go into every battle well-armed, and make no mistake, we are truly involved in a war for the hearts and minds of our countrymen, and for the survival of our Republic. We must understand that it has taken over 200 years for us to get to the point we have arrived at today, and the damage is not going to be undone overnight. There will be battles won and battles lost, bad bills passed and the wrong people elected to office along the way. While these losses cause pain to those of us who are dedicated to bringing our country back to it's Constitutional roots, we can not let the losses demoralize or stop us.
This war has many fronts; neglecting even one of them not only makes our jobs harder, it makes winning nearly impossible. Petitioning our elected officials on legislation is one important function that we must not neglect, but that act alone will not advance the cause of freedom. We must educate ourselves and our neighbors about the Constitution and demonstrate to them how a particular bill is in violation of the law of the land, and at the same time, we must offer them solid solutions to the problems we face.
We cannot focus on federal issues and candidates to the exclusion of state and local issues and candidates. Remember, "all politics is local" and it does no good to attempt to reform a federal government run amok while ignoring the bodies closer to home that have been infected by the same disease.
We must stop "fighting City Hall" and focus on BECOMING City Hall. In many cases, changing out the "cast of characters" is our only real option, and while running for office may not be glamorous, or anything (you) may have desired to do in the past, we ignore this important "front" at our own peril. Our Founders envisioned a citizenry that would keep our elected officials honest and compliant with the Constitution by voting the bad eggs out of office, and at this point in time, there are far more bad eggs running than good ones. To ignore the need for liberty candidates at all levels of government guarantees that those seats will be filled by the same old tax-and-spend lawless breed that has infected our country and brought us to the point we find ourselves at today.
We must be more visible than our adversaries. The Tea Parties and Town Halls are a great start, but we can't stop there. We must attend City Council and County Board meetings, sit in the audience during legislative sessions, and personally visit legislator's offices often; in short, we must be a constant thorn in their sides.
Rather than constantly "chasing the ball" and trying to prevent bad bills from becoming law, we must be a part of lobbying for good bills to become law, allowing us to nullify the attempts of legislators to further erode our freedoms. At the federal level, HR 1207 is a shining example of bills we should fight for, and at the state level, we need to address states rights legislation that will nullify federal laws that overstep the dictates set on the federal government by the Constitution.
If we are to win elections and possess the ability to influence our neighbors, we have no choice but to get involved in local politics. Whether you choose to work with the Democrats, Republicans, LP, CP or some other party is entirely up to the individual, but simply showing up at the polls to vote every couple of years limits you to having a vote ONLY on issues or candidates that others have chosen FOR you.
In order to win our freedoms back, we must be committed to leading the way. Ignoring any front in this battle will greatly impair our ability to win. The passage of "health care reform" in the House was disturbing, but the war is not over yet. Recall Samuel Adams famous words, "It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."
