“If you want to make your voice heard on the health-care bill before the House votes on Sunday, you’d better do so quickly.” – Ed Whelan, NRO (via Instapundit)
Don’t stop calling even if the vote ends up passing the thing. I’m quite serious about this. Keep relaying your concerns, keep calling, keep at it. Actions should have consequences.
Update: Oh goodness, Instapundit is linking to this report of an incident in which serial phone calling to a Congressman’s office is interpreted as a form of harassment (Huh? How is that harassment? It’s about a specific bill that the Congressman is voting on ?)
Well, I certainly don’t want anyone harassed or treated in any way other than civilly and decently. I wonder, however, if such incidents are inevitable given that technology has empowered us “little people” (an Army of Davids!) to repeatedly call, or text, or fax our Congressman, while the low-tech Congressional side is nothing other than a person logging the calls or texts or faxes. I don’t think this dynamic is going to change any time soon, and in an odd way, highlights the problems with a central authority attempting to deal with such a complicated phenomenon as rapidly changing technology. It’s yet another illustration of why health care shouldn’t be managed by central authorities… .
Oh, and not to be all school-marmy about it, but be polite obviously. Not that you all need the reminders.
*Well, some of us ARE school-marmy by nature, and can’t help with the admonitions!
– Madhu
From the Washington Times Editorial Page….Is this an Impeachable offense?
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/19/impeach-the-president/
Mr. Obama is willing to devour his presidency, his party’s congressional majority and – most disturbing – our democratic institutional safeguards to enact it. He is a reckless ideologue who is willing to sacrifice the country’s stability in pursuit of a socialist utopia.
The Slaughter Solution is a poisoned chalice. By drinking from it, the Democrats would not only commit political suicide. They would guarantee that any bill signed by Mr. Obama is illegitimate, illegal and blatantly unconstitutional. It would be worse than a strategic blunder; it would be a crime – a moral crime against the American people and a direct abrogation of the Constitution and our very democracy.
It would open Mr. Obama, as well as key congressional leaders such as Mrs. Pelosi, to impeachment. The Slaughter Solution would replace the rule of law with arbitrary one-party rule. It violates the entire basis of our constitutional government – meeting the threshold of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” If it’s enacted, Republicans should campaign for the November elections not only on repealing Obamacare, but on removing Mr. Obama and his gang of leftist thugs from office.
It is time Americans drew a line in the sand. Mr. Obama crosses it at his peril.
Thanks for this post, onparkstreet.
We’re not stopping. We’re phoning and faxing and telling them what we think in every way we can from early morning until midnight (faxes after hours, obviously) every day. We politely explain to them that we will do everything we legally can to scrape them out of office in November if they vote for this.
Don’t get discouraged. What do you have to lose except time?
Godmother Pelosi is threatening her rank and file’s kneecaps and she really needs us to stop reminding them that they “serve” (read: collect bribes) at OUR pleasure, not hers.
The media is carrying her water by making you think it’s over. It’s NOT!
IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL IT’S OVER and the Slaughter the Constitution Solution is NOT “Over”.
BTW, if you can’t get through, using an e-fax type service is a great way to send a lot of faxes at once without much effort.
The Democrats are hoping people forget this by the 2010 elections. Obama is hoping the economy starts picking up by the 2012 elections.
Are you going to forget about this by November? I’m not.
This just goes to show how much contempt the Democrats have for the people of the United States. They truly believe we’re mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging neanderthals with limited capacity to understand when we’re being abused by their enlightened Majesties.
If Barry thinks the economy is going to pick in the face of his 8 percentage point tax hike, he needs a short economics lesson. Not that I expect him to understand the basic math and incentive effect. After all, this is the same guy who thinks he’s going to reduce insurance premiums 3,000%!!
And ponies for everyone!!
Seerov: call me a scared hen, but I don’t discount a possibility that if this latest crude tactic passes, Democrats might progress into skipping the 2012′ election altogether.
*methinks,
today in my LinkedIn Design and Construction professional group someone opined (in almost direct quote from Ms. Pelosi) that we are witnesses to a glorious historical event ensuring that in 10 years US will have a universal healthcare, “as all civilized nations”. I expressed my surprise that a person, whose title says VP of a construction company, has no idea of budget constraints.
In response I was accused of “judging” people!
So – no, not only a community organizer with Harvard diploma doe not know math – construction administration executives seem to forget it, too!
Oh, Tatyana, we move forward swiftly to meet our glorious future! It all sounds terribly familiar, doesn’t it?
Did you ever get a good taste of our “civilized nation’s” exalted universal health care? That VP of construction doesn’t understand that Barry misspoke – he meant we’ll reduce medical care by 3,000%.
Onparkstreet,
Don’t you know that you are not to niggle your overlords with your petty concerns? That kind of harassment will not be tolerated by their royal highnesses! And after all they do for you.
Phooey! We wouldn’t be harassing them if they didn’t harass and threaten us. They’re going to find out what the Soviets found out. At the end of the day, even in the presence of a police state, several hundred million people are impossible to control.
“form of harassment ”
It’s not the civilized, Congressional method, which would be to hire a lobbyist to represent your group, then make large campaign contributions.
*Methinks – it does feels familiar, nauseatingly so. At this point I’m tired of saying it, too – besides, people react in the opposite way when I say it.
One former coworker, when I explained that I have lived under universal healthcare, and gave few examples (even omitting the most gruesome – and I could give him lots more bloody details) – said: “You’re an ungrateful person. You didn’t appreciate what your state did for you in the old country and now you don’t appreciate what this country does for you”.
Sometimes I think we are different species of humans.
Tatyana,
I am speechless.
I’m grateful that I’m surrounded by people who, even if they support the idea of government healthcare, are willing to listen and re-evaluate their opinion in light of new information.
But the country as a whole is disturbing. I’m allergic, literally allergic to this collectivist cry. Even in Russia, it never made sense and I couldn’t bear it from early childhood. What do we do?
@ Tatyana and Methinks:
The problem is that people have a sort of soft and fuzzy memory of collectivism, so that the reality of it escapes them. It’s just one of many systems of governance, each with its own good and bad.
Seriously, look at the Berlin Wall and Cold War revisionism taking place. I think it’s our duty to put a stop to it, but how to do it? Tell your stories! Like the novelist Herta Muller, or the monument to the victims of Communism, or TM Lutas’ personal remembrances around here, tell their stories!
Hey, how shall we do that here? If you give me an idea, I’ll put up a post. Should we do occasional microfiction contests or something?
– Madhu
@ Tehag: “It’s not the civilized, Congressional method, which would be to hire a lobbyist to represent your group, then make large campaign contributions.”
Hahahahaha.
Oh wait. It’s not funny.
– Madhu
Or how about those one-sentence or six-word memoir contests? Does anyone think it would work for the topic of collectivism, the benefits of the free-market, or whatever?
– Madhu
*And yes, I am trying to bulk up my own comments by commenting so much… .
Madhu,
I’ve been telling the stories for 35 years. They do not believe, or they cannot imagine, or (obnoxiously) they tell me that it was great and that I just don’t “get it”. Or “it can’t happen here”. The latest version of which was President Barry the Ballbuster laughing off criticism “you’d think that this is a Bolshevik plot”. Ha ha. We’re way past the Bolsheviks, SUCKAHS!!
This will push the United States past the point of no return. The destruction of the country and the lower standard of living won’t arrive right away. It’ll take more than a decade and perhaps more than three. But, it will happen.
I don’t feel like I’m in Russia. I feel like I’m in Egypt in 1952. The standard of living will not stagnate as it did in Europe. It will decline over the decades as it did in Egypt after Nasser decided to align with the USSR and adopt socialism. The brain drain will eventually kick in – probably slowly with the next generation. They will go abroad seeking opportunities because they will evaporate here amidst stagnation, corruption and government bullying. I’m not hopeful. As much as I didn’t like Barry, I didn’t actually believe that he wanted the destruction of the United States – Saul Alinsky style. I was naive. That’s his goal.
I will continue to fight this by donating money to those who present legal challenges to the legislation and the to the campaigns of anyone and everyone running against a Democrat in November. Barry and Nancy’s cabal must be broken. It turns out that when Democrats voted for congressmen, they were raising an army for Red Nancy and not for representatives for themselves. So many very loyal and even leftist Democrats I know are so disheartened and disappointed.
I’m tired and upset, so forgive the rambling. It’s just hard to watch the utter destruction of a such a wonderful and unique country.
Methinks, I’m sorry, of course you’ve been telling your stories! And people are annoyingly resistent to certain messages! Why is that?
I still think I want to do the short short story thing with different themes:
1. The evils of communism.
2. The benefits of technology.
3. The benefits of the market.
Anyway, no offense taken, it’s not rambling and I enjoy reading your comments.
– Madhu
I think Americans are genetically selected for independence and resistance to authoritarian regimes. It’s not the majority, perhaps, although it looks like a large and growing portion of the citizenry are energized to oppose this. It could even get violent. I wonder how many Democrats signed on for this slow rolling coup d’etat. Hillary was a student of Alinsky so she is no opposition to this. I don’t know if Bill Clinton is this far left. He seems more a pragmatist. This could get very ugly.
I lived briefly under a collectivist health care system. While I may not be able to tell the horror stories that Tatyana or Methinks under their experience, I did hate having half my earnings taken away. I hated the inflated prices that the VAT brought and then paying an additional 15% on top of your purchase. Businesses could get sweetheart deals if they could convince the pols. But for the most part burden for funding it was on the backs of the working individual. The economy wasn’t horribly stagnant like in Old Europe but it moved much slower than U.S. did back when I live there in ’99. Fortunately, I didn’t have to deal much with their services at the time.
Mishu,I’m nosy,what country did you live in?
It was Canada. Here’s a good story about a woman with cancer there. Link
Mishu,
I have family members who were doctors in the Soviet Union who are now living in Canada. They’re old, so they use the system more frequently than we do. So, what does it tell us when they are horrified by the Canadian healthcare system? They compare it to 1970’s Soviet medicine. And that’s only system for 30+ million people.
Meanwhile, one of their daughters lives in the U.S. and she’s had cancer and a whole host of issues. The two medical systems are night and day. NIGHT AND DAY!
Methinks: “night and day” not for long.