KEEPING THE FAITH -
In The News
August 19, 2009
FINALLY, Change We
Can Believe In
A Commentary by Tony Blankley
Rasmussen Reports
Those of us who are self-appointed advocates -- who expend
our efforts trying to persuade a few more people to our political point of
view -- must sit back in slack-jawed wonder when the great American public
makes one of its great roars, as we all have been hearing in town hall
meetings across the country.
In the animal kingdom, it is the lion that has the loudest
roar. Scientists say it is made as a warning to advertise the animal's
presence. Are you listening, Washington? The current American public's roar
certainly is being heard around the world. Consider the following lead from
Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper a few days ago:
"It was a scene of breathtaking political theatre. Arlen
Specter, the veteran Pennsylvania senator, stood in stony-faced shock as one
of his constituents delivered a furious tirade just a few feet away. 'One
day God is going to stand before you, and he's going to judge you and the
rest of your damn cronies,' bellowed the senator's grey-bearded adversary in
an encounter replayed countless times on American television. 'Then you will
get your just desserts.' Minutes later, a woman prompted a standing ovation
with her emotional outpouring. 'I don't believe this is just health care.
This is about the systematic dismantling of this country,' she said, her
voice quaking. 'I don't want this country turning into Russia, turning into
a socialised country. What are you going to do to restore this country back
to what our founders created, according to the Constitution?'"
Usually, for a nation's public opinion to be heard so far and
wide, violence must be involved. Earlier this year, the people of Iran were
heard -- but at the price of the government murdering its citizens, shooting
demonstrators in the face and violently suppressing the crowds in its
capital city. And voices were heard in Tiananmen Square in China in 1989.
But only in America does the political significance of a
peaceful public voice reach such magnitude, because here we change power
without violence. Yet the media and many Democratic congressional leaders
have responded to this peaceful outpouring of passionate opinion by first
claiming the crowds were hired by lobbyists. (So far, the only evidence of
rent-a-mobs was a Craigslist ad offering up to $600 a week for pro-Obamacare
demonstrators to turn up and demonstrate.)
Then, when it became obvious that no one can organize the
size and the manifestly sincere passion of so many people (and the polls
proved the public believed the people), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused
those American people of being "un-American" and "carrying swastikas," while
The Washington Post ran an article making fun of the unstylish clothes the
people were wearing.
On Sunday, administration officials started backing away from
their demand for a public insurance requirement. That's nice. But it is very
possible that something much bigger is afoot. As the woman said at the town
hall, "I don't believe this is just health care."
Bailouts to banks, huge stimulus payoffs to special
interests, nationalization of auto companies, trillions in new debt, the
ideological taxing of our great carbon energy supplies, unconscionable
deficits stealing from our grandchildren, Washington talk of health
rationing, forced abortions, compulsory sterilization, eugenics. Are you all
Eurosocialists now? What the hell is going on in Washington?
Maybe, just maybe, the woman is right. Maybe the national
roar is a cri de coeur from the heartland to the capital -- just the
beginning of a national vomiting of alien ideas being shoved down the
national throat by a left-wing Congress.
To those congressmen who oppose the horror: This is no time
for timidity and compromise. Let your political courage match the passion of
the people.
And to all the Washington politicians in Congress, advice
from another generation's poet:
"Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'."
© 2009 CREATORS.COM
Thank you for Keeping The Faith,
Sadie Fields
