Today, we need to relearn their principles if liberty is to survive.
As I posted elsewhere, those who engage in the current battle, must elevate the debate to the point where the media cannot distort it as being just "ignorance" (as Katie Couric claimed yesterday). The Gibbs and Axelrod talking points cannot trump the forcefulness and truth of the words of America's Founders on liberty vs. tyranny.
Edmund Burke, before the British Parliament way back in March 1775, observed the colonists' fierce "spirit of liberty." He said:
"In other countries the people . . . judge of an ill principle in government only by an actual grievance; here they anticipate the evil and judge of the pressure of the grievance by the badness of the principle." He said Americans could detect "misgovernment at a distance and sniff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze."
James Madison put it this way, "The freemen of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise, and entangled the question in precedents. They saw all the consequences in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by denying the principle. We revere this lesson too much, soo to forget it."
Any Republicans or Democrats who "compromise" for the sake of popularity now on this important principle involving future generations should be recalled at the next election cycle!
This is not about a frivolous question of which provisions are acceptable and which are unacceptable. This is about a power struggle between the principles the founding generation were willing to stake their "lives, property, and sacred honor" for, and those who, throughout the history of civilization have arrogated unto themselves power over other people's lives.
The current "issue" called "health care reform," or its equally obnoxious semantic twin "health insurance reform," is just the invasion of liberty by arrogant elected officials which has finally aroused citizens who, heretofore, ignored the decades-long power grab by those who were supposed to protect "We, the People's" constitutional principles.
Now, citizens are seeing that it is a matter of "principle," not an issue of semantics over wording.
They should not allow their elected representatives to be coopted by "blue dogs" or any other "wolf in sheep's clothing" that would allow what may turn out to be the most important watershed moment in the history of American liberty to be further threatened. Now, Conrad and Sebelius, and others, sensing the voter mood are throwing out "compromise" talk this weekend, all to punt for better position down the road. Seize the moment for the sake of posterity and just say, "no"!
A word from the author of our Declaration of Independence regarding citizens and oppressive government might give some backbone to today's citizens:
"The most effectual means of preventing the perversion of power into tyranny are to illuminate . . . the minds of the people at large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts which history exhibits, that they may. . . know ambition under all its shapes, and . . . exert their natural power to defeat its purposes." - Thomas Jefferson
And, for more wisdom from the same source:
" . . . this is a tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for a second, that second for a third, and so on, till the bulk of the society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery, to have no sensibilities left but for sin and suffering. Then begins, indeed, the bellum omnium in omnia, which some philosophers. . . have mistaken it for the natural, instead of the abusive state of man. And the forehorse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follws that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression."- Thomas Jefferson
Not yet...but...just give the Marxist/fascist time.
Food is next on the list. They will choke the system to death with regulations and they will control prices. Eventually, they will open government grocery stores. ( It's for the children, you see.)
I've been asking Alan Grayson’s office (8th District of Florida - Orlando) for weeks if and when he will hold a Town Hall meeting here in his district. I kept getting “We plan to have one, but we're not sure when and where - it will probably be the very last week of August. Watch the website for news on this.”
Finally, posted at 6:00PM yesterday (Sunday) with only 24 hours notice, Alan Grayson’s web site has announced that the Town Hall here in Orlando will be held tonight (Monday) at 7:45PM at the local IBEW Union Hall. Here's the announcement:
TO HOST HEALTH CARE TOWN HALL
August 16, 2009 7:30 PM
From Grayson’s website:
Congressman Alan Grayson will host a town hall meeting to discuss the need for health care reform, listen to concerns or answer questions from the constituents he serves, and debunk the many myths being circulated about the current proposals.
WHAT: Health Care Town Hall
WHEN: Monday, August 17, 2009, 7:45 p.m.
WHERE: IBEW Local 606 Union Hall
820 Virginia Drive
Orlando, FL
The Congressman intends for and expects this event to be a respectful and productive discussion.
This is the second public health care meeting the Congressman has held during the summer district work period. On July 27th, he met with about fifty members of his Health Care Advisory Board. The meeting was announced 72 hours in advance, open to the public, and promoted and covered by multiple media outlets.
The Congressman also will conduct a health care telephone town hall on Thursday, August 20th at 7 p.m. People interested in being a part of that event can sign up on the Congressman’s website.