“I saw that there comes a point, in the defeat of any man of virtue, when his own consent is needed for evil to win – and that no manner of injury done to him by others can succeed if he chooses to withhold his consent. I saw that I could put an end to your outrages by pronouncing a single word in my mind … The word [is] ‘No.’”
- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
Last week I gave my take on the trillion dollar “stimulus” package Obama and the Congressional Democrats shoved down America’s throat – that 1100+ page leviathan that no one read before it was voted on. I warned that the “Keynesian” policies it supposedly reflected were long-since discredited, that it would throw us more deeply into economic chaos, that this was deliberate, that it was little more than a thinly disguised effort to socialize the entire American economy, and that one need only read 80 years of communist and socialist theory to see it for what it was.
Just one week later, what has happened? The markets reacted to the signing of the bill by falling over 300 points. Obama announced yet another multi-billion dollar “bailout” – this one allegedly for homeowners who have defaulted on their mortgages (and this despite a 40-60% redefault rate!). $75 billion for them, and $400 billion for who? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the quasi-government entities that deceptively repackaged and sold the worthless mortgage-backed securities (under pressure from special interest groups) that set this economic collapse in motion. And now the government is talking about nationalizing the banks.
Obama’s shills like to point to his poll numbers as proof of public support. Garbage. The markets – the only “poll” that matters – fell to a twelve-year low yesterday. They drop every time this guy opens his mouth. At this rate, by the end of Tuesday’s State of the Union address, we’ll be the Weimar Republic.
We are having hundreds of billions of our hard-earned tax dollars taken from us and given to the same organizations that got us in this mess, under the advice and counsel of the same irresponsible and deceitful politicians like Barney Frank and others who ignored warnings about the bad lending practices in the first place. And those same politicians now see fit to lecture us about patriotism and fiscal responsibility? This is a travesty so appalling that it should be prompting protests in the streets.
As hardworking, tax-paying Americans have watched this Obamadrama play out, they have become increasingly distressed, saying, “But what do we do?”
We start saying NO. Obama’s campaign mantra was “Yes, we can.” Here’s the new mantra for the American taxpayer: “No, we won’t.”
The Obama administration looks bold, calm and confident, but they have one primal fear, and it isn’t economic collapse. The Obamaniacs are terrified that Americans will see through the charade.
Obama and the Congressional Communists are counting on the American taxpayers to do what they have always done: gripe a bit, then hunker down, work even harder, and pay even more taxes. At the first hint of grumbling, they’ll pronounce the usual platitudes about “shared sacrifice,” “patriotism” and “belt-tightening.” They’ve already done that. But Americans have seen through it. Where’s the “shared sacrifice” if you’re cutting back to make your mortgage payment, and the government hits you up to pay some stranger’s mortgage as well? And it’s hard to call for belt-tightening when Congress clamors to sign the bill within hours of receiving it so that Nancy Pelosi can jet off to Rome for a private audience with the Pope, and President Obama can ride a taxpayer-funded 747 back to Chicago to take Michelle out for a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner. (What, there aren’t any restaurants in D.C.?)
When the grumbling gets a little louder than usual, when appeals to patriotism don’t work, they’ll ratchet up the next level of shibboleths: accusations of “greed,” “selfishness,” and (that trusty old standby) “racism.”
Americans’ response must be the same: “No. That won’t work anymore.”
What’s needed here is some good old-fashioned civil disobedience. The Fairness Doctrine is the best place to start.
This may seem a complete non sequitur to people frantic about the disappearance of a trillion dollars down a rabbit hole. But that money isn’t spent yet. The 2010 elections could change things dramatically. But throwing the hypocritical spendthrift bums out of Congress (and they wrote this bill, not Obama) is dependent upon American’s access to truthful information. This, for the moment therefore, is the most critical fight.
Rick Santelli’s now infamous “rant” on CNBC proves my point. It was the first sign of hope I’ve seen in months. And I am not alone (if the 1.7 million hits to CNBC’s website are any indication). Santelli tapped into a huge and powerful vein of public sentiment Mary Kate Cary in U.S. News and World Report called Santelli’s opinion, “the elephant in the room.” (Now there’s an image message-seeking Republicans should be able to relate to.)
That is what Obama and his Congressional commie comrades fear more than anything else. It was proven when the President – the leader of the most powerful nation in the world - trotted out his press secretary, the next day, to try to humiliate a hitherto-obscure reporter from a show called “The Squawk Box.” Americans must not know the truth. We must not know how many of us are in agreement. We must not defeat Democrats and elect conservatives in 2010 (and 2012). And so you can expect the push for the “Fairness Doctrine” (under that name, or something else) to get stronger now, not weaker.
Our best hope is access to the information we can get from talk radio and other alternative media. So this is a call to radio station owners, television station owners, managers, producers, writers, on-air talent, bloggers, and alternative media magnates everywhere. If they try to force the Fairness Doctrine on you, you say no. You change nothing – not your schedule, not your format, not your programming, not your writing, not your talent – nothing.
Do you think this is extreme? Consider this: If Congress passed a law that sent African-Americans to the back of the bus again, would they go? If some administrative agency drafted a regulation that placed Americans with Japanese last names in internment camps, would they go?
Hell, no. Those laws would be unconstitutional, and the persons affected would make damn sure everyone knew it. But pass a regulation or law in utter violation of our First Amendment rights, a law intended to shut conservatives up, and we’re expected to roll over.
No. Not this time. Not anymore.
You take a page out of the civil rights playbook. Protest. Picket. Storm your representatives’ offices. Use the legal system. Go straight to your county or federal courthouse and file for a temporary restraining order, and then a permanent injunction against the enforcement of the law or regulation. If you are fined, do not pay it. Make the government defend civil litigation in every city and every state across the country. The government cannot possibly do this, anymore than it can possibly shut down every single Christian, conservative, right-wing, Republican or Libertarian show and/or station in the country. More to the point, they won’t want the country to see them try. If you think Santelli’s rant generated public outrage, imagine how the public would react to footage of government agents coming into your studio or station and forcing you to shut down. Imagine that happening all over the country.
When blacks marched peacefully through the streets of the south in the 1960s, and they had the water hoses turned on them, and attack dogs unleashed on them, the rest of America saw those governments for what they were. This government is depending upon our complicity in its takeover.
Not anymore. This time, we are saying, “No.”