On Friday, December 4, the Harry S. Truman awards dinner and fundraiser was held at the Irvine Hilton, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi scheduled as a keynote speaker. Conservative activist Megan Barth (birthday girl that night who is no relation to famed Swiss theologian Karl Barth as far as she knows, but that would be cool) contacted Tea Party organizers throughout the area and also mobilized conservatives on Facebook to show up for a protest against Nancy Pelosi and the policies she is promoting that are bad for America, such as the government takeover of healthcare which would destroy the healthcare system as we know it, and the proposed job killing cap and trade legislation. We all know that Pelosi couldn’t care less about the concerns of conservatives, but events like these are opportunities for conservatives to re-energize and unite around constitutional principles promoting small government, personal responsibility, and personal liberty. This event also provided an opportunity for us to be visible to the local Democratic community inside the hotel and have opportunities to dialogue that we would not have otherwise, as Megan was able to secure VIP tickets that got us into the hotel at the lobby bar which was directly in front of the ballroom and was entirely visible from the ballroom entrance.
Megan, being no shrinking violet, as well as other conservative ladies wore all manner of provocative signs on their shirts (mostly targeted towards Speaker Pelosi), which raised the ire of quite a few Democrats out for a grand night in formal dress. Things got a bit raucous at times in a good-natured sense, particularly when some of the conservative gang broke out into a hearty rendition of “God Bless America,” but that was quelled quickly by hotel security. We had a number of conversations with event attendees, and what I found most interesting was that even though everyone I spoke with strongly supported the healthcare bill (which was not surprising), not a single person could explain cogently how the legislation, if passed, would be paid for given mounting debt and the looming bankruptcies of Social Security and Medicare, other than to say we would just have to raise taxes. They were unconcerned about the new bureaucracies it would create, and didn’t care about the effect it would have on small businesses, rising healthcare premiums for families and young people, or the unconstitutionality of the bill. What I heard parroted again and again was that we need to be like socialist countries, since we’re the only major country that doesn’t provide universal healthcare. One woman in particular saw nothing wrong with America becoming a socialist country. Apparently, she has been taking Howard Dean to heart, who believes the debate is not whether we will have capitalism and socialism, but what proportion of each we will have.
I think an important thing to note is that it appeared many of the people at this event were older and well-established financially. So my thinking is that for them to be supporting Nancy Pelosi’s socialist agenda (as this was a fundraiser), there must be something in it for them, otherwise they would be out in the community actually trying to help those in need instead of rallying the federal government to break the backs of this generation of taxpayers as well as their children and their children’s children to support a massive takeover of 1/6 of our economy. Why they would entrust the government with healthcare when Social Security and Medicare are both nearing bankruptcy with over $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities is beyond me. But then it occurred to me that they probably support the healthcare bill for one of the following reasons:
- Some stand to gain something by having wealth redistributed to them, and it is not their concern where the money comes from because it has always come from somewhere. They’re perfectly happy to have the government have greater control over their lives as long as they can live a mediocre, deterministic existence, and all the Democratic party asks for is their vote until they die.
- Some are wealthy enough that it doesn’t matter as they can either influence government to their own benefit as lobbyists or unions, or they will become (or hope to become) aristocrats in a socialist society. So effectively, any new rules either will have no or little effect, or will not apply to them, while they will apply to everyone else not in the aristocracy.
- Others simply like the idea of a socialist society where there is the appearance of “fairness” for all, even though most have never lived in one. They are blind to the fact that socialist societies are not the utopias liberals believe them to be.
So it was an interesting night, and my hope is that there will be more opportunities to interact with Democrats, but in a different public setting that is specifically designed to encourage dialogue. As we all know, very little dialogue across the political divide is taking place in Washington D.C. amongst our elected leaders, which is the very thing we hire them to do. If our elected leaders won’t talk, then we the people need to talk to one another in our communities and begin to raise up a new generation of leaders who will talk to one another despite political differences and do what is best for all of America instead of what is on the agenda of the currently dominant party. The current atmosphere in D.C. is highly toxic, and I think we all know this country is going in the wrong direction. As a good friend of mine said recently, to most politicians in D.C., America is a piñata with everyone taking a whack. How long our republic will withstand this type of beating is anyone’s guess. It’s only a matter of time before she bursts, as she can only take so much abuse. We’re not so different from ancient Greece or Rome, so it would be ignorance of history to say this republic cannot fall. The problem is it appears the folks doing the whacking don’t care about the damage they’re doing because they have achieved an elite status such that if America goes down in flames, they will maintain their status, or will be able to transfer that status onto the world stage. Otherwise, why would they do everything in their power to destroy the freedom and entrepreneurial spirit that has made this country a beacon to all the world?
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