Despite Vote, Last Night Left Me Very Optimistic

While many on the Right may have been, or will soon be bemoaning the death of the American Republic on the heels of last night's heath care vote, I watched it play out, didn't blog too much and came away incredibly optimistic for America in the end. In a word, passion might serve best in summing up all the reasons why. And there are at least a few.

Mainly on Twitter, I watched what we already knew would be the futile resistance as we moved through the night. It was serious, focused and at fever pitch. Polls suggest the majority of Americans also harbor deep concerns over where the now Socialist-Democrat Party is taking us. And like much of their agenda, the health care bill will actually punish the masses while serving the few most closely aligned with the current Socialist-Democrat Party cause.

That lesson may need teaching. But how many working Americans with health insurance would really opt to switch it out for a government run, or controlled program if given the choice? Very few, I'd wager.

Health care, industry, jobs, growth, income and profits, among others, those are issues that matter to Americans. They don't seem to matter very much to the current crew holding court in Washington. And passion, above all else, is what drives elections and produces results.

There are Tea Parties aplenty still taking place. Whether she herself runs, or not, Sarah Palin inspires a great many Americans, with plenty of them not so previously engaged. And we have issues. Ones on which the Right, not the Socialist-Democrats are on the right side of in the hearts and minds of most Americans.

They need to come to understand that, certainly. But there is time for that, too. Time and passion. I predict we will see a huge burst of energy on the Right as we go forward confronting all this. I can imagine activists who previously weren't picking up phones doing so, even working for campaigns - issue, or candidate related. Add contributing money to the mix.

Do we need an idea, or ideas? Perhaps. Though for most Americans, freedom always seems to work. Read that freedom of a personal kind. And with freedom, passion and time, frankly, it's hard for me to see how we can lose.

All things considered, I'd rather be where the Right is just now, than where the Socialist-Democrats are. That's for sure. How can one not be genuinely optimistic given all that? Look forward, don't look back. That's where the future of America is in my view. May it always be the case. And that's what is now unavoidably up to us.

Comments

[Elmo]

Sure ... I'll go 'head and say Merry Christmas. None the less, events are still quite disturbing. It really isn't funny anymore. It's insane.

Possibly we'll all pull back a little, enjoy the holidays, take a breather. Calm down. Try and actually relax. Say hello to life.

And then come back with hammers swinging. I'll give it to ya Dan ... optimism be in short order this necka da woods [though I feel maybe ... will be able to crack a bottle bubbly soon, in regards to a future resort/man made lake (entirely of glass) ... in Iran].

Signed ... thirsty

[Drider]

Frankly, I am not so optimistic.I firmly believe that these politicians will not commit political suicide for anything or anyone, there is a pretty good chance that much of this bill could be rolled back or hacked out if they lose power, does anyone think that they would all jump off a cliff in total unison, we are talking about Americans rabidly hating these people for passing bills that the people are vehemently against, they are risking total alienation from many life long Democrats and nearly all independents just to pass a bill that only works the way they want it to "if" they retain the numbers.

I don't trust our government, I have a bad feeling that the peoples voice will not be heard in the 2010 elections.

[anon]

The problem w/passage of the HCR bill is that the negative effects are not going to be felt by the majority of Americans for several years...probably not until after the 2012 presidential election. There's no question that EVENTUALLY the majority of Americans who work and get their health care through an employer sponsored plan will end up paying more for less, the question is when.

Until the results of this boondogle trickle down to the middle class the Democrats will have their talking point of "We passed HCR, we've insured millions more people and it won't cost you a dime, thank god we're in power becasue the meanie Republicans don't want you to have all these goodies"...that is going to be a powerful talking point until the ACTUAL results are felt...this means we could be looking at Obama as a two term president, especially if the economy is able to woble through for another couple of years w/out another downturn.

Certainly , by 2016 the majority of Americans will have seen how HCR negative effects them, but that might be too late.

[Philip McDaniel]

"Certainly , by 2016 the majority of Americans will have seen how HCR negative effects them, but that might be too late."
It's already too late, anon. If people didn't get it listening to Obama's campaign speeches,reading his writings and watching his actions in the Senate; if people didn't get it watching the Democrats (and George Bush's administration -- let's not forget) create the housing bubble; if people don't get it watching the House and Senate play monopoly with real money, then nothing can be done.
To quote the last stanza of T.S. Eliot's 'The Hollow Men'
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

[smitty]

Dan,
Whatever else, we have a $12T choke chain on us.
The right may be in a relatively better position than the left, but it's the difference of being submerged 9 feet over 10 feet below the surface of a septic tank.
Glumly,
Chris

[WestWright]

I tend to agree with Dan, this scam of a HC bill may be the bridge too far. IMO, there's still a lot of ways for this to fail.

[Anon]

Gotta love TS Elliot:)

Yes, I agree, that it's too late, it has been 'too late' for going on 20 years, maybe it's been 'too late' for 40 years.

The country is mired in magical thinking and the focus on the personal and the short term gets worse every year...we also seem to have a very short memory span..Great Depression Part II is almost a distant memory now, Obama claiming that health care mandates were wrong, forgotten, derivatives, credit default swaps, huh? pass the potatoes please, outsourcing to China...huh?

Is there any governing body in modern history that has been MORE IRRESPONSIBLE than the U.S. in the last 40 years? I suppose the Brits would run a close second, but they started out with a lot less to squander than we did.

[Dee]

This monstrosity of a bill pulls the plug on the American Republic which has been bruised and battered for the past 75 years. Your faith on the Republican Party is astonishing, considering that during the past 12 years they were in the majority accomplished very little.

[chercast]

I'm not optimistic or pessimistic. I'm determined, once again. There are many people who grew up poor that know this is not a good path for their children to be on. I, for one, have been communicating that message directly to my Democratic Senators. I have let them know that me and my children will not work for them, so I must work against them. The Democrats seem to be suffering from a huge amount of guilt, that they don't know if they could have made it to where they are if they weren't a child of some type of privilege. So, they act as they know what's best for us, because they can't imagine any any other way in which they could have succeeded. Well, there are many folks that grew up poor that don't suffer from that guilt and know the beauty of the land of opportunity, not the land of entitlements. Those are the leaders that can speak directly against what drives the Democrats, and remind and lead toward better solutions.

[templar knight]

Have to agree with you and smitty, Anon. There is absolutely no chance that the US can get out of the fiscal mess we are in. The Great Society in sequence with the Vietnam War was the financial ruin of the US, the one not sustainable and the other not winnable. With unfunded liabilities in the scores of trillions, and yearly budget deficits in the trillions, and the forced monetization of the debt due to the lack of demand for treasuries, we are finished financially. Finished.

The question. What should we do? On a personal level, reduce or eliminate your debt, buy land if you can, or invest in precious medals if you can't. Get the hell out of major cities now, before it's too late. The end of the welfare state will cause massive disruptions, and violence will take place. Learn a trade, it might be as simple as gardening or as complex as an automobile mechanic, but do something other than sitting in an office behind a computer. Local junior colleges offer many of these courses.

As for the nation at large, the events will now play themselves out. One doesn't know exactly what the large scale effects of massive defaults will have on the world's financial makets, but it is likely that the entire multi-national system will fall apart. World trade as we know it will cease to exist, at least for a period of time. It is very likely that we will no longer live in the world that we know, but one much different. One more like it was much longer ago. We shall see, and I hope and pray that I'm wrong.

[Anon]

That's definitely the worst case scenario, but who knows how long it will take?

By all reasonable, logical standards the world economy should have ALREADY collapsed as a result of the financial meltdown caused by the US invented and backed shell game of derivatives/credit default swaps/etc. as well as the predictions of U.S. debt as far into the future as the eye can see.

The financial markets have been exposed as a Las Vegas den of gamblers ponzi scheme that is backed up by nothing other than the investor confidence, there is no 'there' there. And yet, S&P and the Dow have risen over the past year even though on the ground nothing has changed.

Same goes for the dollar, there is no reasonable way the U.S. is going to be able to manage the debt load w/out massive inflation some time in the future. Logically, a person/country would sell all of their dollars now and cash out. But, that isn't happening, investors are still confident about the U.S. dollar, even though the numbers would argue otherwise.

I would say we will have to pay the piper and one day there WILL be a collapse of epic proportion...like what happened to the French when they defaulted on their debt and lo and behold violence and revolution ensued. But when? How long can the patient AKA global financial system be kept alive on life support? Ten years? Twenty years? Fifty years? Five years?

[Philip McDaniel]

Here is what I sent to Rep. Boehner recently:
Forget about the Democrats and their socialist running dogs, they have been lying, corrupt, power hungry scum for at least 50 years now. It is no surprise that they have engineered this convoluted monstrosity of a bill. And it will pass – to the utter damnation of their souls. But, Congressman Boehner, you and your fellow Republicans in the House and Senate are to blame for allowing these vermin to come to power. You squandered the support and faith we citizens placed in you and the Republican Party. The fall of the United States of America…and make no mistake sir, it is coming about, will be laid directly at your feet by future historians. You have not the backbone to stand up, the honesty to stop playing along with Democrats in the interest of ‘compromise’, nor the courage to stand at the gate of freedom and defend it. The Democrats play Monopoly with our money and you have made no effort to cry foul; to bring the game to an end, to tip the board over and scatter the cards. In short, sir, you and your minions have no shame. Being professional politicians instead of Statesmen, you will pat yourselves on your backs, thump yourselves on your chests and declare that you have done everything you can to defend our interest, but it will be a lie.

[MarkJ]

We're in this struggle for the long haul. How long? Not as long as you may think.

Ponder the following:

1. It took the Spanish nearly 700 years to drive out the Moors.

2. The Romans occupied Britain for nearly 400 years before retreating.

3. Christianity was formally adopted as the Roman state religion in 380 A.D.--350 years after the Pontius Pilate thought he'd conveniently disposed of a certain Jewish upstart.

4. The Vietnamese Communists needed 30 years to finally win their war of "liberation and reunification."

5. Israel was reborn in 1948--nearly 1900 years after the Romans crushed The Great Jewish Revolt and destroyed the Second Temple.

6. In August 1914, the Romanovs, Hohenzollerns, and Hapsburgs seemed set to rule Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary indefinitely. By 1918, they had all been swept away.

Memo for Democrats: in the world of politics, there are no such things as "permanent" or "forever."

[Anon]

But who is "we"?

The American public is only intermittently interested in politics and then usually only in terms of personalities and soundbytes, that's how we've gotten to the point of a totally unsustainable infrastructure.

Sadly, I think that "we" as in a group of people that see the folly of our trajectory over the last few decades are a disctint minority. I'm sure there were many voices in the Roman Empire that saw the fall coming and tried in vain to derail the freight train before it crashed into the mountain, and to no avail. Rome fell, the West receded back in time and it took almost 1000 years to regain the ground.

My opinion is that we're looking at the same runaway freight train that is pre-destined to crash into the mountain and there is nothing that "we" the minority of pragmatists and realists can do to stop it..."we" failed to stop The New Deal and the implementation of ss and Medicare and then Medicaid and then welfare expansion and then affirmative action just like "we" failed to stop HCR.

The only question is how long until the effects are felt. Social security is still going even though there is nothing but red ink in the future, same for all the other entitlement programs. So, we're looking at a lifespan in some cases of 70-80 years before the full policy implications are felt...and until the implications are felt "we" will still be a minority and by the time they are felt, it will be too late.

[chercast]

In my opinion, "Americans" must reach out and reason individually with other Americans they know regarding the principle and path of liberty. Reasoning on the Internet hones the thoughts, but it doesn't effect fully the hearts. Each person will see what they are made of, and our own character in regard to liberty will only be proved by others we know, not ourself. We must gather around leaders from the grass roots level that understand this most American of values and can communicate it and lead. We will have to work hard. There is no question in my mind, we already will all pay for our mistakes in regards to the path of liberty. We have to face it, for our children's sake. And the "we" is those who see it now....and the "we" must gain in strength and numbers, by those who see reaching out to the widest circle possible. If "we" don't know a wide circle, "we" should ask ourselves, why not, and what can I do about that. At some point, God willing, we can prove ourselves "We the people" instead of WTPINO (We the people in name only).

[templar knight]

I keep reading that a food crisis in 2010 might set off the collapse of the US dollar as other nations dump treasuries to buy up food stocks. Has anyone here heard anything about this?

[USMC]

Viewing some of the comments here it's no wonder the progressives have been winning on many fronts for 100 years. Some of you whine like bitches. How the hell do you call yourselves pro-Americans yet think Americans will just roll over and take this?

We are not a freakin' minority! Even if we were we can still win. We need resolve not act like ankle grabbing tricks.

What the hell is wrong with some of you?

Are some of you blind? Do you not see the progressive movement is bordering on collapse? That's why they are acting "suicidal"! This is their religion and their god.POWER. All of these POS progressives that troll here and the ones in power lust for power. To get rid of folks like us and anyone who disagrees with them. It's kinda like Sharia Law but you can eat pork.

They have to pass this because the other entitlements are failing, the unions are going broke. The progressive power structure is falling. They need all those multiple billions i.e. stimulus, pork, now "health care" and crap and tax.

We are living in soft tyranny (Mark Levin). Many of you wasted time bitching about Beck and the third party idea! Oh, the horror!

It amazes me how many of you have forgotten there's a skinny douche in Iran that has nukes and is going to use them soon. Don't be fooled folks. He's got at least two and they're mounted. They're working on triggers as we speak.

Have you forgotten we elected the biggest motivator for jihad in our streets:Barack Hussein Obama!
If you were a Muslim fighting the "Great Satan" and said Satan elected a punk with a Muslim name and "Islamocentric worldview" (Lt. Col. Allen West) wouldn't you take it as an invitation to come on over?

Stand back and look at the big picture. This train is off the rails. This is going to come crashing down within the next few years. Who do you think will survive? The progressive bitches that need the Fed to hold their peckers every step of the way or the "bitter clingers" who hold to God and their guns?

We were a Nation under God. It has His name on it. He will get it back one way or another. Toughen up! Read some Patton speeches, watch a Charles Bronson movie, do something manly. Grab your two raisins and your tic tac and mount up. We ain't goin' down (ain't courtesy of progressive public schooling).

I'm just as pissed as many of you but I know with all my heart we're going to win this. When the dust settles we'll be standing...enemies under foot.

Merry Christmas!

[Philip McDaniel]

LOL!
Well said, USMC. This is turning out to be a great forum for debate on what is wrong with the country, and what needs to be done. Leaders, that's what we need...and clear thinking and plans. It is not enough to cry about what is wrong. And it takes a Marine to bring us up short and refocus us...me, especially. Thanks USMC. You've made my day.

[Xavier]

"And with freedom, passion and time, frankly, it's hard for me to see how we can lose"...."come back with hammers swinging"...."may be the bridge too far"...."lead toward better solutions"...."the long haul"...."reach out and reason individually "...."mount up"....for gawds sake, get real!

Health care "reform" is, repeat IS, the ultimate game changer.

To quote from Saturday's "The Corner" post by Mark Steyn:

"By contrast, Barney Frank and the more ambitious Dems are thinking long-term. And, if it's a choice between getting government health care or keeping Ben Nelson, it's no contest. Not to keep quoting myself ad nauseam, but as I said to Hugh Hewitt a couple of months back:

I think the administration is willing to take the hit. In other words, to get health care, they would be willing to reduce their majority, and perhaps even lose their majority in the House and the Senate, because they know it’s a game changer. Now to sell that to individual Senators and Congressmen, you’ve got to have something up your sleeve for them... There are strange elements in play here. But they’ve factored into the whole business a potential, I think, a potential significant loss in the year 2010, in next year’s elections.

I've been saying for a year now, in NR and NRO, that the object for savvy Dems is to get this thing passed in whatever form because, once you do, there's no going back. Kim Strassel in yesterday's Journal gets it:

So why the stubborn insistence on passing health reform? Think big. The liberal wing of the party — the Barney Franks, the David Obeys — are focused beyond November 2010, to the long-term political prize. They want a health-care program that inevitably leads to a value-added tax and a permanent welfare state. Big government then becomes fact, and another Ronald Reagan becomes impossible. See Continental Europe.

Just so. And that's worth whatever hit they have to take in 2010. Every time I make the point, someone says, oh, Jim Webb this or Byron Dorgan that, or have you see Harry Reid's numbers in Nevada? Oh, please. We've just seen what happens when you make Ben Nelson your Maginot Line. The Dems are thinking strategically; the Republicans are all tactics."

I would add to the last sentence; "...and we're all f***ed!"

[kevin barry]

Go right ahead and be optimistic. Go ahead and make your jokes and snarky comments. The revolution is in full swing and you will dance to the tune you are told to. Our democracy was lost in the 2008 election.

[PA]

"the past 12 years they were in the majority accomplished very little"

The thing is, "accomplishing very little" is becoming very attractive to the public right now. A congress that does relatively little, can do relatively little damage.

[Anon]

Here's a question...what major entitlement program in the U.S. has ever been scrapped or significantly scaled back?

The answer is: none. Welfare reform in the 1990's doesn't count because that was just tinkering, it wasn't a significant scaling back of the overall program.

This is why Obama never really cared about a public option and why the Dems eventually passed HCR, they know now that they have DECADES to tinker with it and that it will NEVER go away, or at least it won't go away until the U.S. Treasury is officially broke and the Chinese call in their chips. Again, this could happen sooner or later, within a few years, within a couple of decades or it could be many decades before the fall.

Truth be told, conservatives have lost every major battle of the last 50 years, the best they have done, as under Reagan, was slow things down on the domestic front and have the luck to get enough supreme court appointments to keep the court from turning into Warren Court Part Dex. Bush #43 accomplished nothing, well, he accomplished accelerating the decline because his incompetance set the stage for an even more incompetant successor and his lack of attention to fundamental issues related to the economy and his deficit spending further allowed and accelerated the current situation.

The American people are now so used to corruption and incompetance from the government that unless it is truly spectacular, like Katrina or having cash in your freezer, its forgotton in a matter of months.

[Magic Eight Ball]

There are basically two types of citizens in this Republic: rent-seekers and producers. Right now the rent-seekers seem ascendent. However, 25 years of prosperity has taught a lot of Americans that Reagan was right: government is not the answer. Moreover, the current Administration and Congress is now stripped of its covering; it is seen by most Americans for what it is, not what it pretends to be. The gluttony of the rent-seekers has bred revulsion and there will be a reckoning.

If I may quote Andrew Jackson on this point (when the Democrats really were for the common man):

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society -- the farmers, mechanics, and laborers -- who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government. There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing. In the act before me there seems to be a wide and unnecessary departure from these just principles.

[templar knight]

USMC, I'm like the canary in the mine, I'm not whining, I'm trying to let people know what is going to happen. And it will take place very quickly, not over a long period of time. You may wake up one morning and find a financial meltdown going on, one you were totally unprepared for. My point, get ready, and you will be in a position to do something, rather than having to scrounge around for food and water.

That being said, I'm ready to do something, yet other than casting my vote in the 2010 elections and working my butt off for conservative candidates, I'm at a loss. Are you suggesting I pick up my rifle...and do what? I'm curious, because quite frankly I don't think the majority of my neighbors are ready to do anything other than sit on their asses and watch the boob tube, as Rome is burning all around them.

[Philip McDaniel]

Surprisingly, Templar, those living around me are of the same opinion. Some of us are armed...with adequate ammunition, food and fuel. Others are stocked with food and other assets other than $ in banks, others have land as a principal investment rather than bonds and stocks. All of us are actively supporting conservative candidates. The fear is there, but so is the resolve. None of us are ready to roll over and give up...although we all despair at times. It is helpful to know that there are others like us in other parts of the country. Let's let the political process proceed, give our voice and our efforts to make a difference. If more of us see what is happening there is hope that we can prevail. If not, we are, God willing, ready to meet what is, I fear, coming.

[Bill Carpenter Sr.]

Ok, Here's my 2 cents.
Not exactly on topic but I am expressing my opinion on any forum I can find.

December 20, 2009

Mr. Will,

I have been reading your negative comments concerning Sarah Palin.

Mr. Will, I wish you to be aware that you are alienating a vast proportion of Republican and straight
thinking American voters. You are very confident that you have the answers to all that ails America
and anything else that comes to your mind.

Mr. Will, I am not impressed with your so called credentials. You have never managed any entity that
actually produced anything. That includes results in any political or business arena.

Mr. Will, This may be news to you, you have no idea of Sarah Palin's skills let alone the results that she
has achieved. Educate yourself to the facts and try desperately to restrain yourself from trumpeting folks
for public office that are your crony's or that subscribe to your misguided views. Wake up and smell the
coffee, SARAH PALIN WILL BE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT, and I might add, the very best President since
Ronald Reagan.

Bill Carpenter Sr.
Auburn, CA

[Sapwolf]

The Dems shot their volley and we are not only still standing but our numbers are growing.

Our volley in 2010 will stagger them and launch a route. We will take the House back, 6-10 seats in the Senate, and in 2012, put Sarah in the White House and take the Senate.

Let the restoration of the Republic begin today.

[Philip McDaniel]

One can only hope, Bill, if indeed she has the stamina, and ability to stand firm in the big arena. That means having the vision, plan and will to see it come to fruition.

[Emo]

""There are basically two types of citizens in this Republic: rent-seekers and producers. Right now the rent-seekers seem ascendent.""

Formally a rent producer, now a rent seeker. The best way to destroy this marxist socialism is to stop being a producer as much as possible and become a seeker. Socialism cant work without the conservative entrepreneur. STOP BEING ONE.

[turfmann]

Spot on, people. It's going to take a lot of work to repair what damage has been done.

There is something you can do TODAY to help begin the reversal.

Teddy Kennedy's seat will be filled by special election on January 19th.

The Democrat is just another hack backed by the usual unions and political machines.

The Republican is Scott Brown. He is a man of character and principle. Check him out for yourself.

http://www.brownforussenate.com/

What a message it would be if Massachusetts sent a Republican to the Senate.

I've been working the phones for Brown and I am surprised by the level of angst for our present condition and for the level of support he has.

Something concrete that you can do - either volunteer for him or send him a few of the bucks you still have left.

Merry Christmas & God Bless.

[Bob Belvedere]

Quoted from and Linked to at: THESE DAYS
[ http://www.thecampofthesaints.com/2009.12.20_arch.html#1261434726230 ]
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