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So the smoke has cleared and been replaced with the fog of humidity, decheros (that’s a new one), 100degF heat, and 3 million Americans without power. Staying cool has never been more important than the dog days of July…
…and we’re really not even in the dog days of July!
Still, this week’s “hump day” marks Independence Day — and while the rest of us are cramming hot dogs and hamburgers and cheap beer down our throats, a handful of us might be reflecting on what truly makes us free, why we fought some 236 years ago, and why that liberty is important.
We all forget that good government is no substitute for self government. So while I’m beyond certain that nanny-state liberals and avuncular conservatives will opine deeply on the mountains of excess and fast food Americans will consume this Fourth of July, individualists from all stripes will be proud to know that there are several concrete things people can do — right now and in the weeks ahead — to help restore America.
1. Collectively, pull your head out of your ass. That’s a blunt way of saying that those of you who whine about giving $100 to a candidate but will meekly take a $500 annual tax increase need to wake up and figure out what’s at stake. Liberty wasn’t won with Facebook likes or retweets — it was won with people surrendering their entire households and livelihoods. Scrape it together… and give for the cause of freedom.
2. Quit lying to yourselves — there was no silver lining in the Roberts decision. Roberts made a bad call — one that I profoundly disagree with, but one that was his to make. We rub some dirt on it, and we move on. Like grown ups do, right?
3. Call Speaker Boenher’s office and tell him to file suit against Obamacare. Why? Because now that we have legal confirmation that Obamacare was passed in specific violation of the Origination Clause (i.e. spending bills must originate from the House, not the Senate where Obamacare was spawned), Speaker Boehner now has standing to repeal the entire thing. To wit, Michael Patrick Leahy’s excellent analysis [2]:
(W)ithin 30 days the Speaker of the House of Representatives should file suit in Federal Court asking the Supreme Court to invalidate Obamacare because the law was passed in violation of the Origination Clause. The Speaker has “standing” in the eyes of the Court because the violation of the Origination Clause that enabled passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 usurped the constitutional authority of the House of Representatives.
Given the 5-4 decision in NFIB v. Sebelius, chances that this litigation will succeed are limited at best. But just as NFIB v. Sebelius delayed the implementation of ObamaCare by two years, Boehner v. Sebelius could delay implementation even further.
Bingo. Repeal the entire damn thing this time.
Speaker Boehner’s number is 202.225.0600 — be respectful, talk to a very underpaid staffer, tell them you read this on Bearing Drift and ask him to file suit against Obamacare.
You’re a great American for doing this alone. But there’s more to do!
4. Find a U.S. Senate candidate to adopt, support, and win in November. Now that Obamacare is now officially the largest tax increase in the history of the world (much less the American experiment), it’s important to know that the U.S. Senate can no longer exercise a filibuster to stop a vote — 51 Senators can indeed overturn Obamacare. So let’s take an insurance bet on the U.S. Supreme Court, shall we? In Virginia, we have former Governor George Allen who is locked in with former DNC Chairman and former Governor “Abuser Fees” Tim Kaine.
So you — right now — be who you say you are and DONATE $25 to liberty. [3] Don’t lie to yourself and say you don’t have it — John Hancock is holding out the quill pen, and the parchment is waiting.
You’ll feel awesome later. I promise.
5. Time to start calling out the liberal media — Breitbart style. Need an example? POLITICO’s David Cantanese has been doing little more than hammer away at Allen for the past three months. Today’s POLITICO has Cantanese smacking around the objective truth that Kaine and Obama are connected at the hip [4]:
At a recent campaign stop with college-bound students at an Italian restaurant in Fairfax County, Kaine mentioned Obama three times — including 20 seconds into his speech when he praised the president for the country’s economic progress.
“They don’t agree with President Obama on everything and neither do I, but I don’t believe Virginians fundamentally believe it is a bad idea to be a partner with the president of the United States. We’re a state of presidents and the commander in chief is really important in Virginia, so the whole notion that it is wrong to be a partner with the president of the United States is not something I think most Virginians buy,” Kaine told POLITICO in an interview following his event.
“That’s a huge difference between Allen and me. I will always be a partner with the president of the United States.”
Does this ding-dong even read his own articles?!?!
Is anyone else sick of the liberal media calling conservatives out as terrorists and racists while the Occupiers rape, steal, shout, and terrorize the other half of America in a balance too timid for violence but to agitated for rational debate? Watch this… and remember that Andrew Brietbart was made popular not because he understood that the progressives could be rationalized — but rather that they were not rational themselves… and so could only be combated with the only passionate Reaganesque argument conservatives have left:
“We win, they lose.”
Folks, I’m not saying we have to resort to Occupier-style violence to get our message across. Far from it — we should reject it at every turn. What we should do, and what we should be prepared for, is to forcefully argue how their system is inherently unfair and immoral, and wages ruthless war against the very least in our society to provide a handful of liberal aristocrats with power.
Every human life should have the dignity to live a free life.
We believe this.
They don’t.
Call them out on it. Like our own Brian Kirwin just did [5].
6. Catch them in their own argument. Everyone needs to be forced to buy health care? Well then why not adopt this measure and be done with it [6]?
Republicans already are lip-committed to a national health-insurance charter that allows insurers to design their own policies and market them across state lines. Republicans are also lip-committed to a tax reform to equalize the tax treatment of health care whether purchased by individuals or by employers on behalf of individuals.
Now just modify the Affordable Care Act so buying any health policy authorized by the new charter, no matter how minimalist, satisfies the employer and individual mandate.
What would follow is a boom in low-cost, high-deductible plans that leave individuals in charge of managing most of their ordinary health-care costs out of pocket. Because it would be cheap, millions who would opt not to buy coverage will buy coverage. Because it will be cheap, companies will direct their low-wage and entry-level employees to this coverage.
Of course, such a solution only accomplishes two things: (1) puts power back into the hands of the people — something the apparachniks and federales in Washington certainly don’t approve of, and (2) ultimately only treats the symptoms of a health care system saddled and straining from too much paperwork, bureaucracy, legalism, and regulation.
In short, the problem with health care is that there’s too much government. The free market is straining at the leash to fix this problem… but then again, Washington can’t control that, now can they?
7. Get out and work. In an era of slacktivism, social media, and slick YouTube videos it’s very easy to sit back and assume that this sort of activity amongst the bubble of our friends and family is having some sort of net effect.
It’s not.
Unless we bring others into the fold, conservatives are never going to win in November.
Don’t know where to start? By filling this form out [7], you will be instantly connected with hundreds of freedom-minded patriots such as yourself.
The question is — are you ready to live your principles? Or hide behind them?
…because the liberals are certainly perfectly happy to force you to live their principles — on your paycheck.
So we have a choice. Either do what is easy… or do the hard work conservatives used to be known for doing in an election. That means phone calls, door-to-door operations, stuffing mail, talking to friends and neighbors about the dignity of a free life and the indignity of a government handout, the freedoms we have lost through the HHS Mandate, the threats to religious freedom and the rights of human conscience, and above all else — the essence of what it means to be American.
We have a great argument. It can only be shared if we are unafraid to live the American gospel of free markets, free minds, and a free society.
There’s your charge. Go live it.