Liberty’s Activists vs. ObamaCare
As pivotal Washington weeks go, last week was one of the most dizzying: a full House vote on a wildly unpopular bill, backroom deals, a president pressuring disobedient members of his own party, a canceled trip to Asia. Twisted arms, votes won, and an intraparty brawl. The vote itself ended a week of developments that have challenged the country’s core.
But another sort of history was made this weekend as well. Few in Washington, D.C., have experienced the kind of electrifying atmosphere that lit up the nation’s capital in the final two days before House Democrats prevailed shortly before midnight on Sunday. Washington is typically lousy with professional lobbyists and special interest groups. Washington is not accustomed to the citizen activists who descended there on Saturday morning. The city is not used to seeing a visceral link between ordinary citizens and the minority of legislators fighting for them.
Thousands stood under Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Capitol “hideaway” office, chanting: “Kill the Bill!” Later, in haunting tones: “Naaancy. Naaancy.”
It was a transformative moment inside the Capitol building: Buttoned-up congressmen, aides, and pages looked on in awe at the insurrection. They pumped their fists in the air and tens of thousands roared their approval below.
The week did not start out auspiciously for health care opponents. They held a small tea party rally on the Capitol grounds on Tuesday, March 16. The Capitol Police denied them the right to build a stage or a sound system. They used a bullhorn; someone found a park bench. About a thousand people showed up.
“Welcome freedom fighters!”
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) greeted the small crowd with the bullhorn. The crowd roared back. “Freedom fighters” was apt — these were peaceful insurgents, guerrillas. They did not control the levers of power or register with the mass media, but they somehow managed with their zeal to slow the dragon.
When Speaker Pelosi announced midweek that a vote would be held on the weekend, tea party organizers tried to reply by putting out a call for a rally on Saturday. First they scheduled it to take place in a small park off the Capitol grounds itself. But as word filtered in of buses, cars, and planes coming, the organizers moved it to the west side of the Capitol building. Only fifteen months earlier this is where Barack Obama had been sworn in as president of the United States. It’s a large space. A small group would look lost.
Very early on Saturday, as I parked in Union Station — a little more than a mile from the Capitol building — I was forced to drive to the top level of a parking garage. All the other levels had already been filled. People were writing personal signs on the hoods of their cars or on the stone pavement at Union Station. Vans pulled up. American flags and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags were unfolded. It was a beehive of activity, yet it was as quiet as could be.
No one told them what to write. No one organized them. Alexis de Tocqueville knew of these citizens.
As I walked with my cameraman towards the Capitol building, we could see people silently making their way toward the west side. It was two hours before the rally. We walked pass the Russell Senate Office Building and turned right onto Constitution Avenue. There were already at least 10,000 people at the foot of the Capitol.
For over two hours, the crowd grew. Having participated in anti-war demonstrations, I can tell you that this protest was reasonable. There were perhaps 25,000 people, but it had not been organized by union bosses or Soros-funded groups. These were individuals who drove overnight from the Carolinas and who left in the early morning hours from New York and Delaware. A group of 100 boarded a commercial plane from San Diego.
Over the entire weekend, tens of thousands of citizens remained, circling the Capitol building. About 2,500 went to the Rayburn House Office Building, named after the power broker Sam Rayburn who was known as “Mr. Democrat.”
About 1,500 filled the steps of the Cannon House Office Building and Capitol Plaza, adjacent to the Capitol building itself.
Everywhere you could hear the chanting: “Kill the bill!” The streets were filled; it was impossible to pass. Many of the original 25,000 went to see their congressional representatives on Saturday; others encamped throughout the grounds.
At 5:00 p.m. the demonstrators ringed the Capitol building, about five deep. Flags were everywhere. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) held an impromptu town hall meeting on the steps of the Capitol.
That evening, on two large windows, several congressional staffers printed signs on 8×10 sheets of paper before taping them to windows on the east side, facing the crowd:
“V-O-T-E N-O!”
“S-C-R-A-P T-H-E B-I-L-L!”
As the letters appeared, the throngs went wild: “Kill the bill! Kill the bill!” Inside, congressional staffers pumped their fists in the air, whooped, and yelled. Flags waved. There was pandemonium.
These were staid Republicans and conservatives? No, no they weren’t.
It would help the side of truth, if we stopped using their benevolent sounding term “Progressive”. The Dems are “Communists”, and communism is regressive and oppressive, not progressive, because it is slavery. We should pin that label “Communist” on them because it is apt. Also, the label “Party of Death” should be applied as often as they apply the labels “Racist” and “far right extremist” to us.
1. Patrick Of Atlantis,
INDEED. A+++++
There shall not be a ruling class.
The concept that government is the source of law presupposes the existence of a ruling class having unlimited authority
that concept was refuted on June 15, 1215 at Runnymede when King John was obliged to sign Magna Carta and accept LIMITS on his authority.
Again on October 19, 1781 at Yorktown the power of the King was refuted
The concept of a ruling class with unlimited authority then was replaced by the concept that government itself shall be subject to law where the law is given by the people. This is called the consent of the governed in these united States and is set forth in our Constitution.
Every student in every school in every grade should study this concept as well as the freedoms which support it, known as the Bill of Rights
it is our job as always to verify what the schools teach, and to fill in the missing parts and correct the errors.
Check out this interesting excerpt from James Monroe in what he might say about Obamacare:
http://federalistblog.us/2010/03/president_monroes_response_to_obamacare.html
All I saw in the MSM were references to a couple of people shouting racist/homophobic epithets. There’s a shock. My preliminary sense is that the MSM is moving to more aggressively marginalize the opposition now (even more than before the bill passed). They’re going to a hard sell now.
I have a question though: This morning, on ABC News’ Good Morning America, I heard that “12 states with Republican governors” plan to challenge the bill in the courts. On Fox News, they’re saying “over 30 states plan some action” (which would have to include some with Democratic governors). Which is it?
I think we need to make clear that this debate is about a lot more than healthcare…it’s about the fundamental nature of this country. We have to acknowledge that everyone would love to see a chicken in every pot (and a pony in every child’s home)…the issue is utopianism (which always drifts to totalitarianism) vs. a practical approach to governing a society that yields the growth and prosperity we associate with America.
This healthcare issue is a good place to take a stand…I’d just like to see the whole thing being framed more consistently in the larger context.
Historically speaking, it seems what stirs the American people up to fight back oppression is a really bad attack upon them, such as the attacks upon us at Pearl Harbor, or 9-11. This Obamacare has done more to unite Americans who value freedom from oppression than any thieving socialist could have ever imagined, the fight has just begun, losing a round only makes a real fighter fight harder.
I agree with Patrick @#1, let’s change the name from “Democratic Party” to “Communist Party”.
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck,,, most likely it’s a duck.
245 years ago the English Parliament passed the Stamp Act, Which was the spark that fired the Revolution in this country. I wonder if this taxation without representation was spark a new one. Freedom has been under attack for many years and it is time to fight back.
“And of course, no one will have to pay for it. Right?”
What we saw in the Pelosi sausage factory over that fatal weekend was simple and criminal Bribery. That party used our money to bribe their own party to pass a monsterous bill that fed their own party.
The veneer for passing the bill was compassion for the downtrodden and working man. Obama in his caucus speech said that democrats were the kind of people who would help the other guy. Had he finished his phrase it may have added, “with someone else’s money? What part of redistribution and bribery is not criminal?
Canada ranks is #8 in countries with the hightest taxes. Currently, we are at 29% incomparison with the U.S. at 15%. This is largely due to socialized medicine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_around_the_world
So much for the myth that healthcare in Canada is free. We pay through our teeth. (….and dental care is not covered)
I dont’ know the Dems care about the 2010 election….think about it…
If Repubs rule in 2010-2012…in 2012 election the Dems can claim that they got “so” much done before the 2010 election of the Republicans.
. Then in 2010 all the grand Dem plans for the betterment of America were derailed by the election of
Republicans that just wouldn’t work with Obama…and then easily fooled Americans will say…oohh we didn’t realize..and vote to elect dems in 2012..thus re electing Obama..
Hey we “knowingly”, according to Sharpton, elected a socialist in Obama..who is to say what will happen next. By hook or by crook..
REPEAL IT! REFORM IT!
GOP House
GOP Senate
Palin/Ryan 2012
Now this was a fun piece to read. You have captured the event perfectly.
For all my Patriot brothers and sisters who were able to make it to D.C. this weekend, job well done and heartfelt thanks from SoCal.
Obamacare should never be construed as supporting the “General Welfare” that the Constitution describes. This indecent affront to individual liberty is an assault on any such meaning. Intolerable Acts like this are what caused the Founders to revolt against the Crown. Bit by bit, that same spirit rises again. Let it have its run…
Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.
Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independance 1776
Ah, the impotent rage of the selfish.
To quote one of the great American intellectuals:
Elections have consequences.
You lost the election.
Get over it.
What will happen when these same freedom loving citizens have decided “enough is enough” and come back to DC armed and ready to defend their freedoms in the streets?
#24(Savage) :
It was the Edict of 1763 that started the American Revolution.
The Edict forbade the colonists from speculating in land values in the areas west of the Allegheny mountains…
wars cost huge amounts of money. and for that reason, only people with huge amounts of money are able to prosecute wars. and for these people to act there must be money on the table: something worth while must be at stake
Today that will be the Free Market of the United States.
should it become evident that the self-appointed* government of the country has seized control of the national economy, squeezing out small businessmen and entrepreneurs this might become an issue of contention.
a lot of leadership and communication would be required to act… and the cheapest, most effective action to take is to simply recall representatives who have not voted in accordance with the wishes of the people
even federal judges can be impeached
but are we the people well enough educated to perceive the need and to make it happen ?
Suggested Reading
http://www.thebulletin.us/articles/2010/03/12/commentary/op-eds/doc4b9a639f16d15825639445.txt
~~
*self-appointed: politicians are sold to the us public by television advertising via a controlled media. that is what the recent case in SCOTUS dealing with the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act was about
regressive and oppressive = ‘O’gressive. The new party.
It’s good to read this. I know the lib media, and those who think like them, are using real or supposed incidents of racial attacks on one Congressman to paint the whole thing in that light. Even a supposedly Christian group is claiming it.
http://blog.sojo.net/2010/03/23/a-step-toward-health-reform-in-spite-of-poisonous-politics
I’ve seen little about it, and wonder if anyone was there and knows what really happen. Newsbuster had a bit about it here.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2010/03/20/abc-anti-obamacare-protest-turned-very-ugly-racial-and-homophobic-slurs
–The Politico, however, reported how others “admonished” the single shout from the bigoted hater with a lack of decorum, who could have even been a plant to embarrass the conservatives:
I suppose, in such a large crowd, it’s impossible to keep out all the bad apples. Sadly, those are the ones the media focuses on.
I find it interesting that the AGs of several states waited until after Obama signed the Obamacare bill before filing a lawsuit challenging Obamacare. Given Obama is treasonously ignoring that the federal government has no constitutional authority to regulate public healthcare, IMO, the AGs waited until after what was arguably criminal action on Obama’s part before filing their lawsuit.
THIS MOMENTOUS DAY!
Not one day in anyone’s life is an uneventful day, no day without profound meaning, no matter how dull and boring it might seem, no matter whether you are a seamstress or a queen, a shoeshine boy or a movie star, a renowned philosopher or a Down’s syndrome child.
Because in every day of your life, there are opportunities to perform little kindnesses for others, both by conscious acts of will and unconscious example.
Each smallest act of kindness – even just words of hope when they are needed, the remembrance of a birthday, a compliment that engenders a smile – reverberates across great distances and spans of time, affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo, because kindness is passed on and grows each time it’s passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away.
Likewise, each small meanness, each thoughtless expression of hatred, each envious and bitter act, regardless of how petty, can inspire others, and is therefore the seed that ultimately produces evil fruit, poisoning people whom you have never met and never will.
All human lives are so profoundly and intricately entwined – those dead, those living, those generations yet to come – that the fate of all is the fate of each, and the hope of humanity rests in every heart and in every pair of hands.
Therefore, after every failure, we are obliged to strive again for success, and when faced with the end of one thing, we must build something new and better in the ashes, just as from pain and grief, we must weave hope, for each of us is a thread critical to the strength – the very survival – of the human tapestry.
Every hour in every life contains such often-unrecognized potential to affect the world that the great days for which we, in our dissatisfaction, so often yearn are already with us; all great days and thrilling possibilities are combined always in THIS MOMENTOUS DAY!
Excerpt from Dean Koontz’s book, “From the Corner of His Eye”.
It embodies the idea of how the smallest of acts can have such a profound effect on each of our lives.
Toronto Girl wrote: “Canada ranks is #8 in countries with the hightest taxes. Currently, we are at 29% incomparison with the U.S. at 15%.”
Yes, well, do you think Pelosi and the leftists will stand for that? No, they’re working hard to ensure that we not only catch up but surpass you.
Liberals are normally disgusted when Americans go around proudly proclaiming “We’re Number One!” But if they can make us the most taxed, most over-regulated, least-free country in the Western world (a tall order, considering the competition includes the UK and Sweden, but the left is doing their best), then and only then, will the Leftists be able to declare “We’re Number One!” Think of how proud Michelle will be of us then!
Yeah, Palin/Ryan in ’12, that’ll fix ‘er! Meanwhile, here’s more helpful and pragmatic suggestions:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/a/m/americandad/2010/03/an-open-letter-to-conservative.php?ref=recdc/Superb
You’re welcome.
Healthcare now! (16):
To quote one of the great American intellectuals:
Elections have consequences.
The question is: do you know what those consequences might be? Either you are extremely ignorant, in a league with the lady that famously said a while back that she would get a new kitchen and other goodies from “Obama’s stash”, or you are a deliberate socialist provocateur. If the latter, are you so sure of your place in the nomenklatura?
This well may be the beginning of the end of the Democrat party…and the mainstream media.
They can pass this unconstitutional mass but they can’t keep it passed. Millions have been awakened.
#10 – Toronto Girl
You left out the best part: private insurance. I know many Canadians. Despite “universal coverage” most of them also pay for private insurance so that they can get the health care they actually want.
I find it interesting that the AGs of several states waited until after Obama signed the Obamacare bill before filing a lawsuit challenging Obamacare.
Actually, I don’t think you can file suit, as such, prior to there being an infringement. You can file a suit that says “contingent upon this law being enacted” that you want a ruling as to whether enacting such a law would be legal. Contingent suits can be amended at once if the law is enacted, so I think that those who filed prior to enactment were trying to sway the vote in the House as much as preparing to fight in court. Those that filed after, have no need to amend, that is, as I understand it, the difference between the actions of the various AGs. Not filing prior to enactment, IOW, isn’t dereliction of duty or anything since I don’t think something equivilent to ‘prior restraint’ would be possible by the Court against another branch. (I think prior restraint is only for 1st Amendment related issues?)
Regards
Hey, healthcare now! what do you make of this:
While many Chicago parents took formal routes to land their children in the best schools, the well-connected also sought help through a shadowy appeals system created in recent years under former schools chief Arne Duncan.
Whispers have long swirled that some children get spots in the city’s premier schools based on whom their parents know. But a list maintained over several years in Duncan’s office and obtained by the Tribune lends further evidence to those charges. Duncan is now secretary of education under President Barack Obama.
The log is a compilation of politicians and influential business people who interceded on behalf of children during Duncan’s tenure. It includes 25 aldermen, Mayor Richard Daley’s office, House Speaker Michael Madigan, his daughter Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.
Oh, of course, nothing like this will ever happen under Obamacare. Nobody in your family will ever camp out in an ER waiting room for 20 hour or die waiting for a kidney transplant or be turned down for an expensive operation while Pelosi’s and Stupak’s and Reid’s family jump the line to receive the best care, just like the elites do in Cuba.
If, one day, I find myself parked in an ER for days next to a carping liberal who says “I didn’t think it was going to be like this,” no matter how miserably sick I am, I’ll feel better. We non-elites will all suffer, but at least some of us will be spared the pain of knowing we were complete naifs and suckers.
16. Healthcare now. Were you born clueless or did you have to learn it?
To all who shared such meaningful, heartfelt thoughts and feelings with her, my sister, Rachel, asked me to tell you all goodbye. She’s gone but for so many of us not forgotten.
Never forgotten.
Phoebe,
My friend Ms. R. Peepers will never be forgotten.
I hope you can post here in her memory.
((HUGS)),
Delia
Yo at #16…
Is it selfish for me to wish to keep my hard-earned wages, or is it selfish for someone like you, one who has annointed himself unselfish, to take my earnings and use them as you see fit?
Blow it out your ass.
#18 Mike Acker wrote: It was the Edict of 1763 that started the American Revolution.
The Edict forbade the colonists from speculating in land values in the areas west of the Allegheny mountains…
wars cost huge amounts of money. and for that reason, only people with huge amounts of money are able to prosecute wars. and for these people to act there must be money on the table: something worth while must be at stake
Today that will be the Free Market of the United States.
————–
BUT the war against the Brits cost so much that taxes rose in the States far beyond what they had been before. Not only that, but the soldiers sold their notes from the government, which were bought by speculators (operating in the free market of the United States), who demanded and got full payment (something the vets despaired of ever getting, which is why they sold them) Taxes had to go up to pay off the speculators, and some soldiers then lost their land as well, which they could no longer afford to pay the taxes on. Ever hear of Shay’s Rebellion?
Look this health care thing may or may not be affordable, may or may not break the country, but one has to be quite gullible and/or clueless to swallow the idea that we have to get back to the old ways. If you study history, you learn that there was no golden age. Alas some people have to express their disgust with the present in terms of a mythical past. What the hell; it makes things less complicated.
I am not optimistic. There are just to many portents of world wide chaos evident. This nation is broke. Our politicians are taking us toward financial implosion.
Its just about time for the planets only real super power to make its move. China will probably take steps to dominate all of Asia and the US and Europe no longer has the courage, wherewithal nor morality to resist them.
As China steps out so will the forces of chaos and totalitarianism all over the earth. Nuclear war in central Asia is imminent.
the obamanation is here to stay. Right up to the end. As the Italians say, “you must arrange yourself”.
Psssttt, you want to see the sum total of the liberal agenda, on all topics imaginable under the sun ?
Dingell: It will take a while for ObamaCare to “control the people”
35. Dwight. If I understand you correctly your view would be 1.) the capitalists screwed the little guy who fought for them so the American revolution wasn’t worth losing your property for and 2.) fighting for principle is a quaint and old fashioned notion that has no place in this modern world. We aren’t trying to go back to horse and buggies, we are trying to deal with the powerful and intrusive burden our government has become and reset to the core values that the majority in this country ascribe to. These are embodied in the constitution, the real one as it is written with all those pesky “negative liberties” that Obama hates so much because (if followed) they limit what government can do to the productive law abiding citizen. While many people are really down about this I see this as an enormous opportunity for our nation to get get back to core principles. Most Americans, probably many liberals to boot, would prefer a government that simply protected them from the bad guys and otherwise left them alone. If we can elect those who share these values and principles we will have leaders who can rescind bad legislation. We can have judges appointed who will use the constitution as the framework instead of citing foreign law for precedent. There are about 10 supreme court cases that need to be reviewed and overturned. Then we would have real change.
Manimal Farm Alert, penning up the hoi polloi, how the self-designated liberal élite “thinks”…
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others
(The sloths are so happy, Obamacare is like Christmas !)
To quote one of the great American intellectuals:
Elections have consequences. You lost the election. Get over it.
To quote one of greatest American intellectuals of all time, Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6th, 1816, on Barack Obama using the office of the President of the United States for purposes of redistribution of wealth…
“To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and
that of his father’s has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association — the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.”
(mewling and puking losers everywhere are thrilled with the early stages of the New World Order)
You osamacare. There are already people dead under this 4th Reich.
Stop the evil.
Yes, Toby #4
I might add that Madison and the whole crowd would be aghast at the idea that legions of jurists will now be scouring the Constitution’s simple and straightforward “commerce clause” to look for the right of the Congress of the United States to encode law requiring individual citizens to purchase a good or service, in the instant case, “healthcare” insurance.
I would add, for the record, they would be equally aghast that their SCOTUS could find in 1973 that the Constitution’s implicit “privacy” guarantee would enshrine into law the notion that the lives of 50+ million human beings could be legally terminated in the womb.
There’s little they would recognize about the country they crafted 234 years ago, where a group of very wise individuals attempted to craft a document that would obviate the excesses and criminality of power they had observed in Europe.
I have lived for many years in both Canada and the United States. The Canadian system of health care is far superior to the U.S. system for many reasons. Here’s one: The U.S. system is oppressively bureaucratic. It’s ironic. The United States prides itself on its lean, mean capitalist economy, yet its health care system is presided over by a costly and bloated administrative apparatus charged with monitoring the complex web of individual variations in coverage–who pays how much, who is entitled to receive what procedure, who can be treated where and by whom, etc. etc. I have read estimates that the cost of all of this excess bureaucracy amounts to hundreds of billions dollars each year. So much for efficiency.
Sure, HDW, that’s why Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams came on down to Florida to have his heart valve repaired, since they couldn’t…
perform the procedure without cracking (aka breaking) his sternum in Canada
Or why so many Canadians who can afford it hop over your southern border to tend to their “healthcare” issues.
I have read estimates…
I have read estimates that it can take up to 6 months to even get on a list to simply “see” a doctor in Canada, especially in rural areas.
Healthcare now (16): To repeat what some others here have said: If you wish to be personally charitable and help the sick, by all means, go ahead. I commend you for it. If you want to steal from me to give to your favorite causes, that is not charity; that is tyranny.
You are focused on what people get rather than the stealing and coercion employed to redistribute wealth. You probably think that the ends justify the means. You don’t think that stealing and coercion are of any consequence and that society will be fine with the stealing and coercion.
You cannot make the world a perfect place. It’s not possible to come even remotely close. There will always be suffering in life. There is no magic bullet. Let’s put it differently so maybe this will register. I will take money from you against your will and give it to the Heritage Foundation. Sound good? If you don’t agree, you’re a hater.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its
victims may be the most oppressive.”
C.S. Lewis
Here’s a question: Did liberals ever get over the election of George Bush?
As a matter of fact, very few Canadians travel south of the border for medical procedures. And the estimates about people waiting months for procedures are largely a myth. I have several relatives who live in parts of rural Canadian and their health care is prompt and superb. The high quality of health care in Canada is a source of pride, not frustration or shame, among Canadians. The debate that’s currently happening in the United States took place 40 years ago in Canada. Fortunately, the side that favored universal health care won that debate and Canadians have been the better for it ever since.
Well that’s very interesting HDW. I travel to three different Canadian provinces for business, and the hard working Canadians I have the pleasure of working with and breaking bread with afterwards assure me that the Canadian healthcare system is less than ideal for those without private insurance. They confirm the long wait times for specialists and then surgery. Neither have they said Canada was better after universal health care.
So HDW, maybe you can bring me up to date on the trend towards private healthcare in Canada…
In Canada, a move toward a private healthcare option
A universal, government-funded health system is only beginning to flirt with private-sector medicine.
Hoping to capitalize on patients who might otherwise go to the U.S. for speedier care, a network of technically illegal private clinics and surgical centers has sprung up in British Columbia, echoing a trend in Quebec. In October, the courts will be asked to decide whether the budding system should be sanctioned.
…More than 70 private health providers in British Columbia now schedule simple surgeries and tests such as MRIs with waits as short as a week or two, compared with the months it takes for a public surgical suite to become available for nonessential operations.
#38 Freedoc writes: Most Americans, probably many liberals to boot, would prefer a government that simply protected them from the bad guys and otherwise left them alone. If we can elect those who share these values and principles we will have leaders who can rescind bad legislation. We can have judges appointed who will use the constitution as the framework instead of citing foreign law for precedent. There are about 10 supreme court cases that need to be reviewed and overturned. Then we would have real change.
————
Well, I think that there is shared concern that we may be going broke, but a vast majority of people have gotten used to the idea that a huge Federal government is necessary in these times when there are huge multinational corporations, banks, airlines, pharmaceuticals, you name it. Americans thought that the Contract with America was a good idea, until, Newt & Co actually tried to shut it down, and you saw how that worked out. A dominant ethos of this culture is that we will be protected from every threat imaginable, from bank failures to pesticides in our food to sticking accelerators to anything less than an ideal education plan for our special needs children.
I don’t see that changing any more than speculators will stop taking advantage of anyone than can
I have read estimates that it can take up to 6 months to even get on a list to simply “see” a doctor in Canada, especially in rural areas.
Is Palin Marginalized—supporting McCain’s Campaign?
See McCain’s Indefinite Detention Bill
Why is Sarah Palin helping Sen. McCain’s campaign after he just introduced, S.3081, The “Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010” possibly the most Tyrannical Bill in Modern U.S. History?
On March 4, 2010, Sen. John McCain introduced S. 3081, The “Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010.”
Government too easily can use McCain’s bill S.3081 to arbitrarily disappear Americans—without probable cause. Your political opinions and past statements made against U.S. Government could in the future under S.3081 be used by Government Authorities to deem you a “hostile” “Enemy Belligerent” to cause your arrest and indefinite detention.
How might Americans respond should Government use this bill to take away their loved ones, family members and friends on mere suspicion? It is foreseeable McCain’s bill will drive lawful political activists underground, perhaps creating the domestic terrorists McCain said we needed to be protected from.
Under S.3081, an “individual” need only be Suspected by Government of “suspicious activity” or “supporting hostilities” to be dragged off and held indefinitely in Military Custody. Government will have the power to detain and interrogate any individual without probable cause. Government need only allege an individual kept in detention, is an Unprivileged Enemy Belligerent suspected of; having engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners; or has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners. How could one prove to Government they did not purposely do something? “Materially Supporting Hostilities” against the United States could include any person or group that spoke out or demonstrated disapproval against an agency of U.S. Government. It is foreseeable many Americans might go underground to Resist Government Tyranny. The Definition for Unprivileged Enemy Belligerent: (Anyone Subject to a Military Commission)
At least under the Patriot Act, law enforcement generally needed probable cause to detain a person indefinitely. Passage of S.3081 will permit government to use mere suspicion to curtail an individual’s Constitutional Protections against unlawful arrest, detention and interrogation without benefit of legal counsel and trial. According to S.3081 Government is not required to provide detained individuals U.S. Miranda Warnings or even an attorney.
Similar to fascist laws in other countries, S.3081 if passed will frighten Americans from speaking out. S.3081 is so broadly written, it appears any “individual” who writes on the Internet or verbally express an opinion against or an entity of U.S. Government or its coalition partners might be detained on the basis he or she is an “unprivileged enemy belligerent”, “supporting hostilities against U.S. Government.”
See McCain Senate bill S.3081 at:
assets.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/ARM10090.pdf
FYI: below is enclosed a copy of “Hitler’s Discriminatory Decrees signed February 28, 1933.” Although the Nazi Decrees are written differently than S.3081 they bring America to the same place crushing free speech and personal liberty. Note how the Nazi Government similar to U.S. S.3081 has in Section (1) and (4) suspended personal liberty and shutdown Free Speech, to intimidate Citizens speaking out against Government:
See Section 1
“Sections 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124, and 153 of the Constitution of the German Reich are suspended until further notice. Thus, restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press, on the right of assembly and the right of association, and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications, and warrants for house-searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.”
Similar to McCain’s S. 3081, but using different wording the Nazi Government in Section (4) see below, suspended Constitutional rights, ordered the arrest of Citizens for any Act that might incite or provoke disobedience against state authorities. McCain’s S. 3081 instead mentions detaining and prosecuting Individuals for “supporting hostilities” against U.S. Government. S.3081 is so broadly written anti-war protesters Tea Party Groups might be arrested and detained just for attending demonstrations.
See Section 4
Whoever provokes, or appeals for or incites to the disobedience of the orders given out by the supreme state authorities or the authorities subject to then for the execution of this decree, or the orders given by the Reich Government according to Section 2, is punishable—insofar as the deed, is not covered by the decree with more severe punishment and with imprisonment of not less that one month, or with a fine from 150 up to 15,000 Reichsmarks.
McCain’s S.3081 mentions “non-violent acts” supporting terrorism in the U.S. and or emanating from America against a foreign government or “U.S. ally.” “Non-violent terrorist acts” are covered in the Patriot Act to prosecute Persons that support “coercion to influence a government or intimidation to affect a civilian population.” However U.S. activists and individuals under S.3081 would be much more vulnerable to prosecution, if (charged with suspicion) of “intentionally providing support to an Act of Terrorism”, for example American activists cannot control what other activists might do illegally they network with domestically or overseas. Under the Patriot Act, law enforcement generally needs probable cause to detain or prosecute someone. But under S.3081, law enforcement and the military can too easily use “hearsay” or informants to allege “suspicious activity” to detain an individual. It is problematic under S.3081 that detained individuals in the U.S. not involved in terrorism or hostile activities, not given Miranda Warnings or allowed legal counsel will be prosecuted for ordinary crimes because of their alleged admissions while in military custody.
Historically it is foreseeable under S.3081 “erroneous informant information” will be used under S.3081 to detain innocent Individuals. Other countries have used lying informants to imprison and execute political opposition.
Notably, McCain’s S.3081 mandates merging Federal, State and local police and subsequently the U.S. Military to detain and hold Individuals in the U.S., even without probable cause. Interestingly a Rand Report prepared for the Army, recently made public, appears to suggest that U.S. Government develop a Local, State and Federal U.S. “National Police Stabilization Force (merging) State law enforcement with the Feds. What could happen to State Rights and what Laws and Jurisdiction would be used to prosecute state Citizens arrested by a National Police Stabilization Force? A National Police Force could potentially be sent by the President into any State with the approval of its governor, against the wishes of its Citizens? To clarify the Rand Corporation report visit:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php
It should be expected under S.3081 that government would use an individual’s phone call and email information to allege without probable cause “suspicious or hostile activity against the United States.” It does not appear U.S. Government will stop wiretapping Citizens’ electronic communications.
Just recently Pres. Obama’s signed Executive Order EO 12425 that put INTERPOL above the United States Constitution. Obama’s Executive Order authorized INTERPOL to act within the United States without being subject to 4th Amendment Search and Seizure laws. It would appear INTERPOL may now tap American phones and emails without a warrant. And that U.S. Police can use INTERPOL to circumvent the Fourth Amendment to arrest Americans and or forfeit their property by bringing INTERPOL into a criminal or civil investigation. Government can too easily take an innocent person’s hastily written email, fax or phone call out of context to allege “suspicious activity” under S.3081 or that a crime or violation was committed to cause an arrest or Civil Asset Forfeiture.
DECREE OF THE REICH PRESIDENT FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE PEOPLE AND STATE
Note: Based on translations by State Department, National Socialism, 1942 PP. 215-17, and Pollak, J.K., and Heneman, H.J., The Hitler Decrees, (1934), pp. 10-11.7
In virtue of Section 48 (2) of the German Constitution, the following is decreed as a defensive measure against Communist acts of Violence, endangering the state:
Section 1
Sections 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124, and 153 of the Constitution of the German Reich are suspended until further notice. Thus, restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press, on the right of assembly and the right of association, and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications, and warrants for house-searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.
Section 2
If in a state the measures necessary for the restoration of public security and order are not taken, the Reich Government may temporarily take over the powers of the highest state authority.
Section 4
Whoever provokes, or appeals for or incites to the disobedience of the orders given out by the supreme state authorities or the authorities subject to then for the execution of this decree, or the orders given by the Reich Government according to Section 2, is punishable—insofar as the deed, is not covered by the decree with more severe punishment and with imprisonment of not less that one month, or with a fine from 150 up to 15,000 Reichsmarks.
Who ever endangers human life by violating Section 1, is to be punished by sentence to a penitentiary, under mitigating circumstances with imprisonment of not less than six months and, when violation causes the death of a person, with death, under mitigating circumstances with a penitentiary sentence of not less that two years. In addition the sentence my include confiscation of property.
Whoever provokes an inciter to or act contrary to public welfare is to be punished with a penitentiary sentence, under mitigating circumstances, with imprisonment of not less than three months.
Section 5
The crimes which under the Criminal Code are punishable with penitentiary for life are to be punished with death: i.e., in Sections 81 (high treason), 229 (poisoning), 306 (arson), 311 (explosion), 312 (floods), 315, paragraph 2 (damage to railroad properties, 324 (general poisoning).
Insofar as a more severe punishment has not been previously provided for, the following are punishable with death or with life imprisonment or with imprisonment not to exceed 15 years:
1. Anyone who undertakes to kill the Reich President or a member or a commissioner of the Reich Government or of a state government, or provokes to such a killing, or agrees to commit it, or accepts such an offer, or conspires with another for such a murder;
2. Anyone who under Section 115 (2) of the Criminal Code (serious rioting) or of Section 125 (2) of the Criminal Code (serious disturbance of the peace) commits the act with arms or cooperates consciously and intentionally with an armed person;
3. Anyone who commits a kidnapping under Section 239 of the Criminal with the intention of making use of the kidnapped person as a hostage in the political struggle.
Section 6
This decree enters in force on the day of its promulgation.
Reich President
Reich Chancellor
Reich Minister of the Interior
Reich Minister of Justice