Darkest Before The Dawn

First, I spologize to you for not posting more often. The realities of raising two boys and looking for work and all the fun of being a stay-at-home dad take precedence over my ranting online in long form.

Second - those virtue vs. vice bits will come. Honest.

Anyway, I wanted to take this late night period of relative calm to share my thoughts on the recent events in this once and future great nation of ours. We are indeed in dark times - a lot of what we thought made America great is being brushed aside in the name of political expediency.

Instead of upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States, the members of the House decided to uphold and defend their lobbyists by passing a Titanic-sized bill under the ruse of health care reform in what is the most egregious and blatant power grab in recent memory, if not in the history of this nation. Yes, the vote was primarily along party lines, but let's not kid ourselves on this; both sides of that proverbial aisle have been slack in their responsibilities for quite some time for things to have come to this point.

Is our health care system perfect? No, of course not. We are imperfect beings, and try as we might, we're never going to nail it perfectly. But it is the best one currently in the world, and the problems we have with it are not the result of a lack of state involvement, but rather the intrusion of government regulation into the field. Premiums are as high as they are because the insurers' hands are tied when it comes to competing with one another. Many on the left will aruge that deregulation will make things worse, but in practice that is pretty much never the case. Giving the companies the ability to compete will result in price decreases. Look at the prescription prices now. Larger chains are offering many common prescription medications at very low prices, and in some cases, for free. I recently had a prescription for the antibiotic Levaquin filled gratis at my local supermarket. The free market works wonders, if only the chains of government regulation are undone.

But alas, the larger issue, and the cause of our dark times, is not a discussion over how to address our health care. The larger, more forboding problem is that the people in Washington who are supposed to not only represent the people, but to make sure their work is in accordance with the united States Constitution are in essence ignoring the law of the land, and ignoring us, in some cases openly mocking us.

The past few months have seen the rise of the Tea Parties and other grassroots movements of the people. We're sick of being treated like ignorant children by our elected officials. We're sick of our tax dollars being spent like there's no tomorrow, with little or no accountability for wasteful spending. We're tired of a media that treats us as insane, or as extremists or even terrorists. All we are asking is that those we elected to serve the best interests of America do so, and that they respond to us and not the groups who line their campaign war chests.

While a small number in DC get the message, most it seems have not, or will not. The rally in Washington in the days before the vote on PelosiCare was seen by a lot of us as a last stand against a Congress going mad with power, and our pleas fell on deaf ears. It does not help that the rally, called for by Rep. Michelle Bachmann, from what accounts I have read from personal friends, turned into little more than a GOP rah-rah session after a short while.

It would seem that neither side gets it. We're not looking to side with either the Democrats or the Republicans. We're looking to side with those who stand for individual liberty, limited government, and the Constitution. Sure, the GOP is against the bill, primarily because it's being pushed by the Democrats. I honestly believe had McCain won, something similar but less brazen would have been introduced and passed by now with Republican support. After all, in the somehow life-or-death economic crisis last summer, the "stimulus" passed with support from both parties.

It seems that no one in power is willing to listen to us. They think that we'll eventually go back to the TV and find something good on and forget about what they are doing to us. It's not going to happen. More and more of us are losing jobs, and it's not like new ones are being created (or saved, for that matter). Aside from an abundance of free time, we're now seeing what fruits we reap from sowing irresponsible spending and unnecessary intrusion by the government. No one wants to hire because the tax burden is going to skyrocket. it has to by virtue of the obscene amount of debt we are racking up. Added regulations make it that much harder for businesses to work efficiently. The ridiculous amount of money we're printing is driving the value of our currency into the ground. There's simply no economic reason for people to hire. All the jobs are heading offshore, unless of course you work for the government.

Our voices at this moment are unheard whispers among the roaring winds of "fundamental transformation" of America from a free land into a socialist state.

But despite this wrist-slittingly depressing analysis, I take some refuge in the notion that in our hour of greatest need arise those figures who can aid us in finding our bearings and setting us back on course.

We faced something similar with Carter. Reagan did come in and help steer the American ship on the right course, but we got lazy and assumed all was well too soon. The lesson we ALL need to learn right now is that for things to be right again, we must not only work at it now, but once we find our people to begin the process of righting the course, we need to be constantly vigilant and keep an eye on DC at all times from now on. Provided we hold free elections in 2010 - something I think many fear may not be the case - we can put in people who get it and who will work to undo the behemoth of Big Government. Our job is not done if we get these people in. Once in, our job will be to holdtheir feet to the fire and make sure they don't succumb to the temptations that political power offer.

The first thing that must be done is to set strict term limits on Congress. This should require a Constitutional amendment, as it did when the Presidential term limits were imposed. Two terms ought to be a good, consistent limit across the executive and legislative branch. Limiting someone's time in Washington effectively limits their ability to become corrupted.

Another area that needs to be addressed is the legislation itself. Congress is teeming with lawyers, who are so skilled at writing bills in legal jargon that many of them can't understand those bills they bother to read. Require that all legislation be written in plain English so that the people of this land can read the bills and underatand their meaning. Ambiguous language should be avoided whenever possible.

Furthermore, require that all legislation be read on the floor prior to any vote, prefereably prior to debate. Our Constitution was read piece by piece and debated on before passing. What is wrong with doing the same for any laws Congress wants to pass? Read the bills and discuss their Constitutionality, and vote based on that.

Bills like the 2000 page monstrosity should have died long before being voted on. How can anyone reasonably expect someone to vote for a bill so large with so little time to read it and examine it for legality? You can't; it's simply not possible.

Now, in this darkest hour, we must shine a light, find those who will blaze a new trail of common sense and responsibility in Washington, and find ourselves in a new dawn of American hope.

- F.D. for Two joe Schmoes