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Run, Rudy, Run
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A Further Perspective
The Civil War History of Obamacare
To ascertain the real historical import of “comprehensive national healthcare reform,” don’t look to Social Security or Medicare; look to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
The Democratic Left is fond of invoking history and thus heralds its new “comprehensive national healthcare reform” bill as “historic. That it is.
But the historical comparison that may be most apt isn’t Social Security or Medicare, both of which were enacted into law with bipartisan majorities. This latest “reform” initiative, by contrast, hasn’t gotten a single Republican vote.
No, the more apt historical analogy may be the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which, by allowing for the expansion of slavery into new federal territories, led to the Civil War.
Of course, there is no likelihood that the United States will become enmeshed in a literal or violent civil war. Our republic, though young, is far too mature and well established for that. In America, we settle our domestic disputes not through bullets, but through the ballot box.
There also is no racial aspect to this new civil war. Black and white, North and South alike — we’re all on the same team; we’re all on the same side.
However, with healthcare about to become a highly regulated state-administered utility, there is a real likelihood that the United States will become enmeshed in a modern-day economic and generational civil war.
That’s because just as the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 promised to perpetuate slavery in the United States, so too, does “comprehensive national healthcare reform” promise to create a new form of economic slavery in America.
The new slaves will be young, working Americans, especially those aged 30 to 50, forced to pay the crushing debt created by this massive new entitlement program.
And these who ostensibly benefit from this entitlement won’t really be free because they’ll soon be consigned to government-run healthcare, with all that that implies: rationed and substandard care; highly constrained choices; long waiting periods; a limited availability of doctors and physicians; and a lack of medical dynamism, innovation and progress.
Sure, Obama and the Left promise that “comprehensive national healthcare reform” will save money, but such a contention is a ludicrous and nonsensical.
After all, every other national entitlement program, from Social Security to Medicare to Medicaid, has ended up costing hundreds of billions of dollars more than the politicians had promised. And now these programs are fast driving America into bankruptcy and economic ruin.
Indeed, our entire national experience with massive government-run programs has been a fiscal and financial disaster. Yet, Obama and the Democrats promise us that this time things will be different. This time, “reform” actually will save money.
Nonsense. The price tag for this latest monstrosity will be exorbitantly expensive — on the order of $2.5 trillion to $3 trillion over the next 10 years, according to analyst James Capretta. The result will be to again divide America into a nation that is half slave and half free. But as Lincoln observed, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”
And so this abomination, this act of economic and generational theft, cannot stand. Because like the literal act of slavery that preceded it, “comprehensive national healthcare reform” is incompatible with American liberty and the principles of freedom upon which America was founded.
That’s why the healthcare reform debate, far from ending, has instead really just begun. But where is our modern-day Abraham Lincoln?
About the Author
John R. Guardiano blogs at www.ResCon1.com, and you can follow him on Twitter: @ResCon1.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (152) | Leave a comment
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Michael Zak | 3.26.10 @ 6:42AM
See http://biggovernment.com/mzak/.....braska-act for more information.
John Guardiano| 3.26.10 @ 9:31AM
Mr. Zak,
Thanks for referencing your article. It seems really to add to the dialogue and to provide greater historical context.
V/R
John
Michael Zak | 3.27.10 @ 9:18AM
Thank you, sir. We patriots must hang together, else we shall all hang separately.
Fighting the good fight,
Michael Zak
amily| 3.29.10 @ 5:21AM
Nonsense. The price tag for this latest monstrosity will be exorbitantly expensive
http://www.linkdelight.com
Alan Brooks| 3.26.10 @ 1:05PM
Obamacare or no Obamacare, I will vote for Obama in 2012, if even merely to prevent another GOP mediocrity-- Jeb Bush (just as one example ) comes to mind somehow-- from being elected president. I voted for Gore and Kerry not because their politics were interesting, but just to vote against Bush as though he was a decent person, but he and his family want power too much, and that is very regrettable. You didn't like it in the Kennedys, why should anyone appreciate such a bad trait in the Bush family? Being power-hungry is not an attractive appetite; it can lead to bad table manners.
Now that politics has merged with celebrity culture, the minutiae of this years' healthcare debate, and next years, is dull and undignified.
At least in the '50s and '60s, though it was just as unpleasant, there was some dignity in politics.
Alan Brooks | 3.26.10 @ 1:52PM
duh........ I will keep pulling the master lever over and over again, because I am an ObamaNazi chump. And because I have nothing else to pull
Jim T| 3.26.10 @ 6:17PM
From your first entry it seems as if you are pulling something quite furiously. But then I guess you leftards are all into mutual masterbation of some kind or another!
Alan Brooks| 3.28.10 @ 12:23AM
"duh........ I will keep pulling the master lever over and over again, because I am an ObamaNazi chump. And because I have nothing else to pull"
I did not write this post, and whoever did is the lowest form of blogger.
RDN in Houston| 3.27.10 @ 5:09PM
Your referencing the '50s and '60s and your meaningless ramble indicates that you possibly have alzheimer's disease since you seem to have no memory of the cold war and the plague of communism. Let's see, didn't the West German's try to escape to East Berlin or was it the other way around?
Alan Brooks| 3.28.10 @ 12:31AM
You are ahistorical; who was Stalin's greatest ally? Hitler, who got Stalin's troops all the way to the Elbe.
Houston? And a Southerner is his greatest enemy as well, the South's overreaction played into radical hands in many cases.
BTW your gratutitous reference to alzheimers may be a guilty reference to one of your elderly relatives who gets funds from the state.
Alan Brooks| 3.28.10 @ 12:35AM
Gratuitous, that fits you rightwingers. Wish there were more real conservatives-- and not so many rightwing pigheads.
Who are white counterparts to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
Alan Brooks| 3.28.10 @ 12:56AM
Houston? I only like the far Western portion of Texas, I wouldn't live in the South OR North, anyway. Up North there are too many "Reverend" Sharptons; down South you have too many David Dukes.
The West is the Best!
Ret. Marine| 3.26.10 @ 6:46AM
Today there are no heavy-weights to the likes of Lincoln. If anything, the young guns had better wise up and learn a few things about the era, regarding slavery and States Rights.
The author of this quote, excuss me my memory is a little foggy this early in the morn'n, " the only thing I regret is that I have but one life to give" is truely fitting in my heart. I have lived to see some amazing corruption out of the democrat party. How I long for the days of honesty and intregity in the law makers of Lincoln's time.
The article is spot on in it's analysis, the slaves of our soon to be future will be the young and healthy, how ironic, the very ones that in their majority voted this usurper-n-theif into the position he thinks he can handle. This is a historic time, we have just witnessed a time in our Country's history where the rule of law (s) has been overtaken by the rule (s) of man.
SHAMEFUL.
Shawn| 3.26.10 @ 7:22AM
You say there are no heavy weights to the likes of Lincoln. I personally believe that the times will bring out the great leaders. For instance, there have been many great Generals in our armed forces who have never been heard of by the general public because they did not have the stage of a world war like Patton did.
As we speak, leaders are rising up to cast down this abomination. Stupak could have been a great stalwart for the unborn. Instead of pledging his life fortune and honor like our founders did, he sold his principles out for a few bucks to airports. This country cannot be governed without the consent of the governed. Leaders are there and we will coalesce around one of them.
Alan Brooks| 3.26.10 @ 1:11PM
Obamacare or no Obamacare, I will vote for Obama in 2012, unless Jesus himself appears and commands: "vote GOP".
I voted for Gore and Kerry not because their politics were interesting, but just to vote against Bush as, though he was a decent person, he and his family want power too much, and that is very regrettable. You didn't like such in the Kennedys, why should anyone appreciate this bad trait in the Bush family?
Now that politics has merged with celebrity culture, the minutiae of this years' healthcare debate, and next years, is dull and undignified.
At least in the '50s and '60s, though it was just as unpleasant, there was some dignity in politics.
Alan Brooks | 3.26.10 @ 1:51PM
Duh...... I will pull the master lever over and over again, because I am an ObamNazi chump
Blarkwatch| 3.27.10 @ 12:56AM
Shawn, well said.
Alan Brooks| 3.28.10 @ 12:48AM
"Shawn, well said."
No, Shawn is overly-optimistic. America is about productivity, not virtue.
Not to pick on America; it gets worse: you will never know a virtuous world. What the Hell does virtue mean in the 21st century?
Mike Lee| 3.27.10 @ 10:08AM
You hot the nail on the head. Well put. Alas for my poor country.
Michael Zak | 3.26.10 @ 6:47AM
The title of my article is "ObamaCare is the Demo rats' new Kansas-Nebraska Act" -- at BigGoverment.com
Alan Brooks| 3.28.10 @ 12:43AM
Zak, your article is hyperbole, unworthy to follow this weekends lead piece. Comparing Obamacare to the Kansas-Nebraska act is a cheap-- and very transparent-- shot.
Mike Hunt | 3.26.10 @ 7:02AM
"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
~Abraham Lincoln, Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois (January 27, 1838)
What Good Can a Handgun Do Against An Army?
http://www.freerepublic.com/fo.....2894/posts
Brian Mc| 3.26.10 @ 7:16AM
Patrick Henry's speech is appropriate when you remove reference to England and its King and insert instead, reference to socialists and its king.
If I wanted government-run healthcare, I would live in government housing.
Sensei Mitch | 3.26.10 @ 7:27AM
We the People, lack historical perspective. This march towards Government run health care began over 20 years ago. Socialists and Communists are if anything patient people, surprising giving their typical lack of belief in anything beyond this life.
I have a slightly different approach to the topic here:
http://karatetraining.org/weblog/?p=1091
MTB| 3.26.10 @ 4:00PM
Obama said it has been 100 years in the making, but of course he could and probably is lying, because he gets to claim that he resolved a problem that no one else could do in 100 years. He even said something like that in his speech. Something to the effect that "others had tried, but they couldn't get it done." The man is a classic delusional narcissist.
oldmomster| 3.26.10 @ 7:31AM
We need a state willing to take on the feds; to choke off the federal hold on our tax dollars. The federal govt grabs all they can and then gives it back in dribs and drabs to the states based on who they favor and whether they follow conditions set forth by the feds. Until we break the hold DC and the cronies there have on our money, we will not have a free country.
Pingback| 3.26.10 @ 7:38AM
The Civil War History of Obamacare links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Don L| 3.26.10 @ 7:51AM
And Obama's praying for a Fort Sumpter so he can conjur up his civilian army. What have we done to ourselves by letting such people into perpetual power? I fear, they will have it no other way.
Brian Mc| 3.26.10 @ 8:03AM
The left fired on Ft. Sumpter, Sunday night.
Repeal the 16th and 17th Amendments
Mike D.| 3.26.10 @ 8:07AM
Nice little article about a symptom of a bigger problem, that being a marxist usurper who is intent on destroying freedom and capitalism in this country and ignoring the rule of law and the constitution. As far as a violent civil war "can't happen here", better read some more history John, because it can happen anywhere. This country is not some kind of perpetual motion machine. This clown in the whitehouse is after one thing and one thing only, one party rule, and a communist style dictatorship centered around him.
JimP| 3.26.10 @ 9:16AM
I agree Mike. I suspect the author lives in some large metro area where people aren't as self reliant and accustomed to government running their lives to a greater degree. I can see a violent civil war erupting but it would, IMHO, likely take the form of a guerilla war. People understand that ObamaCare isn't just another pain in the pocketbook entitlement. That's why they are so angry about it. You will either die early because of it, be enslaved because of it or both. Many Americans will fight, rather than switch.
MTB| 3.26.10 @ 4:03PM
I fear you are right, Mike. Rush Limbaugh said to a caller yesterday "if there are elections in November." I'm very concerned that they are going to create a crisis in the U.S. just before November and Obama will declare martial law and suspend elections. I can only hope the generals of our armed forces will approach him and remind him that their oaths are to the Constitution and not to him and insist the elections go on as planned--as per the Constitution. However, there is nothing to prevent him from replacing generals who would oppose him with those who would favor anarchy and dictatorship. Never! Never in my lifetime could I have imagined the destruction of my country from freedom to despotism, but we are very, very close.
gcx| 3.26.10 @ 11:23PM
That's why every morning I wake up and pray there was a military coup!
DanMingo| 3.27.10 @ 1:25PM
Alarmists on the left said the same thing during the Bush years; he is going to impose Martial law, put dissenters in prison camps etc. That's akin to hysteria, and we are seeing it again, but this time from the right.
Despotism? You do know we have majority rule, right? And Obama was elected. And Health insurance reform was passed by majority vote.
Ret. Army| 3.28.10 @ 3:05PM
Just one reply to this:
"When a legislature undertakes to proscribe the exercise of a citizen's constitutional rights it acts lawlessly and the citizen can take matters into his own hands and proceed on the basis that such a law is no law at all." - Justice William O. Douglas
SC Mike| 3.26.10 @ 8:34AM
As each day passes folks find more objectionable details within the bill, so I expect the simmering anger to boil over at some point. It looks like many Republicans are reading the tea leaves correctly, although the party’s national leadership and key leaders, especially in the US Senate, remain somewhat clueless, aided and abetted in their ignorance by the remaining Country Club members.
But there is hope and there are leaders. Prospects for economic recovery remain dim, high unemployment and chronic underemployment will stay with us for far too long, and the recent news that Social Security has begun to raid its lockbox (IOUs from the general fund) years ahead of schedule point to a grim future of skyrocketing taxes and declining living standards.
The timing for a Kansas-Nebraska Act type of response seems reasonable. Tea-Party-backed candidates, primarily Republican who’ve seen the light and newcomers sick and tired of the status quo, could fill enough seats after November’s election to hold off further mischief from the Obami, although our national prestige will remain tarnished and economic conditions will remain stagnant.
The ensuing two years will allow the young Turks -- the Paul Ryans and others -- to fashion and communicate a program and structure for not just recovery, but rejuvenation of the American Experiment. The road forward for the nation will be difficult and require folks to work harder and longer, but for themselves, not for the collective. How well one communicates this vision to voters in a positive fashion will determine success.
None of this will be easy, but it’s essential.
SC Mike| 3.26.10 @ 8:37AM
The references to Fort Sumpter recall the Palmetto State’s unofficial motto:
If at first you don’s secede….
JimP| 3.26.10 @ 9:03AM
The 'Civil' War analogy is appropriate. See Roger Hedgecock's column at Human Events blog today. It talks about Dr.'s setting up shop in Mexico to serve Americans who want what ObamaCare will not provide.
So all the Hispanics will be heading north to get free healthcare at the expense of the Gringoes, while we all head south (as did many un-Reconstructed Confederates) and ultimately take over Mexico. The Law of Unintended Consequences. You gotta love it. I guess they didn't teach that class at Harvard Law School.
DanMingo| 3.27.10 @ 1:38PM
So all the Hispanics will be heading north to get free healthcare at the expense of the Gringoes
HAHA.
Public health care is provided to all Mexican citizens as guaranteed via Article 4 of the Constitution.
Same with Costa Rica. Same with every other industrialized nation on the planet except one. The US.
We pay the most, rank 37th in the world in health outcomes (every one of the 36 countries ahead of us have universal healthcare) and yet we insist our system is the best.
Some heavy delusion is going on here.
scragsma| 3.30.10 @ 3:20PM
The ratings that rank the US 37th in the world are those that put heavy positive emphasis on socialized medicine, which means by definition the US will score low. It has nothing to do with outcomes.
Louis Jenkins| 3.26.10 @ 9:33AM
“No, the more apt historical analogy may be the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which, by allowing for the expansion of slavery into new federal territories, led to the Civil War.”
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed those territories to decide for themselves whether to be free or slave. Remember that the decision allowed the rise of dastardly villains such as John Brown. JB's heart was in the right place, but his methods were overboard and he became a most hated man. Others viewed him as a hero but we all know what happened to him in Virginia. The frontier became a mini-Civil War into itself, ie Bloody Kansas. Old grudges died hard and Missouri became a blood bath feud during the real Civil War.
The fact that States are sovereign and should decide their fate is correct. But, the District of Criminals will never allow it. The Interstate Commerce clause rules supreme in American politics and government and has allowed the rise of a new generation of dastardly villains of a different ilk. We all know their names and they’re not seeking to free those in bondage. It is total power over the slaves of the states and the burden increases every day. It is here to stay until there is another Constitutional Convention that renews the United “States” concept, or there is a Civil War II.
Melvin| 3.26.10 @ 9:41AM
For those of us who are have been upon this earth long enough to have observed first hand of the failings of Communism and allegedly fall from grace cannot grasp the significance in why succeeding generations seem to have a fascination with it.
The baby boomers spent a lifetime in defeating this scourge upon societies around the globe and now in the very epicenter that helped defeat the old world Communism we observe that the, "New Communism" of President Obama is not only flourishing it is being promoted and...accepted with open arms by a large percentage of the American population.
This embrace of the, " New Communism by academia, and the intelligentsia is to be expected I suppose because it is new, exiting, and appeals to those young idealists who feel that Communsism is the magic bullet to right all the wrongs.
I've take a quote from the motion picture, "Enemy at the Gates" where Commisar Danilov played by Joseph Fiennes finaly realizes that Stalin's Communsim was brutal and a failure at least at Danilovs personal level.
"I've been such a fool,Vassili.
Man will always be man.
There is no new man.
We tried so hard to create a society that was equal, where there'd be nothing to envy your neighbor.
But there's always something to envy.
A smile... a friendship.
Something you don't have and want to appropriate.
In this world-even a Soviet one-there will always
be rich and poor."
Equality cannot be. "Appropriated" because true equality doesn't...exist.
President Obama is chaising an already failed ideology.
Ken (Old Texican)| 3.26.10 @ 9:48AM
Mr. Guardiano,
Damn! I love dropping in on AmSpec. Your article was extremely thought provoking..... and the commenters here are so darned "thought provoked".
I learn important stuff here every single day from them and you columnists as well.
(Smile ) "iron sharpening iron" as itwwwwere.
John Guardiano| 3.28.10 @ 6:35PM
Mr. Ken (Old Texican),
Thanks for your nice note. I'm glad you enjoyed the piece.
Regards,
John
james| 3.26.10 @ 10:07AM
Interesting take. Well done. But the big error here is in thinking that there is no racial aspect to this. With liberals and progressives race is ALWAYS invoked. The fact that it is entirely bogus doesn't change the fact, nor does it mean that the gullible masses who elected this tyranny for themeselves won't be sucked in. We are about to be inundated with racial threats.
SC Mike| 3.26.10 @ 10:14AM
Today's Wall Street Journal has oodles of good stuff from the likes of Mitch Daniels (We Good Europeans ), Bobby Jindal (Persistence Is the Key), Phil Gramm (Resistance Is Not Futile), Mike Pence (This Law Will Not Stand), and Timothy Cahill (Massachusetts Is Our Future; he's the Mass. State Treasurer who's running as an Independent for Governor ).
http://online.wsj.com/public/p.....ntary.html
Melvin| 3.26.10 @ 10:52AM
Conservatives, Republicans, Libertarians, and Independents need to approach this Health Care Law on a dual track.
First is the repeal, "Oh, it'll never be repealed, once the benefits start." For starters the costs far outweigh any benefit so it negates the benefit. And besides the Germans and the Japanese said, "We couldn't win WW2 either."
The second track the Republicans can convene a Health Care Coalition consisting of Doctors, Insurance Companies, Heritage and John Locke Foundations and Kathleen Sebelius who by virtue of her office should and need be at the coalition.
This Coalition would first identify and develop solutions to issues confronting health care in this Country.
A self-imposed deadline of 60 to 90 days would be put into place, for the coalition to put together a preliminary viable solution to health care to be submitted to the American public for review .
This coalition would not work in secrecy but in full view of the American people, once satisfied of the preliminary plan and permanent draft would be produced to allow the Republicans to create new health care legislation.
By presenting this new health care plan to the American people, it would convince them
Melvin| 3.26.10 @ 10:56AM
My apologies, fingers faster than the brain.
"By presenting this new health care plan to the American people, it would convince them the current health Care Law is as dangerous as Conservatives and CBO have noted."
Susan Brei| 3.26.10 @ 10:53AM
"I hope (Obama's Party paints) Republican opposition for what it is: a gang of hypocritical, pietistic sadists, seeking pleasure in the suffering of others while pretending to be Christians, devoid of sympathy, empathy, or any inclination to simple human kindness, constant breakers of the Golden Rule, enemies of the common good. In fact, the current edition of the Republican party has achieved something really memorable in the annals of collective bad intentions: they have managed to create a sense of the public interest whose main goal is the destruction of the public interest.
This is exactly what the Republican majority on the Supreme Court did earlier this year by deciding that corporations -- which are sociopathic by definition in being answerable only to their shareholders and nothing else -- should enjoy the same full privileges in election campaign contributions as human persons, who are assumed to have obligations, duties, and responsibilities to the common good (and therefore to the public interest). This shameful act by the court majority only underscores the chief defining characteristic of Republicans in their current incarnation: an inability to think. And so, naturally Republicans gravitate toward superstition and the traditional devices of improvident religious authorities -- persecution of the weak, torture, denial of due process, and dogmas designed to spread hatred.
I hope the American public begins to understand this, because they have been manipulated in their own pain and hardship by these dark forces, and their thrall to the likes of John Boehner, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush, Hannity, and the rest of these vicious morons could easily increase as their economic hardships deepen. We're facing a comprehensive contraction of wealth and economy that is going to challenge every shared virtue in our national soul, and we're not going to meet these difficulties successfully without a sense of mutual obligation and sympathy for each other. The Republican party is just itching to turn a giant thumbscrew on the US public -- that is, before they try to start burning their enemies at the stake. We understand that the Health Care Reform Act is a first stand against that."
- James Howard Kunstler
Well said James!
JimP| 3.26.10 @ 12:09PM
LOL Nice post comrade. Uncle Joe would be proud.
LC| 3.26.10 @ 2:19PM
It must be fun to be wrong on so many levels at once. A corporation is not just answerable to its shareholders. It must abide by the law, just as individuals do. In addition, the ultimate authority is the marketplace: if a corp produces a product that is not wanted or needed at its price level, the corp dies (see GM).
Once again, you confuse 'charity' with 'taxes'. You want to equate 'compassion' with tax expenditures. Fool. Of the $3T spent on the 'poor' since 1965, who's better off? The people handed funds and food now have no idea how to self-improve, get and hold a job, or contribute to society. They are now part of a multi-generational fraud, wondering why their 'free' checks aren't larger. Of course, the government functionaries necessary to administer this farce, they are doing quite well for themselves. If we had taught the 'poor' job skills, the government functionaries would be out of a job by now.
Rights are not defined by government. Your 'right' to other peoples' efforts, such as Doctors and nurses, does not exist if you cannot pay for their services, or for insurance on your behalf. Fool.
MTB| 3.26.10 @ 4:18PM
Right on, LC. I heard an audioclip this week, I tried to find it on the internet to source it, but could not, but the interviewer is interviewing a young lady and she says, "I want my free health care." The interviewer asks, "Where is the money going to come from to pay for it?" The young lady says, "I don't worry about the details, I just want my free health care." Ignorance may be bliss, but someone has to pay the bills. I wonder where people like Susan Brei and others like her think the money is going to come from.
chuck| 3.27.10 @ 9:17AM
Absolutely correct, LC, however you need to take your thought to the final conclusion. If in the '60s, Johnson and the Democrats had decided to destroy the black community in this country, they could not have come up with a better way to do it than the Great Society programs. Welfare has become a way of life, with the Government replacing men has the means of support. 2/3 of blacks are born out-of-wedlock, with no family support structure, no one to teach these kids responsibility and respect for themselves and others. No wonder they are growing up to be thugs.
And they dare call conservatives "rascists".
DanMingo| 3.27.10 @ 1:42PM
A corporation is not just answerable to its shareholders. It must abide by the law, just as individuals do.
Good one. Let me know when the Halliburton rape trials are concluded.
DanMingo| 3.27.10 @ 1:49PM
Your 'right' to other peoples' efforts, such as Doctors and nurses, does not exist if you cannot pay for their services, or for insurance on your behalf. Fool.
Who is the fool.
Federal law mandates that any hospital and staff attend to emergency patients (accident or illness) without regard to insurance or ability to pay (or even citizenship). That was the law before this bill you hate so much was passed, and still is the law.
Of the $3T spent on the 'poor' since 1965 who's better off?
Let me rephrase; of the $3# trillion dollars spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, who has benefited?
And did you complain about the cost of those wars we went into debt to pay for?
Or the unfunded tax cuts? We borrowed for those two.
Or medicare part 'd'. Congress (Republicans) knew medicare was already near bankrupt, but they still voted for the unfunded mandate at a cost (added to the deficit) of over $1 trillion.
JimE| 3.28.10 @ 10:33PM
Nice cut and paste. Typical libtard, the only opinion you have is one obama gave you.
Tim| 3.26.10 @ 10:56AM
Obama Is Guilty Of Economic Treason.
Had Enough Yet ?
melvin| 3.26.10 @ 11:00AM
"We're facing a comprehensive contraction of wealth and economy that is going to challenge every shared virtue in our national soul, and we're not going to meet these difficulties successfully without a sense of mutual obligation and sympathy for each other."
If you are truly feel sympathy for me and love me as a human being, then you'll let me be free to make my own decisions and fulfill my own obligations.
Old Soldier| 3.26.10 @ 11:00AM
"there is no likelihood that the United States will become enmeshed in a literal or violent civil war..."
I have to disagree there. The discontent is seriously starting to bubble out here. As the middle class gets squeezed harder and harder, violence will become inevitable.
Joe Hamilton| 3.26.10 @ 7:41PM
I also believe it is not far fetched there could actually be a real civil war. There are many veterans of the Gulf Wars and Afghanistan who suffer from extensive physical and psychiatric injuries. The anti-Christ in the WH is playing with fire by continuing to take away promised benefits from Veterans and active duty service members. With the new Hitlercare, it drastically cuts benefits for veterans/active duty personnel.
There are hundreds of thousands suffering from PTSD exacerbated by chronic pain. They are all trained killers. The military hates Obama . Their hostility grows every day. For those who think the percentage of blacks in the military would counter this time bomb. Think again. Almost all of the elite combat soldiers are white as are a disproportional percentage of infantry.
DanMingo| 3.27.10 @ 1:51PM
The anti-Christ in the WH is playing with fire by continuing to take away promised benefits from Veterans and active duty service members. With the new Hitlercare, it drastically cuts benefits for veterans/active duty personnel.
Please point out the part of the legislation that cuts veterans' benefits.
DanMingo| 3.28.10 @ 10:36PM
Please not that I only post on issues concerning healthcare as that is all I am allowed to by my LaRaza/SEIU controllers. I'd like to post about other issues but I am incapable of independent thought.
DatsunMark| 3.26.10 @ 11:07AM
I agree with your principle but not your tactics. The Left is betting on incrementalism to slowly convert the laity to their socialism. That is one reason their bill doesn't kick-in the obligations until 5 years later delaying the effects of the bill. I say as long as the bill is law, it should be enforced to the hilt. This will wake people up to the monster they just created and vote correctly for a change.
FawnridgeFarm| 3.26.10 @ 11:18AM
Mr. Guardiano, in your well-written article you make the statement that: "in America, we settle our domestic disputes not through bullets, but through the ballot box". Aside from a few assassination attempts by crackpots and malcontents down through the years, that statement is true and this truth, beyond question, reflects admirably on our character as a self-governing people. In my opinion, however, this statement overlooks a significant and growing methodology that increasing numbers of Americans are turning to in an attempt to resolve their dispute with evermore oppressive governmental legislation. The methodology I refer to - the oldest form of protest -is simply the use of their feet.
If one lifts the skirt of America to peer at what lies beneath, an ugly truth immediately becomes exposed. It is a demographic trend that clearly demonstrates a long-established, mass exodus of people from the highly regulated and over-taxed liberal "blue" states to those "red" states whose regulatory environment is less restrictive and thus more conducive to prosperity. For example, in my home-state of Michigan, a bankrupt, over-unionized, socialist pipe-dream if ever there was one, 117,000 people left in search of greener pastures just between 2005 and 2008. The three dozen or so of those that I personally know, who were largely self-employed entrepreneurs, all departed for the very same reason - high taxes and burdensome regulations. Needless to say, they took their investment capital with them when they left, as will I, if and when this farm ever sells. In truth, all the liberal-controlled states are essentially insolvent due to the fiscal mismanagement inherent in all socialist wealth-redistribution schemes.
Now that socialized health care has passed, a measure that will sound the death-knell for many cash-strapped businesses both large and small here in Michigan, "cap and trade" legislation looms darkly over the horizon. Such legislation will only further exacerbate the exodus from the industrialized Northeast, where unionism and leftist politicians hold sway, to those Southern and Western states where the flame of individual liberty still feebly flickers. In short, as Michigan and the other high-taxed, liberal-controlled states teeter on the abyss of bankruptcy, they are driving away the very wealth-producing sector of their population that constitutes their only hope of future economic survival. In this way, socialism unfailingly sows the seeds of it's own economic destruction and, in response, our second civil war long-since already begun. This time, however, it is not the sound of gun-fire that now echos across the land because this war, for now, at least, is economic in nature. We hear instead the sound of boots - tens of thousands of them - which again march westward, for the second time in our history, in search of a better tomorrow.
Nick| 3.26.10 @ 11:41AM
FawnridgeFarm,
Excellent post, sir!
Fellow Michiganian, here.
You shouldn't sell your farm. You can rent it out to a film producer to make the next remakes of "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th."
Thanks to Jenny-pooh, we are going to be the new Hollywood!
FawnridgeFarm| 3.26.10 @ 1:35PM
Nick:
Thank you, sir, for your gracious assessment of my posting! Thanks, also, for the smile your post brought to my face! As you well know, we conservative Michiganders just haven't felt much like smiling these last few years, in spite of Jenny-pooh's best efforts. Then again, considering her record as governor, and the fact that Michael Moore is one of her advisors, she can't feel much like smiling either!
Nick| 3.26.10 @ 1:57PM
FawnridgeFarm,
Amen!
My business is hanging on by a thread.
Hopefully, 2010 will start the turnaround this state needs!
chuck| 3.27.10 @ 9:28AM
Nick,
The whole country is hanging on to by a thread. My business, and therefore income, is down 75%. All my employees are gone, except for one on a as needed, part-time basis. Everybody I know is hurting, and just trying to hang on to what they got.
I'm a lucky one. I've sold my house before the bank got it. Probably gave it up for about $125,000 less than its really worth, but it beats foreclosure.
These fools in Washington don't have a clue. They are destroying the wealthy, the working class, the economy, everything, just to buy votes from the blood sucking leeches of society.
I believe a civil war is inevitable. I think we should just divide the country. Let them have the big nanny goverment, we'll take the people who want to be left the hell alone. And we'll take the constitution, if we can dig it out from under the mountain of feces. It's not like they're using it anyway.
Pingman| 3.27.10 @ 7:06PM
I'm in the same boat; down to one employee and hanging on. But there is hope. After reading "Starving the Monkeys", I now have the tools to counter the collectivists: take all you can of what they offer and organize your life so that they cannot bleed you dry. Remember, they need us more than we need them.
daboss| 3.26.10 @ 11:44AM
FawnridgeFarm:
That is a good analysis (and why i support states rights) – however, the one flaw: Once the Fed passes these all encompassing laws – there is no place which you feet can move you to – no matter how far west you go.
Assuming I am reading your post correctly.
FawnridgeFarm| 3.26.10 @ 2:24PM
daboss:
My thanks to you too, sir, for your kind response!
You are, of course, absolutely correct that "once the Fed passes these all encompassing laws, there is no place your feet can move you to". At best, one can only hope to somewhat lessen one's state tax burden by relocating, and perhaps gain some relief from state regulatory burdens as well.
As a fellow supporter of the concept of state's rights, as enshrined through enactment of the 10th Amendment in 1791, I take comfort in the fact that several states are attempting to take the legislative steps necessary to preclude the imposition of nationalized health care within their boundaries. Many more have already passed legislation that essentially ratifies their state's position with respect to the 10th Amendment. Being a simple farmer, and certainly no expert on constitutional law, I cannot assess the degree of probability that these efforts to contain the expansion of the Federal government will succeed. I do believe, however, that the 10th Amendment represents America's best chance to mitigate the tyranny so inherent in Barak Obama's socialistic proposals.
JimP| 3.26.10 @ 12:14PM
Hang on to the farm. You will get rich growing and selling food after the coming collapse (assuming no rollback of ObamaCare etc). Once the dependant hordes have either starved of killed one another off, you can re-emerge and prosper.
Ragnar| 3.26.10 @ 11:19AM
Semper Fi "Old Soldier"! If this Marxist coup is not thwarted by the democratic politics of our Constitutional Republic then the ghastly prospect of a second civil war will become reality.
Tim| 3.26.10 @ 11:24AM
We,Tea Party Rebels are escalating The Rebellion incrementally.
Obama and his congressional acolytes have and continue recklessly , to provoke Americans into righteous rebellion.
Louis Tully| 3.26.10 @ 11:48AM
"The result will be to again divide America into a nation that is half slave and half free. But as Lincoln observed, "a house divided against itself cannot stand."
The divide has been there, but Obamacare rips it wide open. Says Obama: "Bring it on." Draw you own conclusions.
Anthony| 3.26.10 @ 12:02PM
Make no mistake here, Obama and the hard Left in congress, along with their allies in the MSM, are in the final stages of squelching all disent. If you think this is over the top hysteria, just review the facts.
After passage of this "we don't give a damn what American's think of this bill", we get the "in your face" Democrat's parade through the protestors, with their assinine staged 'civil rights" march to the capitol. Plain and simple, this Alinsky inspired staged event was done in the hope of provoking violence. This tactic included having Jessie Jackson Jr. and others, hoping to capture some out of control protester on video, in order to gin up the media templete that conservatives are right -wing rascists inciting violence and civil disobedience.
Despite the failure of this tactic, the MSM have, as per their cue from the Ds, gone to Plan B and simply made up stories of violence and threats. Not a shred of proof has been offered, but that's of no import to the corrupt MSM. The next predictable response from the congressional Ds was to demand protection from the angry right-wing mobs. So, we now have a congress barricaded against their own constituents. So much for a post-partisan America!!
This progression is just another step closer to Marshal law. To sum up, the radical Left provokes Americans to anger and then seeks to punish Americans for their predictable lawful protests, which leads to a pretense for the Left to further punish Americans for not subjecting themselves to the will of the hard Left. This cycle is predictable and vicious.
We've seen this before in history and history tells us things get a whole lot worse before they get better. Our R leaders have no clue what they are up against; they still think this is a civil disagreement among colleagues. They are either in deleberate denial or clueless that the radical Left has declared full scale war on America. It's up to we the people to lead.
Heatpacker| 3.26.10 @ 1:03PM
Anthony,
Kudos! Excellent analysis. One small criticism, though. It's martial law, not Marshal. Other than that, you are right on target. I believe that the emboldened radical left wants to suppress its opposition once and for all, in the manner of its hero, Hugo Chavez.
Anthony| 3.26.10 @ 4:12PM
Quite correct, thank you. Spelling, like math, has always been a challenge to me.
Jeremiah| 3.26.10 @ 12:39PM
Wow! I was sitting last night and thinking, My God, this is the Kansas-Nebraska Act all over again. Then I see it in print today, both here and by Tony Blankley on NRO.
Stephen Douglas thought he had solved the problem of the expansion of slavery with the doctrine of 'popular sovereignty,' which was the foundation of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Instead, Civil War broke out in Kansas six years before it came to the rest of the country.
You write that there won't be an actual war. I am not so sanguine on that point. When you ram through a dramatically coercive power contrary to Constitutionality, contrary to established rules of the legislature, and in the teeth of the unambiguous voice of the people saying no, you do risk insurrection. If people believe their government has become lawless it tatters the tethers holding them to lawful dissent.
I don't know that the Civil War could have been avoided. Kansas-Nebraska may have been every much symptom of the national division as it was catalyst to the larger violence. What I do know is that that particular symptom could have been relieved by the repeal of Kansas-Nebraska at an early stage.
The way this Obamacare Plan was passed is without precedent in American history. It is more akin to the forced moves that would-be tyrants enact in other parts of the world less devoted to freedom and the genuine rule of law. There are only two possible results - the meek decline of the society into submission or insurrection. We have a period in which this bill can be repealed and re-establishing the substance as well as the trappings of representative democracy. Failing that, it is going to get far uglier than anyone now envisions, particularly when our foreign policy is so inept it is inviting enemies to attack us.
foont| 3.27.10 @ 9:40AM
I tend to agree with you. I believe there is a far deeper and visceral rage in the electorate than is generally realized. Not so much over socialized medicine but over how it was passed by an arrogant, willful oligarchy with an "in your face" attitude. The dems basically told the majority of people to take their concerns and stuff them. And the rhetoric that is now cropping up is very incendiary and confrontational.
I should also like to point out that violent revolutions and civil wars have erupted in nations with a far longer history and much more "settled" poilitical culture than our own.
Heatpacker| 3.26.10 @ 12:43PM
The contraints of space prevented Mr. Guardiano from continuing the story. In the spring of 1855, Democrats from Missouri flooded the polls in the Kansas Territory's first election. The result was a legislature, soon to be called the 'Bogus Legislature', that was solidly pro-South and pro-slavery; in fact it was so radical that it expelled all members who were free-soil so that it could pass all of its pro-slavery laws without opposition. Southern politicians supported this sham because they knew that is was their last hope of saving their 'peculiar institution'. Those who opposed the Bogus Legislature created a shadow territorial government with its own elected legislature. The Pierce Administration declared all of the participants in the Free-State Legislature and its militia to be outlaws and traitors. The Missouri Militia was authorized by Pierce to invade Kansas and suppress what he called 'illegal combinations'.
In the summer of 1856, the Missouri Militia entered Lawrence, Kansas without opposition and proceeded to burn the Free State Hotel and ransack businesses. This led to several months of open warfare between Slave-state and Free-state elements. Dozens were killed and wounded before a new Territorial Governor, Geary, managed to restore peace in September.
"Bleeding Kansas', the prelude to the Civil War, began with one of the most egregious examples of voter fraud in the nation's history. This fraudulent election created an illegitimate legislative body that the majority of Kansas settlers refused to recognize. These settlers organized and, using force of arms, saw justice done.
Could history repeat itself?
Mike D.| 3.26.10 @ 2:01PM
History ALWAYS repeats itself. There are two ways to learn history, learn it through books and documents and try NOT TO repeat it(the mistakes) or learn it the hard way and suffer the same consequences. But either way its going to be learned. We know where this government is heading and if it plays out to its historical conclusions we know how this story ends and its not pretty.
SpiralArchitect | 3.26.10 @ 3:44PM
From one Mike D to another... history does indeed repeat itself; well done.
Giles| 3.26.10 @ 4:09PM
Can anyone answer this please...
We have a long term care policy with a private entity that we have had for about 5 years (which we pay $350 quarterly for !). I am wondering how Obamacare affects this ? Is this policy going to become useless in the future ? And all the money we have paid into it will of course be lost ! I mean if the goal here is "single payer" (which I believe IS the goal) what point will it be to have this private long term care plan we carry !
J.Glynn| 3.26.10 @ 7:00PM
You analogy to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 is spot on. It brought the nation eventually Abraham Lincoln but also the Civil War. I hope to find a Lincoln but God help us all if it comes to Civil War.
la| 3.26.10 @ 8:43PM
I agree with you J.Glynn. I admire Abraham Lincoln and I bet he is rolling over in his grave. I hope we can stop these radical leftists.
Eagles at Large| 3.26.10 @ 7:20PM
Mike D. - Totally agree
At the end of Veitnam I was in Fort Lewis, WA. waiting to be ship out and all of a sudden I find myself in Germany. All my life I have felt like - half of a veternan - because I would never know whether I had what it took to make it in the bush. A three tour VV marine took me to see Platoon (the second time for him) and said it would answer my question. I believe the quote was "Heroes are not born they are made." I am marching in Sonora, CA this Sunday in memory of the Vietnam Veterans. God will raise up the leader - all we have to do is pray!
Eagles at Large| 3.26.10 @ 7:26PM
E veryday
A mericans
G iving
L iberty
E veryday
S upport
Cynical realist.| 3.26.10 @ 8:02PM
I see a lot of ignorance here, for example claims of "Marxism". It is deologically impossible for any of the Democrats in Congress to be "Marxists".
Marxists only believe in a total overthrow of the government by the "working class." Ironically this would mean that they would be out there in the crowd joining in the shouting.
If anything this bill is Fascist due to the back door dealings with several groups in the private sector (Pharmaceutical industry for example). If this was truly a "Socialist" act none of those groups would have been appeased.
And comments of "Anti-Christ" please, get help.
Lastly, a civil war would destroy this country, no matter what the outcome. if if the right "Won" they would be forced to revoke rights for everyone on the 'Left' and\or kill them all, this would lead to an ongoing insurgency and although it would be right leaning, the resulting government would have to be totalitarian.
If the "Left" won the outcome would be the same, there is no way the "Right" would just surrender, which would cause an ongoing insurgency as well. Though I doubt Liberals have the guts to do a "kill them all", they'd still revoke rights for the ideological enemies.
Nick| 3.26.10 @ 8:57PM
Sorry, CR, but the people who frequent TAS are, for the most part, well informed.
Try watching CSPAN sometime. You might see Maxine Waters say this about socialism:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrA9zj94NuU
Anne M| 3.26.10 @ 11:01PM
I find it quite ironic (after I finish throwing up) that the biggest supporter of slavery in the modern era is the first black American president. Too bad he can't call it that, 80% tax rates will just have to do. Hell, even slaves got Sunday off! Do the math.
CL| 3.27.10 @ 12:30AM
Well Anne in Obama did say in his book how mucg he admired Malcolm X. And Malcolm X said that there would never be equality in America until America was destroyed and rebuilt. And his favorite phrase was 'at any cost'. This President feels he has a lot of scores to settle. He is dangerous as he about destroying the fabric of this nation he has to do that to "fundamentally change America"...sounds like he studied Malcolm X quite well.
arlo price| 3.28.10 @ 2:34AM
obummer is NOT the "first black American president", he is the first half-white POTUS. Please refrain from perpetuating a lie.
Alex| 3.27.10 @ 12:34AM
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Yosemeti Sam| 3.27.10 @ 1:01AM
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
awhile back had a perhaps justifiable subliminal
overarching concern of battle-hardened soldiers
returning from the front lines in foreign wars -
providing hope and change for tens of millions -
to the ever momentous CONSTITUTIONAL combustion front lines in America. No political Democrat green zones here hereafter.
Hmmmm:
What - ya think Americas' finest will be on the
side of the cynical ranks of Constitution bludgeoning LIBERALS; now providing viagra to pedophiles BTW?
Likewise, ya think a half million police force
in America, straight-jacketed into pampering
criminals - will be on the side of the cynical ranks of Constitution bludgeoning LIBERALS; now providing viagra to pedophiles BTW?
Just how will a spoken of army of BHO-led brown-attired tots/louts march against this foundation - should push come to shove?
To the Liberals - Leftists, if one will - watch your Six.
You're out in the open.
And - we're gaining on you. CONSTITUTIONALLY!
Mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm!
Ain't it a bitch - for you Liberals/Leftists!
RobertS| 3.27.10 @ 2:37AM
Yosemeti Sam,
U R drunk, and there is nothing frightening about your use of "ya", it just makes you sound bitter and, frankly, drunk.
There is not going to be any big armed uprising in this country where all the rifle toting good ol' boys will join up with the army and "take back our country". Dude, it just ain't happenin'.
Melvin| 3.27.10 @ 8:48AM
This is the main problem with Liberals and Progressives.
You think that anyone who disagrees with the Liberal line is an inbred, Daisey duke wearin toothless illiterate Southern hayseed.
Liberals are viewed ans arrogant elitists and for the most part Liberals do agree with this classification.
For one thing, "Dude" you have been watching too much Dukes of Hazard.
The Conservative ranks are filled with millions of highly intellectual Conservatives who would blow the doors of any Liberal professor any day of the week.
Because simply, Liberalism is not based on facts but rather an emotional ideology.
Look how many billions have been spent recently and the populace has nothing really to show for it. The cost vs benefit is grossly unequal.
The Congress and the Senate felt good passing it, and the Liberals felt good getting it, but is still has not produced any meaningful jobs, but, "Dude" ya got to admit it sure feels good don't it. That is until the check comes due.
WEC| 3.27.10 @ 2:54AM
The Individual Mandate is clearly Unconstitutional!
The Individual Mandate attempts to regulate INACTIVITY!
The federal government is attempting to force individual who are NOT engaging in commerce to do so! These individual who freely choose to pay their own HC bills are not harming anyone nor can be said to be disrupting commerce! And they are being dictated to buy a specific private product from another private entity by use of government power!
In short, the Federal government is attempting to force you to Contract with another private party!
Yes, the Individual Mandate is a huge and unprecidented danger to personal freedom and Individual Rights!
Anything less the its abolishement by the courts essentially sets us up for Unlimted governmental powers – this is a tremendous threat to freedom and Individual Rights!
This transfer of unchecked power from the citizen to the state is essentially an attempt by a small cabal of leftist radicals to overturn the American Revolution itself!
Soverignity will essentially be transfered from the citizen to the state - a CounterRevolution that transfers power to a small group of politically connected elites and unelected politicians - a regression back to a all-powerful, centralized government run by a new Aristocracy of politcans, uber wealthy, and unelected technocrats!
The power that this would give the Federal government is so vast that it we cannot in any creditable way to that we would truly be free and indepent people in any meaningful way!
Underestimating this or saying its not cause for alarm is truely a severe underestimation of the threat to our Liberty!
The GOP & Conservatives needs to strongly advocate for the cause of Human Freedom – if its lost here, where will ever be regained?
Ken (Old Texican)| 3.27.10 @ 9:11AM
Ladies and gentlemen,
I hope each of you will read this piece on American Thinker.
http://www.americanthinker.com.....erica.html
Nick| 3.27.10 @ 10:16AM
Ken,
Thanks for the link! I completely agree.
Check out this Maxine Waters video that I linked to, above.
Watch the whole thing. It's hilarious!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrA9zj94NuU
RobertS| 3.27.10 @ 3:14AM
WEC,
The GOP is not going to fight against the Individual Mandate for you - it was there idea to begin with. They concocted it as a counter to Pres. Clinton's Employer Mandate. John McCain, among others, was a big advocate (until recently).
Consider this - you pay into Social Security on every paycheck. Is that not "retirement insurance?"
Perhaps Social Security is unconstitutional also.
Pingback| 3.27.10 @ 3:34AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : The Civil War History of Obamacare [ links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Ned| 3.27.10 @ 9:35AM
"In fact, quite the opposite: by injecting fresh thinking and new activism into the Republican Party, the Tea Partiers are giving the GOP renewed reason for hope and optimism. "
I call it Tea-Boarding them, and it seems to be improving the leadership's attitudes and at the same time bring them back to their roots.
Pingback| 3.27.10 @ 10:09AM
Reductio ad Slaverium « Jacobpedia links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Anthony| 3.27.10 @ 10:58AM
Since yesterday, the Leftists in Congress and their whores in the MSM have run wild with this theme of dangerous out of control right-wing fanatics.
A constant barrage of story after story from those poor disrespected D members of Congress, who, have been afraid to leave their basements because of us uncivil, unhinged right-wingers. Oh my, all these profiles in courage, and all for our sake, don't you know. And still, not one shred of evidence, no matter, as Dan Rather would say, "the story is true".
Then we have the moonbat leftist pundits, both on cable and print, like Paul Krugman, who, when off his meds, appears to be orbiting Uranus as opposed to Earth.
Krugman, the ever thoughtful Princetonian economist, when not gleeful about conservative angst over the health care disaster, (Isn't that a form of hate speech, Paul?) is wringing his hands over our ill-mannered behavior. Suddenly, if you haven't noticed over the past 3 days, Leftists have become concerned about civility in America. Suddenly, the rhetortic needs to be toned down. I guess that means Obama's buddy, Professor Bill Ayers has put his nail bombing days behind him. Lucky us.
This is classic Marx and Alinsky, declare victory and shut down opposition.
I think we need to send messages to our courageous representatives and senators; if the right-wing threats are that bad, you have our permission to quit. No hard feelings. Same with you Krugman. P.S. that is NOT a threat, we call it concern.
RonW| 3.27.10 @ 11:41AM
"Of course, there is no likelihood that the United States will become enmeshed in a literal or violent civil war. Our republic, though young, is far too mature and well established for that. In America, we settle our domestic disputes not through bullets, but through the ballot box."
What's this "of course" stuff? "No likelihood"? The liberals are bankrupting the country, their policies are putting millions of people out of work while they grow the government sector, they ignore voter intimidation, they commit massive voter registration fraud, they are nationalizing industries -- yet somehow there's "no likelihood" for armed revolt?
Even if we win big at the next elections that will not get rid of the liberals who are actively trying to destroy our foundations -- it might force them out of office for a time, but they will still wheedle and dig and use the liberal courts to sue and stop any meaningful reforms to regain our country. Look at what judges have done to our energy development? How about abortion? Eminent Domain? We won Heller (2nd Amendment) by only one vote on the Supreme Court!
The ballot box has done little to stop our slide into the mess we have put ourselves in since the 1930s (how do we vote out judges? Regulatory agencies?). At some point you have to admit that there is "some likelihood" that people will feel compelled to take problem solving beyond the ballot box. I am not saying I want that, and it certainly would be catastrophic (how do people stop killing once they start?), but you underestimate what people will do when they confront the reality that their institutions repeatedly and continually fail to fix what obviously needs fixing.
Human beings are not sheep. Americans make some of the world's best soldiers, in part, precisely because they understand and appreciate the disciplined use of violence. Rather than ignoring the potential for armed revolt, it is better that we keep that possibility in mind as an incentive to the real imperative of taking corrective action -- the sooner, the better.
Ken (Old Texican)| 3.27.10 @ 1:31PM
Folks,
I must sound like a stuck record. Sorry.
We are a looooong way from having to go have a gun-fight with the idiots and communists, (pardon the shorthand).
A while back, Big J, talked about three boxes: "The ballot box, then the jury box, and finally, in extremis, the bullet box."
I would suggest a fourth box. I would suggest "The Money Box".
...We in the "small business" community, along with military veterans............FINANCE THIS COUNTRY.
We have the ability to turn off the cash spigot to govt. by simply sitting down for a few weeks.
Doctors
18 wheeler drivers
Food deliverymen
Fuel deliverymen (including pipe-liners)
Others that provide the sinews of our country.
See, if the communists, (pardon the shorthand), keep "upping the ante", sooner than later, they lose their constituency of beggars and takers.
EMPTY HANDS, FOLKS, EMPTY HANDS.
We can win this battle overwhelmingly, non-violently.
Finally, buy a couple of cases of Dinty Moore beef stew to tide your family over until the communists give up.
God bless America
Margie| 3.27.10 @ 6:12PM
Agreed. We vote with our feet and empty hands. Except when those hands are raised in praise to our Maker.
To add to your comment, and I think it's important- was listening to a radio show and Eric (forget last name) from Media Matters (Leftist) was on and he was REALLY trying to portray us tea partiers as violent crackpots who are claiming we're going to take up arms and that we are doing this all over the internet. So beware my fellow conservatives because it is something they are using against us.
arlo price| 3.28.10 @ 2:46AM
Agreed, a week long national strike would probably get the 'district of criminals' attention. Stock up on some groceries and let's do it.
Charles Stevens| 3.27.10 @ 2:15PM
This progressive tyranny, beginning with Obamacare, is very much like what I would imagine to be a sodomist rape...
The gang of perpetrators has overwhelming force on its side. While they pin you down the Sodomizer-In-Chief smirks as he tells you, "Don't resist, just relax and it won't be that bad. Actually, you might even end up enjoying it."
Craig| 3.27.10 @ 4:03PM
Sean Hannity is the ONE.
He has thick skin
He is today's great communicator
He has been publicly challenged by BHO
He is a outstanding citizen
He is a devoted husband and father
His beliefs are well known by all
His stand has never changed
He is a Reagan conservative
He can debate like no other
He loves our military
He has good morals
He has experience in the private sector
He believes in free enterprise
He knows US history
He loves our founding documents
He has no bad baggage from past
He is liked by even some enemies
We The People need to persuade him to run!
Charles Stevens| 3.27.10 @ 7:08PM
Craig,
As much as I like Sean Hannity, I have been reading some sobering comments regarding his finances... please read the following and let us know what you think (personally, I hope it's not true):
http://www.debbieschlussel.com.....were-paid/
Nick| 3.28.10 @ 8:33PM
Mr. Stevens,
You are days late, and dollars short.
The whole Hannity calamity was dealt with on AmSpecBlog last week. I encourage you to check it out.
Miss Schlussel doesn't have the goods.
la| 3.27.10 @ 5:14PM
I agree with you Ken Old Texican!!!!
Obamacare is an invasion of my privacy and against my religion. My freedom comes from God not government. Defund and Disobey!!!! I can disobey with out breaking any laws!!! God bless!!
charles794| 3.27.10 @ 6:10PM
The financial institutions are in the business of shifting money from the have-littles to the have-a-lots, the process being politically supported by the Republicans. For trying to touch this system the president is inevitably hated by all the above.
Pingback| 3.28.10 @ 12:45AM
Rebellion News links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
JeffT| 3.28.10 @ 9:18AM
I nominate Paul Ryan, for lack of a better man at this time. He and Eric Cantor have fought the good fight.
DumbArkie| 3.28.10 @ 9:21AM
Good Saturday morning reading! Thanks, folks. I like the idea of starving out the government by not funding them. Go John Galt!
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Pingback| 3.28.10 @ 11:25PM
Twitter Tweets about Obama as of 29. marts 2010 « Obame and Copenhagen links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 3.29.10 @ 12:05AM
Left Decries Healthcare History it Doesn’t Know or Understand | NewsReal Blog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 3.29.10 @ 11:02AM
“Well, there isn’t a literal connection, Dude.” « Jacobpedia links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Grant| 3.29.10 @ 12:05PM
I agree the issue is freedom vs. control. Therefore, the last thing we need is another Lincoln, perhaps the most statist Republican President until Teddy Roosevelt (although there is plenty of competition). What we need is someone more like Luther Martin (see The Rev. Orsi's review of the new book on Martin). If we could reverse the Supreme Court decision in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), and repeal (inter alii) Amendment XVI, we be miles ahead.
Pingback| 4.22.10 @ 7:23PM
Truth And Common Sense − How to start a civil war, leftist style. links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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