Posted on 03/23/2010 4:56:20 AM PDT by Kaslin
A terrible thing happened to America on Sunday, March 21, 2010.
The country took its biggest step ever down a road diametrically opposed to its original intent of keeping the state small so that the individual can be free and great.
Therefore, in this unprecedented crisis of values, this is what needs to be done:
1. Know and teach America's core values.
We got to this point solely because over the past few generations, Americans have forgotten the values that have made America distinctive and great. Even the "Greatest Generation" failed to communicate them.
In a nutshell, they are what I call the American Trinity: "In God we trust," "Liberty" and "E Pluribus Unum." The left has successfully made war on all three -- substituting secularism for God and religion in as much of American life as possible; substituting equality (of result) for liberty; and multiculturalism is the opposite of "E Pluribus Unum."
People who do not understand American ideals -- especially small government -- now dominate our schools, our entertainment media and our news media.
(My own contribution here is a video titled, "The American Trinity" at prageru.com. Please view it and forward it.)
2. Recognize that we are fighting the left, not liberals.
Conservatives and centrists are no longer fighting liberals. We are fighting the left.
Liberalism believed in American exceptionalism; the left not only does not believe in it, the left opposes it. President Obama, when asked if he believes in American exceptionalism, replied, "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism, and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."
Liberalism believed in creating wealth; the left is interested in redistributing it.
Liberalism believed in a strong defense. The left believes in cutting defense and a strong United Nations.
3. Democrats should be referred to as Social Democrats. This is not meant to be cute, let alone as a slur. But calling Democrats Social Democrats is an effective way of reminding Americans that there is no longer any difference between what is now known as the Democratic Party and the Social Democratic parties of Europe. When the Democratic Party returns to its roots as a liberal, not a left-wing, party, we will happily resume calling the party by its original name. However, since no Democrat can cite a significant difference between the Democratic Party and the SD parties, there is no good reason not to use the more accurate nomenclature.
4. Work tirelessly to repeal the bill.
We must single-mindedly work to repeal the government health plan. We all know that it is difficult to repeal entitlements because they are like drugs and it is very difficult to wean people off drugs. But it is not impossible. We need to warn our fellow Americans that entitlements will do to America what drugs eventually do to addicts.
All Republicans must run for office on the "repeal" issue. Even when they lose, the difference between right and left, between Republicans and Social Democrats will have been made clear; and clarity is our best friend.
5. Our motto: "The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen."
I used this phrase in addressing the Republican members of Congress. It has become widely used, including by Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., on the House floor during the Congressional debate on Sunday. It encapsulates this epic battle of American values versus leftist values. Every movement needs a motto. I nominate this.
6. Do not let other matters distract.
Neither Republicans nor conservatives are united on every issue facing America. Immigration is one example. But we are united on the big government vs. free individual issue, which, more than anything else, has defined America. If we allow any other domestic issue to divide us, we will lose.
And here's why: If Americans forget what America stands for, it won't help us if there is not one illegal immigrant here. And if we do remember what it means to be American, we can handle anything.
7. Acknowledge that we are in a non-violent civil war.
I write the words "civil war" with an ache in my heart. But we are in one.
Thank God this civil war is non-violent. But the fact is that the left and the rest of the country share almost no values. The American value system and the leftist value system are irreconcilable. If the left wins, America's values lose. If American values prevail, the left loses.
After Sunday's vote, for the first time in American history, one could no longer confidently believe that the American system will prevail. And if we don't fight for it, we don't deserve it.
“The Demise of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippians”
That whole thing is not so cut and dried as the commie slug media wrote it.
I never ran across a Filipino who was incensed because Marcos was corrupt.
They were incensed because they themselves weren’t getting any of the graft, that’s all.
And pretty glad that Marcos was keeping both the commies and the muzzies hammered down.
I told them that the day would come when they wished they had him back...and it did.
Well said. That’s how I remember it as well.
I am agreed with you in general principle, I think that methodology is what is in disagreement here. While Jefferson wrote these words as statement of the rights of the citizens to rise against the despotism of unrepresented taxation, George Washington had no trouble using force of arms to subdue the Whiskey Rebellion. His reasoning is the same as mine, namely that once having thrown off the yoke of repression and secured representation for themselves, the people of the various states were outside the bounds of their rights under the compact that they made in implementing the Constitution.
We have the right to defend our persons and property, and yes, the privilege granted government to use force exclusively flows from this right. In the compact that we have made to “provide for the common defense” we limit our right to use force to decide the outcome of political questions. I can’t walk up to a pro-abortion pol and blow his/her brains out simply because I disagree with their position, nor can I simply opt out of the system because I disagree with what the elected representatives of the people have done.
The will of the people is expressed at the ballot box. Once elected, our representatives can vote their conscience, with or without input from their constituents. Their willingness to listen will determine their fate. They are not there to “carry out the will of the people” as such, that would be closer to a democracy which we are certainly not.
Society is a construct, as is government. The social cohesion that hold a society together is always based on the use of force. What determines a free society is whether the power of the state is constrained by the force of law (not necessarily democratically), and, although it seems that the federal government has usurped many powers and indeed it has, we the people have been the ones returning the same people to Washington year after year, thus conferring upon their lack of adherence to the Constitution, the appearance of legitimacy.
Anarchy, on the other hand, is the absence of any societal cohesion, it is societal chaos.
Unfortunately for you and I, they do. Our way to express our views most powerfully if our representatives don’t listen to us while in office, maybe our voices would register better were they not sent back to Washington (or any other elected office)!
Forgive me for a blurry eyed mid conversation interuption here, but are you holding that once we created a compact through the constitution we lost all right to throw off an oppressive government because we agreed to it?
If you browse my posts, you will see I am no fan of anarchy or uprising, but I wonder where to draw the line on this reasoning.
The anti-federalists and nullification folks had some points that are more valid after a couple of hundred years than ever, it would seem.
How to diffuse things in an acceptable manner is my biggest question at the moment, I suppose.
No, but we agreed to this form of government, and by extension by re-electing the vast majority of them and allowing their programs to continue, we are the ultimate owners of all of these ills.
The best remedy is still the ballot box, and, if all else fails, the route of state nullification through the ninth and tenth amendments. It would be a lot easier for the states to stop ridiculous legislation if they hadn’t allowed direct election of senators, but that’s another conversation.
I just simply don’t agree that we have a need to overthrow government by force. That just makes us a banana republic, or Imperial Rome where the army decided the emperor.
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