The Sound of America

Did you hear that sound? It is something I haven’t heard in at least ten months. It is the sound of the people finally finding their voices. Americans have had enough and are finally standing up against Obama and the rest of Congress. And these aren’t just Republican tea baggers but Blue Dog Democrats and Independents who are finally questioning the Democratically controlled government and are angry with where Washington is going.

Voters wanted to trust in this newly elected President and Congress and allowed them to push through the stimulus bill, and cap and trade with little to no resistance within the first 100 days. But that is how the American people act – we believe in giving everyone a chance. Even if you didn’t vote for the man, the country was hurting and most of us wanted him to help this country. We didn’t agree with how he wanted to help us but we were willing to give him a chance. We are now realizing that there was a fatal flaw in our generous and naïve trust in President Obama.

You see, it would have never occurred to most citizens that our leaders would enact legislation that would purposively hurt our country. Obama and Congress swore to serve and protect us, right? So we tried to understand the benefits of saddling this country with trillions in debt for economic stimulus bills which might not even implement these jobs for years in the future. We wanted to believe that the cap and trade would help the environment and couldn’t fathom the darker side that it was a way to redistribute wealth and punish successful companies.

But in the past month, Obama has acted in such a manner and Congress has drafted such astonishing legislature that we can’t ignore our misgivings any more. People began to finally wake up when Obama sided with the angry black man vs. law enforcement and when Congress tried to ram through a 1000 page Health Care Bill that would dismantle every existing health plan we have today. Perhaps the epitome of the stupidity found in Washington is the Cash for Clunker program which ran out of money in the first few days. And people are realizing that there can only be some hidden disreputable reason as to why Washington won’t let the banks pay back the bailout money.

I keep thinking of the classic movie Network and the much quoted line “I’m mad as hell and I won’t take it any more.” And it has always been to their own detriment when leaders or other countries dismiss angry citizens. We are basically a friendly and forgiving group of people but when we are angry, we become an entirely different animal altogether. Just ask Japan or Germany or Iraqi’s. We believe in fairness but we also believe in justice. And Washington has not acted fairly to us and we are now out for justice.

Chills now run up my spine as I listen to average citizens confronting their Congressmen. I cheered when the crowd booed Senator Specter when he said they needed to pass the health bill “fast”. I am thrilled when I hear protesters chanting “Just say no” at a Representative’s rally in Texas. I laughed when I read that Senator Diane Feinstein’s office threw out a group of senior citizens who refused to leave her CA office. And I am elated when citizens stop being passive and now are standing up to Washington.

All of this is reflected in the downward spiral of Obama’s popularity. And we must be succeeding because Obama is now going after those who speak out. It is truly scary that Obama wants people to snitch on those who are protesting against him. On Aug 4 a White House website posted the following statement:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

By the way, when did they start referring the Health Care plan as the health insurance reform plan? Did they think just by changing the name people would be lulled into approving this monstrosity? But that is secondary to the chilling intention of this statement; to report people, like me, to the White House for writing unfavorable things on the health care plan. Good grief! How can the older liberals who spent their youth protesting the government allow this to happen? What is happening to my America when the White House goes after anyone who disagrees with them? What is next? Will anyone opposing the government be sent to rehabilitation camps? Will children be rewarded for snitching on the parents as in Nazi Germany or the like the feared KGB in Russia? But this is America, where things like that don't happen, isn't it?

I can’t help but recall Michelle Obama’s telling statement that she had never been proud to be an American until now. This is the America she envisioned? Well, this is not my America. My America is the land of the people, the land of free speech, the land not of socialism but a republic, the land of the melting pot where immigrants flocked to night school to learn English - not the land of diversity and Habla Espanol, the land where if you work hard anyone can succeed – not the land of handouts and welfare, the land where the citizens respect policemen – not immediately label them racists, the land that my father and my nephew proudly served, the land of Patrick Henry, Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and most of all the land of the free and the brave. So be brave and don’t let anyone shut you down or scare you into silence. The people have found their voices and must continue to speak out against what they don’t like or else this won’t be America anymore.