Thousands gathered on the mall of the Capitol yesterday, braving the bone-chilling weather of an oncoming Minnesota spring to once again voice our disapproval for a bill that self-throned Democrat leaders in the house have apparently vowed to pass, regardless of the opinions of those their jobs entail they represent, and regardless of what the votes in Congress legitimately add up to. With the government trying to nationalize another sixth of our economy in order to characteristically implement less effective, less efficient and more expensive methods of doing what the free market-if not interfered with as it is today-could do, it's no wonder entire families reserved the day. When members of Congress, those allegedly working for the people, display such a blatant disregard for consitutional democracy, ignore the plurality of voices that constitute the American public, and attempt to change or bypass the laws and procedures set down upon them to ensure honorable proceedings, we as the American people are required to trudge across the soggy sod and cheer on representatives like Michelle Bachmann and John Kline who actually remember their constituents when they vote-and who remember that their position is not to rule and decide for the American people, but to represent them in order to facilitate a system of government for the people and by the people.
Upon arriving at the rally, the first thing I noticed, aside from the sheer size of the crowd, was the variety of signs. The crowd really did have a lot of character. It was incredible to see so many people here from different backgrounds and for different reasons, all united to protect our American ideals. I'm proud to see that some of us will forever be willing to defend and preserve the foundational liberties of a country that has given us the opportunities for everything that we have. I've included some of the pictures that I took on my phone here to give you a glimpse of the impressive turnout at the rally and the unique character of the accumulating crowd. (those with the symbolic pitchforks were asked to stand at the back for safety reasons, so I don't think I got any of them in the pictures)
To start the rally, Sue Jeffers from KTLK Radio initiated the "Kill! The! Bill!" chant that would grow more and more enthused throughout the rally, our voices echoing back from the building's white marble facade. Leaning into the mic, she asked, "So how's that hope and change working out?"
Opening Speech: Congressman John Kline
Congressman John Kline provided the rally with a concise opening speech, announcing, "It seems incredibe as I'm standing here looking out at hundreds and perhaps thousands of people, that, for some reason, President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid can't hear you. I don't understand that."
At this point, a man nearby in the crowd commented, "They can hear us. They just choose not to care."
Indeed, Congress has been tyrannically unresponsive to the majority, as can be seen by the bill's continued support under Pelosi. As Kline warned, "The Bill is still there. It still has mandates. It still creates bureaucracies. It still creates a czar. It still imposes hundreds of billions of new taxes. It still increases spending. It still increases the debt. It still raises Health Care costs...And all of the budget gimmicks are still there." He also went on to discuss how Obama, Pelosi and other major proponents of this bill will be trying to "disrupt the order of the Senate" with reconciliation and other "parliamentary tricks." As a matter of fact, he pointed out, "Speaker Pelosi wants to pass [the health care bill] without voting on it at all!"
Barb Davis-White
The next speaker, Barbara Davis White, introduced her section with an appropriate Ben Franklin quote. "When asked if he'd created a monarchy or a republic, Ben Franklin responded, 'A republic. If you can keep it.'" Through the crowd's roar of approval, she declared, "We are here today because we are going to keep our republic! Keep the hands of our big, bloated government off of our lives and families!"
With the firm stance and commanding presence that the rally's speakers had so well mastered, Barbara Davis White continued, "On March 18th of this year-next week-this bill passes. It will swell our government which is already out of control...We are still hearing they have not even read the bill. Nancy Pelosi wants an unconditional...pass." Pausing for the crowd, she added, "Nice try Queen Pelosi."
The personality and passion behind what Barb was saying truly set her words apart. At one point, to the humored surprise of the crowd she exclaimed, "and the liberals keep reminding me I'm black!...Well, I have not forgotten what big government does to minorities...With entitlement programs that have not worked and are never gonna work!" She also discussed the barrels of money our goverment is continuously dumping into planned parenthood, at which point she argued that, "Abortion is the number one killer of black people in this country!"
She rejected the current administration's Congressmen's plans to tax medicare and our investments, explaining that in the next 9 years, we could lose 115 million more job opportunities a year. We would also lose $1.37 in GDP for every $1 collected. "I say that is theft!" she yelled out to the vocal crowd before her.
"And to Mr. Keith Ellison," she added, "You called me out so we're just gonna have to take it to the streets. Upon recieving their endorsement, I'm gonna be running as a candidate." I'm sure District 5 will be glad to have such a straighforward, honest and deliberate personality on their side, born and raised in her community and more concerned about the needs of that community, than of the separate agenda in Washington.
(for more info on Barbara Davis white, visit http://www.barbdaviswhiteforcongress.com/.)
Dr. Lee Karisko
Next to speak was Dr. Lee Karisko, a Canadian physician now working and living in Minnesota. Having worked as a medical director in a socialized health care system, he reported an average wait time of 17.3 weeks. Patients wait 17 months for a CAT Scan and 13 months for an MRI. In addition, people wait between two and two-and-a-half years to see a specialist!
16 percent of the Canadian population has no access to primary care, and newcomers to town, unless they have pre-established connections, wait 5 years to see a family doctor. Five years!
Massachusetts exemplifies this. They currently have the most expensive health care in the union. The problem with socialized medicine, like the medicine Congress is trying to force on us presently, is that the fundamentals of that system have been proven to simply not work. In such a system, the government comes between the patient and the doctor, setting the patient's interests and the doctor's judgement as second priority by specifying how doctors can run their practices, and micromanaging something the eventual appointed public officials will have little or no understanding of.
Dr. Karisko pointed out that "the Canada Health Act was thirteen pages long, and look at how much damage it did." Ours is over a thousand pages long. "Furthermore," Karisko added, "A hundred more federal bureaucracies will be created. How can this be good?" He went on to explain that government health care increases government power, controlling the citizens. That and our current system can be vastly improved by measures through individuals. He called for the government to give this back to the hands of the people. Tort reform, expansion of health savings accounts, market forces and solutions to drop costs and expand services were amongst the preferable alternatives he listed. He summed up by quoting Vladimir Lenin, who explained that "Socialized medicine is the keystone to to the arch of the Socialist State."
And, unfortunately for Americans, the doctor was right. Reagan paraphrased the Socialist agenda of candidate Norm Thomas, saying that "The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But under the name of Liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without every knowing what happened. One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It's very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian program." By passing socialized medicine, we truly will have made the most important step in becoming a socialist nation.
Ed Morissey
The next speaker, Ed Morissey ("Captain Ed"), writer of the blog "Captain's Quarters" from October 2003 until February 2008 and now full-time blogger for True North and Hot Air, delivered the next speech after a hearty welcome from the audience. He thanked everyone for joining him in "express[ing] [our] opposition to the most expansive government takeover attempt in our history." He announced that he was proud to contibute to "this national movement prompted by a government that has become a force for its own perpetuation instead of a servant to its constituents.Washington has forgotten that it represents the people rather than their own interests. That arrogance has awakened this country, which has come together like never before to say 'No!' to the nanny state, and to tell Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama to butt out of their lives." He continued, "The American people have overwhelmingly rejected ObamaCare" and that "They're trying to cram this through before the next recess...before you have the chance to tell them exactly what you think of it for a second time!"
He also explained that poll after poll has shown just how unpopular this ObamaCare effort has gotten. Last week an Associated Press poll showed that 68% of Americans oppose using "reconciliation" to pass health care reform. CNN's poll two weeks agao showed that 73% wanted Congress to start from scratch or forget it altogether in this session, matching the 72% who said that same thing in November. And all nine national polls taken in February showed opposition to ObamaCare ranging form nine to twenty points. He encouraged the crowd not to forget the goals and tactics of the Democrats come November.
(To hear more about his speech or see it, visit Ed Morrissey's blog at:
Representative Mark Buesgens
Next to speak was Rep. Mark Buesgens, who provided us with the legal and historical aguments against the current Democrat leaders' tactics and bill. Recalling the 10th amendment, stating that, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
"It's time we take our country back!" he declared.
Twila Brase, President of the Citizens Council on Health Care
Regretfully, I was working my way through the crowd to meet up with one of my fellow College Republicans at this point, and was not able to take down any quotes from her speech. I apologize for not representing her along with the other speakers, especially since I'm sure she delivered an intelligent and informative speech. Perhaps True North, Hot Air, or another conservative blog will post what is missing here in mine.
Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann
And finally, Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann delivered the keynote speech, to complete the rally she so dutifully organized. I'm sure others will wholeheartedly agree with me in stating my appreciation for all that she does for Minnesota and for her constituents.
As a direct introduction, she declared to the mall, "They can't spend money any way they want and stick us with the bill! That isn't how it works!"
Michelle also reiterated what Glenn Beck said this week in explaining that, when FDR took office, there were no entitlement programs. Yet last year, we spent trillions! With government spending already out of control, we are now seeing a government takeover of health care, to make the problem more extreme. She summed up the Wall Street Journal, saying that health care would bring three things. First, they will subsidize coverage so costs explode. Then, they'll raise our taxes "as much as they can possibly get away with," until they realize that even that is not enough. And finally, Obama will hand it to an unelected committee limit our health care and to control prices by government order.
"This is not about Republicans!" she declared. "No republican in Congress will vote for this!" Indeed, the Republican party's strength in unity on this issue may not be enough to stop the bill in our current system of one-party rule, but it definitely is a force to be reckoned with when one realizes that the American people are against this as well. With the majority of the population and the entire minority in Congress, hopefully, this bill can be stopped. Michelle enforced this idea, congratulating the crowd, "Public outrage has caused this bill not to go through so far, which is a testimony of how effective you have been!"
She went even further, saying, "If Scott Brown can win Massachusetts, I think Minnesota can go red!" Bachmann encouraged her constituents, predicting that we'll be changing Congressional leadership this November. "This is a ONE-TERM PRESIDENT!" she exclaimed, to the appreciative roar of the rallying crowd.
After touching on current polls, Michelle Bachmann dove into the scandals and controversy surrounding the bill. Much to our disappointment, there are all too many examples of the current corruption in Congress. The ones she focused on included the sudden appearance of story, which wasn't released until he crossed Pelosi by saying he wouldn't vote for health care. And, like others in the small but hopefully still growing string of Democrat Congressman choosing to represent the voters instead of Pelosi and Obama, not voting as they are told leads to such catastrophic career damage that he was forced to resign. Michelle recognized this "Democrat-on-Democrat pressure," including Nancy Pelosi's signature move of filing ethics charges against those who cross her. "This is how they operate," she explained. "But they don't scare us! They're not gonna take our country!" Honestly, though, is this what we call a democracy? How a representative votes should depend on those they represent, NOT the tactics of power-hungry politicians twisting everyone's arms and threatening people with their careers to fall in line.
What's worse is that the government has already taken over 30% of our private economy. Michelle warned, "Between September of 2008 and July of 2009, [the federal government] took over 30% of our private economy. And over 50% of all homes in the U.S. today are backed up and guaranteed by the government....They took over Chystler and GM..and are running these companies into the ground!...We're already seeing almost 50% of the economy then taken over by the government."
Therefore, it all comes down to this week. As Bachmann called out, "The don't get to nationalize a sixth of our national economy without us voting on it! This week they want to pass a bill that claims the bill was already passed...So we have to vote on how to debate a bill that we've deemed has already passed!...There is no record that exists in American history that says Americans have passed a bill they have never voted on. They think they're so clever, but that's tryanny!" She reminded us that classes of elementary school history students are led through this capitol, learning about how our government works, about how both chambers need to vote on a bill to pass a law. "It sounds more like a Chavez tactic in Venezuela than Jefferson's" Bachmann argued. "The government is working against us...and they've got it all backwards! They work for us!"
And, as for the current Congress's disregard for rules, she responded, "They took an oath to uphold the constitution. They need to live up to it!"
Michelle Bachmann was forceful and energetic, commanding, yet very connected with the crowd. She invoked rhetoric that would cast her as one of us, struggling along with us as a fellow citizen of our nation, while also motivating the crowd to express our disapproval of this bill with our representatives-state and local. Her speech is on Youtube, so below is the link, in case anyone wants to see it for themselves (which I highly recommend). Enjoy!
The thing I loved about this rally was that there was so much energy! It never ceases to amaze me when Americans stand up, calling on the powers vested in them by our forefathers, to protect their liberties and the integrity of our nation. This reminds up again and again that freedom is not free, and that, to keep our liberty, we must constantly be ready to defend what we cherish and deserve from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Remember, we were warned about these challenges by Jefferson himself. And we will not have a Republic unless we can keep it that way! Keep up the good work in our effort to defeat this bill everyone!
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2 comments:
Jackie, thanks for making me feel like I was at the rally. Keep it up! Knowing that we have people like you in the college-aged generation gives me hope for the future.
You go, Jackie. Keep up the great work.
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