A rose, by any other name... is still but a cover for thorns

Last night, as I hauled a load of cars and SUV's to Cincinnati, after intruding on a candidate forum in Findlay, I'm listening to Fox News on my Sirius satalite radio.  I hear Senator Orrin Hatch... At least it SOUNDED like Orrin Hatch, (I didn't catch the beginning), say that the way the Health Care Bill should have been done, was for Congress to include the things Republicans and Democrats agree on, then compromise on the rest.  Yet another illustration of the fact that THEY STILL DON'T GET IT, and possibly more importantly, the members of the Senate don't understand the Constitutional role they play in our government.

The true problem with the SENATE version of the Health Care Bill, was not what was contained in it, but that it existed AT ALL.  I know,WE THE PEOPLE, elect our Senators the same way we elect our Representatives, thanks to the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, but their Constitutional role still remains the same... TO REPRESENT THE INTEREST OF THE STATE!  Our Representatives serve the interest of the people.  Our Senators serve the interest of the state.

IN SO MUCH AS, there is nothing about the health care bill that serves the best interest of ANY state,  (this fact is demonstrated by the many states acting to keep it on the other side of their lines), the bill should never have passed out of the Senate.  Never mind that the imposition on individual liberty and state sovereignty should have kept it from ever being so much as a topic of discussion, on Capitol Hill.

The fact that the interviewer seemed to agree with Mr. Hatch, demonstrates that many, if not MOST, of us don't get it either.  We HAVE GOT to start really listening to what our leade...? ...? ... politicians are telling us.  We MUST start weighing those words on a Constitutional SCALE.  The mindset in Washington is that government IS the solution, but that one side has better ideas than the other.  Government is NOT the solution... WE THE PEOPLE are the solution.

ELECT PATRIOTS, not POLITICIANS!

I'll get back to ya...

CONSTITUTION or BUST

Sunday night, I turned on the news after a long day of working on trucks, (the car hauler and my pick-up).  The vote on the health care bill had just ended, and America had been fundamentally altered, at her core.

Monday morning I was awakened by a phone call from a friend who's response to my "Good morning" was, "No it's not."  He then went on to vent his own frustration over the outcome of that vote.  He ended his tirade with, "So can we stop this, if we just elect all Republicans this fall?"  A cold chill ran up my spine, at the thought of it.

What I am about to say will seem somewhat self-serving.  I suppose it is.  But, after all, it is the very REASON I am running for the Senate.

For the last several election cycles, "WE THE PEOPLE" have allowed ourselves to be carried along by emotion.  Making decisions out of anger and frustration, rather than from intellect and logic.  I have in the past, tried to create the image of a pendulum, swinging violently from right to left, and back again.  I think a better analogy, in light of the health care vote, would be a WRECKING BALL.  A wrecking ball that has been landing weakening blows to the edifice that is the United States Constitution for some 100 years now.  Sunday night, the ball broke through.

In November, "WE THE PEOPLE" will once again have a decision to make.  THIS may be the most important decision of our lifetime... and the lifetime of those who come after us. Will we allow the ball to take another swing from the other side?  OR... Will we cause all the momentum to have been spent on that one breakthrough, and set to work on repairing the breach?

Ever heard the saying, "Don't make decisions out of anger"?  I think that holds true of FEAR as well.  A choice to simply vote Republican, out of fear that a vote for a true independent will lead to more legislation like the health care bill, will only put us on the other path to over-sized and intrusive government.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying there are NO good Republican candidates.  For that matter, you'll never hear me say that there are NO good Democrat candidates, (though they are fewer and farther between).  The problem with both parties is the leadership, and  the money involved in the campaign process. It's a problem that, by its very nature, can't be fixed, because by the time an election is over, they all owe some debt to their leadership.  The only real solution is to make the party system obsolete.

The kind of reactionary voting "WE THE PEOPLE" have been engaging in for decades, is what has brought us to the place we are at today.  WE THE PEOPLE have allowed this to happen.  WE THE PEOPLE can stop it.  But if we are going to stop it, we are going to have to start making decisions based on intellect born of a knowledge of our Constitution, instead of emotion.  Even if we like what we hear from a candidate, "WE THE PEOPLE" have to ask ourselves, "Does the Constitution allow for that?"  If the answer is NO... it's time to stop listening.  Or at the very LEAST, asking a few difficult questions.

Our Constitution was written to protect us all from the ideology of our neighbor.  To keep this kind of thing from happening.  But "WE THE PEOPLE" are participating in our own destruction, by electing men and women who have no clear picture of it's true purpose.  "To limit government" is a fairly abstract concept.  Limit it WHY?  From WHAT?

"WE THE PEOPLE" tend to only be concerned that government be limited, when they are doing something we don't personally agree with.  So we are happy to see it exceed it's authority, when it works in our favor.  I am speaking to voters on both sides.  WE THE PEOPLE must begin to consider the notion that even those we disagree with, either ideologically, or morally are entitled to the same liberty, under the Constitution, as we are.  We must protect our Constitution, not our ideologies.  Otherwise... we all will suffer the same fate.

I have been as guilty of this as anyone, until the last few years.  But now the light is on, and I can see the nature of this beast that is destroying our freedoms, one by one.  I am motivated by love for my Country and the Liberty She grants me, and everyone else, by way of the Constitution.  I am not willing to stand by and watch the wrecking ball take another swing.  I hope YOU'RE not either.  If we continue to do what we've done in the past, the only determining factor left, to decide WHAT KIND of socialist government we end up with, will be... WHO IS SWINGING THE WRECKING BALL, WHEN THE LAST LIBERTY FALLS.

I'll get back to ya...