[MplsSteve]

This article is not too different from other ones that have been posted here. But I decided to post it to give FReepers a feel as to what's ahppening here in Minnesota.

And yes, there are Minnesotans who are making themselves heard on the healthcare issue!

As I read the article, I found the retort by Rep Tim Walz to be disingenuous. Tim, no one called you a Communist. The person who spoke of the healthcare plan called it communistic.

If you can't figure out the difference, maybe you shouldn't be in a leadership position as you are.

Comments or opinions - anyone?

[MplsSteve]

WELCOME TO FREE REPUBLIC’S MINNESOTA PING LIST!

126 MEMBERS AND GROWING...!

FREEPMAIL ME IF YOU WANT ON OR OFF THIS LIST!

[abb]

And it is just now August 6. It’s going to be a long, hot August for the CongressCritters.

[abb]

BTW, well underway on this one.

http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Tribune-Great-American-Newspaper/dp/0528818260
Chicago Tribune: The Rise of a Great American Newspaper
by Lloyd Wendt

[nj patriot]

I would like to have been a fly on the wall during the meeting headed by Pelosi to the Democrats in Congress before recess. She put the fear in them, now they are representing Pelosi.

These people need to be defeated, they do not represent their districts or their constituents. They left their gonads in Nancy’s office. They don’t need them anymore.

[loveliberty2]

Technology may have outstripped government-controlled media and government-school propaganda, allowing America's ordinary citizens--"We, the People"--using common sense and technology, to figure out that their freedom and liberty are threatened. That's what the so-called Tea Parties are demonstrating. Even Seniors (AARP members) use the Internet and are becoming knowledgeable and vocal about violations of their freedom.

By doing so, those who wish to enslave us through accumulating all power in Washington are meeting strong and unexpected resistance to their massive power grab. This is what the Founders intended when they structured a government (Constitution) for a free people. It required a vigilant and informed electorate.

The following essay, reprinted with permission, is from a 1987 book entitled, "Our Ageless Constitution."

An Enlightened, Committed People Who Understand The Principles Of Our Constitution

- The Most Effective Means Of Preserving Liberty

"Although all men are born free, slavery has been the general lot of the human race. Ignorant - they have been cheated; asleep - they have been surprised; divided - the yoke has been forced upon them. But what is the lesson? ...the people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united, that after establishing a government they should watch over it.... It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently free." James Madison

"America's Constitution is the means by which knowledgeable and free people, capable of self-government, can bind and control their elected representatives in government. In order to remain free, the Founders said, the people themselves must clearly understand the ideas and principles upon which their Constitu­tional government is based. Through such understanding, they will be able to prevent those in power from eroding their Constitutional protections.

"The Founders established schools and seminaries for the distinct purpose of instilling in youth the lessons of history and the ideas of liberty. And, in their day, they were successful. Tocqueville, eminent French jurist, traveled America and in his 1830's work, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, wrote:

".every citizen ... is taught . the doctrines and the evidences of his religion, the history of his country, and the leading features of its Constitution ... it is extremely rare to find a man imperfectly acquainted with all these things, and a person wholly ignorant of them is a sort of phenomenon."

"On the frontier, he noted that "...no sort of comparison can be drawn between the pioneer and the dwelling that shelters him.... He wears the dress and speaks the language of the cities; he is acquainted with the past, curious about the future, and ready for argument about the present.... I do not think that so much intellectual activity exists in the most enlightened and populous districts of France' " He continued, "It cannot be doubted that in the United States the instruction of the people powerfully contri­butes to the support of the democratic republic; and such must always be the case...where the instruction which enlightens the understanding is not separated from the moral education.."

"Possessing a clear understanding of the failure of previous civilizations to achieve and sustain freedom for individuals, our forefathers discovered some timeless truths about human nature, the struggle for individual liberty, the human tendency toward abuse of power, and the means for curbing that tendency through Constitutional self-government. Jefferson's Bill For The More General Diffusion Of Knowledge For Virginia declared:

"...experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government), those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be, to illuminate...the minds of the people...to give them knowledge of those facts, which history exhibiteth. History, by apprizing them of the past, will enable them to judge of the future...it will qualify them judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views.."

"Education was not perceived by the Founders to be a mere process for teaching basic skills. It was much, much more. Educa­tion included the very process by which the people of America would understand and be able to preserve their liberty and secure their Creator-endowed rights. Understanding the nature and origin of their rights and the means of preserving them, the people would be capable of self government, for they would recognize any threats to liberty and "nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud." (Adams)

 

[WOBBLY BOB]

Tactical Timmy Walz was a REMF in the rear with the gear...
and he’s a socialist.

[Lion Den Dan]

If you don't like appellation “Communist,” don't act like one.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Any moron politician who backs this pile of crap healthcare bill is going to be verbally assaulted! YOU CAN’Y STOP IT!....PEOPLE ARE PISSED!

[cookcounty]

Rush brought up a good point: Waht, exactly IS the Obama Health Care Plan? I just did a search and I CAN'T FIND IT. There are statements of ideals and principles, but no proposal OF HOW IT WOULD WORK.

If anyone knows where I can see the Obama Plan, please correct me and let me know.

[3niner]

Walz, a veteran, shot back: "I didn't spend 24 years in the military to be called a Communist, I can tell you that."

There is no amount of good acts that will give you a free pass on evil for the rest of your life. If he doen't want to be associated with Communism, he should stop voting to support it.

[kromike]

Make no mistake, people. This anger is encouraging, but ultimately, DeathCare is going to be passed via "reconciliation" in the dead of night, probably just before a long holiday weekend.

SourOne values his power over Middle Earth more than anything else.

However, when (not if) it passes, that same anger will become white-hot fury.

[DM1]

“Tim, no one called you a Communist.”

usually when people have a knee jerk reaction like that they really are what the purport not to be

[Tublecane]

“I didn’t spend 24 years in the military to be called a Communist, I can tell you that.”

How long did Lee Harvey Oswald spend in the military? What’s the connection, there? All communists want is for all of us to live in barracks, on the dole, and work for below-market rates, right?

[astyanax]

Walz, a veteran, shot back: "I didn't spend 24 years in the military to be called a Communist, I can tell you that."
To which I reply: "Then you'll be voting against it?"

[markman46]

wonder what reception Oberstar will get???

[vicar7]

I went to Betty McCollum’s office to ask why they toke down her schedule on break. They said the national office toke it down. I called the national office and they said it was web problems. Betty is dodging the public but she is Grand Marshall at a parade in New Brighton. I am seriously thinking of picketing her office with a sign. Come Out! Come Out! Where ever you are, Betty and listen to the folks. I have never been one for activism but I am seriously upset with those that serve us.

[Born Conservative]

Well, Mr. Walz, no one ACCUSED you directly of being a Communist. However, if the shoe fits...

[Iron Munro]

How can these people be legitimate protesters when they don’t even belong to the NAACP, ACORN, SEIU, CPUSA, Black Panthers, etc.?

[colorado tanker]

The present RNC couldn't organize anything. This is for real and it's grass roots. Democrats will pass this turkey at their peril for what could happen to them in 2010.

[Jean2]

Hello,

Does anyone here know if there is going to be a town meeting in Honolulu?