Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Something Big Is Brewing Out There


Something big is brewing out there. People are stirring. Perhaps the elections of 2006 and 2008 weren’t so bad if Americans can see now what happens when the left takes over government. A backlash is forming sooner and stronger than I expected. Though I’m not sure what will ultimately emerge, I sense that a major realignment is beginning.

Even more surprised are left/liberal Democrats, and let’s face it, that’s the only kind of Democrat left in the 21st century, so I’ll just call them Democrats from here on. They can’t understand what’s happening and they’re applying the same old formulas to counteract it. But it’s not working. They’re trying to spin it as a right-wing plot to hurt President Obama or orchestrated by greedy insurance companies. Local Republican organizations are trying to get out in front of the uprising, but it’s definitely a grassroots phenomenon.

Congressmen are afraid to meet their constituents. Traditional August town hall meetings in local districts are being cancelled. Some will answer questions only via “tele-town hall meetings” so they can hang up the phone when it get tough and their mealy-mouthed cowardice won’t be broadcast on YouTube. Others like Rep. Russ Carnahan D-MO bring union thugs to strong-arm angry voters against Obamacare or his “Cap and Trade” bill. It’s clear that ordinary citizens are more familiar with the legislation than the congressmen elected to vote on it. Some, like Rep. John Conyers, D-MI, are indignant at voter insistence that they actually read the bills. Rookies like Nicki Tsongas D-MA say they won’t use the healthcare plan they want to impose on the rest of us. As Hotair.com says, “At least she’s honest.” Maine’s whole congressional delegation is wimping out, opting for the cowardly “telephone town hall,” and it looks like New Hampshire’s is too. Democrats are in shock. Anyone predicting this only two months ago would have been laughed at.

With few exceptions, Republicans have been spineless since their defeat last November. Intimidated by Obama’s popularity, they withheld criticism until the uprising began. But I suspect it’s too late to get out in front of the parade and pretend to lead it, even though Democrats claim they started it. Wherever I go, people ask me who is out there to lead conservatives. I tell them I don’t know, but I’m confident leaders will emerge. Sometimes I suggest a current office-holder like little-known Congressman Thaddeus McCotter R-MI who has impressed me the few times I’ve heard him. He’s not an orator, but seems a confident, common-sense conservative. Maybe his low-key style will work after four years of slick speechifying. Too early to say though.

The rebellion has emerged during a curious coincidence of bubble-bursting with President Obama the biggest bubble. Many Obama voters, afflicted with white guilt, sought relief by voting for a black president. When his orchestrated remarks on the Henry Louis Gates incident backfired, his “racial healer” persona disintegrated.

Other voters fell in love with whatever it was Obama represented to them, but after seeing and hearing him every day for months, they’re realizing he’s not what they thought. He’s spending our money, our children’s money, and our grandchildren’s money while the economy gets worse. With Obamacare, he would control another 18% of it, spend another trillion or two we don’t have, and institute health-care rationing. Cap and Trade would raise energy prices 20%. Like a woman seduced by a character out of a romance novel who later discovers her paramour is a slick-talking opportunist who only wants her money, Americans are feeling a huge let-down. If it’s true that “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” it explains the grassroots fury our congressmen and senators, who were riding Obama’s coattails, are seeing. Inflated by adoring media, Obama’s bubble rose so high and so fast, it was almost inevitable that it would crash and burn like the Hindenburg, but what will his collapse mean for our country?

Obama promised “change you can believe in” and people are seeing change all right - but they don’t believe in any of it. They’re declaring their dissatisfaction very loudly and they won’t shut up. Most of what Obama and Congress have done so far can be undone, albeit painfully, but should nationalized healthcare pass, it would likely become permanent.

This uprising will probably continue to strengthen, but will Republicans benefit? Maybe. They’re certainly trying to take advantage, but they had their chance back in 2000 and they muffed it. That’s still fresh in the public mind. What could emerge is an entirely new political movement.

Maybe that’s a good thing.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everyone forgets about those who are most directly involved, the doctors.

Doctors have already had a taste of "government controlled health care". It is Medicare and they hate it.

They hate a bureaucrat second guessing their medical knowledge and denying coverage.
They hate the massive red tape and having to fight a nasty bureaucrat to get paid.
They hate having 20% of their claims denied on a paperwork technicality. They hate having a payment so low it does not even cover their overhead costs so they must bill the rest of their patients more just to break even on the medicare patients.

But from what I have read they hate most the government telling them it is illegal to treat a patient for FREE!!!

What Obama and the democrats fail to take into account is that Doctors are humans. They do not like Obama telling them they will now be slaves with bureaucratic overlords telling them how to practice medicine and kibitzing everything they do under the heading of "Quality of Care" They would rather quit and flip burgers, after all one Doctor already did the calculations and found Medicare paid her $7/Hr!

Anonymous said...

I voted for the other guy.
I am getting socialized medicine right now, but my personal insurance costs over three times what I pay for Medicare and it pays less than 25% most times. If they pass this, how about a subsidy for that payament.

Anonymous said...

I have only heard one person admit that they actually voted for Obama. This person said that so far, they had no issues with him because it was a tough job and nothing gets done overnight. I love this person and have known them most of my life, but it makes me wonder what planet they've been on for the last eight months if they can't see the writing on the wall. Out of the 5 voting members of the family, none of us voted for Obama. In fact, my husband voted for the local Socialist Party guy that made the ballot here in Colorado because he didn't like the options.

I don't have to wait for Obama's health care reform to happen because I've already got rationed health care with my private insurance, Aetna. My insurance premiums have actually gone up with Aetna while the coverage has gone down and is getting worse. All because the company my husband works for has found yet another way to screw us.Anymore I'm afraid to get sick and have to go to the emergency room because they'll find some way to deny your claim and stick you with the bill.

It's frustrating and only going to get worse. I wonder how many people actually believe that the third quarter is where all the recovery is? If it's out there, I sure haven't seen it yet because I still can't find a job where I live.

Bobbie

Anonymous said...

This for Obama is not about healthcare. It is the third leg of the stool in his attack on the country using the classic Cloward-Piven Strategy which by design will cripple the republic he so despises. Simple hands around the throat control & nothing more.

Average American said...

Tom, I would like to think us bloggers, just ordinary little insignificant lowlife ants, typing like madmen, can hold our heads up a little higher these days. Try as I might, I can't find a more likely explanation for what is happening in American politics today. We can share the credit with the likes of Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, and a few other talk show hosts, but the bulk goes to the little guys. We have awakened the sleeping giant known as the "silent majority," and I pray he stays awake! This movement started with the tea parties, on and before April 15th. The left laughed. There were more of us by the time July 4th rolled around. The left laughed and sneered and belittled. We grew by millions to defend against this insanity they call "health care reform" and the left--------stopped laughing. Fear took over and now they try fighting back, but they have no clue how to turn back the clock. I submit it is to late to turn it back. They defeated themselves when they took advantage of having the Presidency, the House, and the Senate. The railroading they engaged in will be their downfall. NEVER kick your opponent in the head when he is down. That WILL come back to bite you in the ass. That is where we are now.

Moderates and conservatives, hold your heads up high and be ready to fight some more, but know in your hearts and minds that the tide HAS turned and WE are finally winning. Be ready to KILL cap and trade. THAT piece of trash legislation is even worse than health care reform. It should be even easier to defeat though.

Leigh said...

Tom,

Thank you for writing this piece. It gives me hope. I cried the day Nancy Polosi became Speaker of the House. I followed the 2008 Presidential election closely for two years, using many sources, such as conservative radio talk shows, newspapers, magazines and other types of media. I watched in horror and disbelief as the country fell for the left agenda. Now I watch the naive youth accept the rules and implements of control being placed on our country. I watch the older "lefties" and I am amazed at how stupid they are. People like you who keep things in perspective and remain calm help me to have hope. Thank you.

Respectfully,

Leigh

Tom McLaughlin said...

Thank you Leigh.

Things are going to turn around in 2010. Hold tight.