The answer is unmistakably and resoundingly NO.  Americans do not want a health care system resembling that of Canada or the U.K.  We the people are saying no every way we know how to; in polls, at rallies, with elections.

The time for talk is over.  It is clear that the vast majority of Americans do not want this health care legislation passed.

Any sane and logical congress would say, “Ok, thanks for letting us know.  We represent you the people, and you have made your voices clear.  Let’s toss out this 2000 plus stack of paper and get started on something else.”  But nope, not our congress.  Our congress says, “We know you don’t want it, and we don’t care.  We’re going to find every loophole we can so we can slam you with the largest most unconstitutional tax ever created, all in the name of ‘helping the poor.’”

The poor will not be helped by this bill.  Just look at any other country with government run health care.  It’s the poor that suffer.  Only the rich can afford timely and reliable care.  Why does anyone think it will be different in the US?

I’m absolutely going to go bonkers if I keep hearing, “health care is a right.”  It is not a right.  It isn’t a privilege either.  It’s a service.  You are not entitled to the labor of a doctor.  Just like they are not entitled to free oil changes from the mechanic.  We all work for a living, some of us harder than others.  Call me crazy, but I believe that the people that spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on education, work 90 hour weeks, and make life and death decisions on a daily hourly basis deserve to be paid more than my mechanic, and I’m happy to pay it.  I am not happy to pay for other people to see that doctor because they spent their money elsewhere.  We all have to make sacrifices.  Deal with it.  And here’s the thing about Americans- for the most part, we are an extremely charitable group.  If someone really was in a bad situation, I bet there would be a doctor somewhere willing to treat them, or benefactors willing to pay for the treatment.

I have faith in the American people.  I have faith in every single person who wants to better their life.  I have faith in the single mom struggling to make ends meet, the newly graduated college student looking for a job, the father of two teens that just got laid off after 20 years.  I have faith in those people to do what it takes to get through these rough patches of life, and I have faith in their friends and neighbors to help them as they’re able.  I do what I can to help those in need.  I’m grateful for all the times others have been there for me.

But oh this congress.  This congress does not have faith in us.  This congress does not want us to feel the triumph of overcoming adversity, the joy of accomplishment.  This congress wants to enable us with the most massive entitlement program our country has ever seen.  We are better than that.

I want this congress to stop taking my money and giving me back a paltry sum and expecting me to jump for joy.  I know what  you took.  Don’t tell me to be grateful for the $10 check when you snuck $100 out of my back pocket.  I’m wise to your tricks.  A lot of us are.  Which is why you will be voted out this November.  This health care bill and any other crap you manage to sneak through in closed-door deals will be repealed.

Who knew that it would take a violation of Constitutional principles by our leaders for America to stand united in a way we haven’t for generations?  Wonders never cease.

I think it’s safe to say that I’ve been completely enthralled with watching what’s been happening in Upstate New York.  The 23rd district of New York has no one representing it in the US House of Representatives.  Which is why there’s going to be a special election on Tuesday, November 3rd.  As is usual with any election, there is a Democrat and a Republican running for the seat.  Only this time, both of those candidates were liberals.  Enter Doug Hoffman, a lifelong Republican who was sick of the closet liberals hiding in the GOP closet.  He entered the race as an Independent, for the Conservative Party.

Everyone knows that third party candidates don’t stand a chance of winning elections, right?  Right?  Maybe not.  Mr. Hoffman picked up steam quickly, even though the odds were stacked against him.  He was operating on a shoestring budget, and the Republican machine (specifically Newt Gingrich and the National Republican Congressional Committee) endorsed Ms. Scozzafava, the Republican candidate.

This has been fascinating to watch, because it’s the first time that we’re seeing Tea Party Principles being put into practice.  MSNBC can dismiss us with crude name-calling comments.  The Speaker of the House, the 2nd in line for the Presidency, can call the movement AstroTurf, not real grassroots activism.  The President himself can tell us to get out of his way.  The media can completely ignore a 9/12 March on Washington, which was attended by at least 8 people.  Or maybe over a million.  Counting is hard!

The race in New York is proof that us liberty loving Americans are not in the minority.  We are not Democrat haters who only care about having Republicans in office.  We are simply sick of our elected officials trying to run our lives for us.  They do not give us our rights, God does that.  The government can only protect those rights.  Doug Hoffman is an ordinary man, but he understands that the Constitutional principles of limited government.  After all, a government that can give you everything can also take it all away.  When Doug Hoffman began getting substantial numbers in the polls, it showed Washington that Conservatism is not a fringe movement.  It is a snowball, and baby, it has just begun to roll down the hill.

The Washington Elite are getting scared.  I think the liberals hiding in our GOP closet are the most terrified, and they should be.  Dede Scozzafava has certainly been acting like a scared mess of a person.  She called the cops on a reporter that had the audacity to ask her about some of her liberal positions.  She set up a ridiculous press conference in front of one of Hoffman’s campaign offices, which ended up as a horrendous photo-op that did her no favors.

Yesterday, October 31st, she finally picked up her toys and went home. She officially withdrew herself from the election, saying,

It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of my supporters to shift their support. Consequently, I hereby release those individuals who have endorsed and supported my campaign to transfer their support as they see fit to do so. I am and have always been a proud Republican. It is my hope that with my actions today, my Party will emerge stronger and our District and our nation can take an important step towards restoring the enduring strength and economic prosperity that has defined us for generations.

You know, I actually grew a little bit of respect for the lady.  She seemed to understand that due to some of her liberal positions, many of the Republicans voting in the election would be forced to choose between her or the more conservative Doug Hoffman.  She took one for the team when her numbers kept slipping, removing herself from the race and almost ensuring a win for Hoffman.

That respect lasted almost 24 hours, right up until  she endorsed the Democratic candidate Bill Owens.

Halloween is over.  I guess Dede Scozzafava has finally taken off her Republican costume.

The Secret Service is investigating a poll posted on Facebook recently.  The poll asked: “Should Obama be killed?” The possible answers were “no,” “maybe,” yes,” and “yes if he cuts my health care.”

Bob Beckel, one of my favorite love-to-hate liberals, came out swinging against the person responsible for the poll, demanding that he or she be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

“This is the kind of garbage that’s generated from the extreme right against Obama, and it’s going way over the line…It’s got to be stopped. Find him, prosecute him and put him in jail…If they don’t like what Obama is doing, then maybe they ought to go out and vote for someone else.  But relying on this kind of attack is un-American and unacceptable.”

Those of us on the right apparently just can’t help ourselves sometimes.  We’re so full of angry hate and hateful anger that we do things like throw bricks and sticks at cops while we’re protesting.  Wait, those were liberal, anti-capitalist protesters?

Well, it’s those Fox News Channel worshipers that bring posters to rallies depicting President Obama as Hitler.  Or was it the fringe group La Rouche, which advocates a single-payer health care system (not exactly a right-wing position)? At least we never saw Bush-as-Hitler propaganda from liberals during the eight years he served as our President.  Nope.  Never.  Not once. Ok, maybe once or twice…

Who killed Dr. Tiller, the man who preformed partial birth abortions on babies that would have most likely survived outside of the womb?  That one HAS to be a right winger.  Definitely a crazy, anti-choice, right-wing extremist.  Or maybe accused gunman Scott Roeder was a nut job that refused to pay taxes, believed himself to be above the law, and was clearly not associated with either liberals or conservatives?

Was it former Republican President George W. Bush that called everyone who disagreed with his politics racists and accused them of being part of a conspiracy?  Or was it former Democratic Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton?  These things are so hard to keep track of, you know.

If the Secret Service ever finds the person that posted the “Obama death poll” on Facebook, I would like to politely ask Mr. Beckel to apologize for associating him or her with the right-wing.  Because I can speculate with some confidence that that person is NOT a right-winger.  After he apologizes, maybe Mr. Beckel can point out some instances of the “garbage that’s generated from the extreme right against Obama,” because I sure can’t find it.  All I can find are concerned citizens that are finally speaking up for themselves and the welfare of our country.  They had the audacity to ask Congress to reign in the spending of money that we don’t have.  Some of those crazy right-wingers actually asked their congressmen to read the bills on their desk before they signed them!  The horror!

Questioning our representatives is not garbage.  Holding our elected officials accountable is not garbage.  Attending peaceful protests, town hall meetings, or city council meetings is not garbage.  Don’t let anyone tell you that it is.

Did President Obama really just tell people opposed to his socialist agenda to get out of the way?

“But I don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don’t mind cleaning up after them, but don’t do a lot of talking.”

Are you kidding me?  Isn’t this the same community organizer that said, “My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington”?  And now he’s telling the 54% of Americans that oppose the health care plan (the one that he’s not even familiar with) to get out of his way?  How exactly is he following through on his commitment to represent us to Washington if he doesn’t even want to listen to what the majority of Americans have to say, let alone work with politicians on the other side of the aisle?

And how exactly is exponentially expanding the government entitlement programs that created the mess in the first place going to clean it up?  It’s like  trying to put out a fire by throwing gasoline on it.  Of course I’m going to organize with my community to stand in the way of politicians that want to tax me into bankruptcy so that the US can have a health care system as stellar as Great Britain’s, where 40% of cancer patients are never able to see an oncologist.

No Mr. President, I will not get out of your way.  I will do everything I can to stand up to you and protect the freedom, liberty, and equality of all Americans, according to my constitutional rights.  This is not a school play yard, and I will not be bullied into silence.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few months, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the Tea Party protests being held across the country.  They are energizing rallies of liberty loving Americans who have the audacity to question the thousands of pages of bills that are being  rammed through congress like a freight train.  A freight train that is going to end up costing American taxpayers trillions of dollars.

Protesters want to know: Where is that money coming from, if not from the taxpayers?  Why should the money I pay in taxes go to fund other people’s new cars or abortions?

We have the gall to question elected officials (who work for us) on their doublespeak.  Please tell me, President Obama, were you lying last month when you said, “First of all, if you’ve got health insurance, you like your doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan.  Nobody is talking about taking that away from you.” or in 2003 when you said, “A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.”

People are attending townhall meetings with their representatives, and asking questions like, “Medicaid is broke, Medicare is broke, Social Security is broke and you want us to believe that a government that can’t even run a cash for clunkers program is going to run one-seventh of our U.S. economy?”

People want to know.  There is a grassroots movement taking the country by storm, while being no more forceful than to ask tough questions, and maybe even sometimes ask those questions in a raised tone of voice.  There have been thousands of these protests over the last six months, attended by millions of Americans.  Guess how many arrests have been made for violence or obscenity at the Tea Party protests.  Zero.  Wow, what a group of wing nuts!

So how is our government and the media responding to these peaceful protests of upset Americans?  By dismissing them.  Insulting them. LYING about them.

Rachel Maddow says we’re “tea-baggers” a term I’m unfortunately newly familiar with.

Nancy Pelosi insists that protesters are “carrying swastikas and symbols like that to townhall meetings.”

Barbara Boxer told Chris Matthews the the protesters are nothing but angry and noisy “well-dressed middle-class people in pinks and limes… [the] Brooks Brothers Brigade.”  She also told him (and his 8 viewers), “You in the media have to take a look at what’s going on here.  This is all planned.  It’s to hurt our president and it’s to change the congress.”  I don’t know which is a more ridiculous notion: That the Tea Party movement was planned to hurt the president, or that MSNBC is considered “media” to some.

And the Democratic National Committee released a one minute ad yesterday that calls Tea Party protesters “right-wing extremists,” claims that we’ve “lost the confidence of Americans,” and “Now desperate republicans and their well funded allies are organizing angry mobs…their goal: to destroy President Obama.”

There are so many things to say about those comments that I’m not sure where to begin.  How about the insult that Senator Boxer gave to liberal protesters?  It’s probably not the best campaign move to insult those that put you in office.  I can only assume that by saying the Tea Party protesters are too well dressed, she’s comparing them to liberal protesters.  And if the Tea Party/conservative protesters are too well dressed (in Brooks Brothers, no less!), then the liberal protesters must be slobs.

What about Ms. Pelosi?  Swastikas?  Really?  If you’re going to lie, at least make up something remotely believable.

Rachel Maddow- thank you so much for expanding my vocabulary to include tea-bagging.  I’m really not sure how I could’ve lived the rest the my life without knowing what that classy term meant.  Maybe you could learn some new vocabulary from the Tea Partiers too.  Like liberty.  Look it up, it’s a word worth knowing.

And as for hoping to destroy President Obama?  Nope. Not the plan.  Destroy his agenda to double or triple our energy costs, lead us to a single payer health care system, and generally spread the wealth around?  Yeah.  That’s worth bringing down.  I will stand up to anyone that tries to steal my liberty and freedom.  Given the explosion of peaceful protests recently, I’m not standing alone.

… Are our elected officials listening?

By the way, that first chick making her voice heard is yours truly.

I have to start this post with a conversation I had with a friend earlier this evening.

Friend- “So what are your plans tomorrow?”

Me- “It’s the 15th tomorrow… I have a tea party to go to!”

Friend- “What are you going to do with your kids while you’re there?”

Me- “Well, they’ll probably be there with me…”

Friend- “What?? I worry enough with you going to these things! Do you really think they’re safe there?”

Me- *laughing* “I’ve been to two of these things already and seriously, it seems like half the women there have their small children with them! It’s been a really great time to connect with other like-minded individuals.”

Friend- “If you’re sure… I trust you.”

These tea parties have been wonderful. They really have been. I know they are protests, but really, they are just American citizens coming together to make a point that there are MANY of us that do not agree that the way to end the current recession is spend more money and invite more government oppression into our lives.

I have met so many caring, passionate people at the two tea parties I’ve attended in the past month, and I hope to meet many more tomorrow on Tax Day, April 15th. There has been no violence, no secret HuffPo or ACORN plants (that I know of), and nothing but love and pride for the freedom that our country stands for. I would be proud to have my daughters stand by my side and voice the opinion that We the People want the opportunity to work hard and achieve something of our lives.

Even my five year old daughter understands that it is wrong to take something from someone that has earned it and give it to someone that has not. “But why don’t those people work hard like you and Daddy?” She has asked me on more than one occasion.

My answer? “Sometimes people can’t work Baby, and when people have hard times, other people should help them. Like we give money and clothes and toys to people that don’t have a lot.”

Her response?

“But Mommy, if they can work, they really should.”

Yes Darling Daughter, they should. Have I taught you yet the term “enabling”?

Anyway, back to my point. The Tea Parties have been the most wonderful expression of our Constitutional rights that I have ever personally witnessed. And then I read a report from the Department of Homeland Security warning law enforcement officials across the country of right wing extremism and even racism.

Ok, let me get this straight. The President of the United States of America can pal around with “God DAMN America” pastors and “We didn’t do enough” domestic flag burning terrorists, but the tea party protesters are the dangerous ones? People that just want the freedom to choose their own job, doctor, and schools for their children? Oh man, watch out for those right wing nuts! All they want is FREEDOM from an oppressive government.

We can’t have that, now can we?

San Diego took part in a nationwide Tea Party Protest today in protest to the Obama Administration’s bailout plan.

It was a great turnout, and amazing to see so many opposed to the redistribution of hard earned wealth to slackers working part time at McDonald’s.

Speaker Leslie Eastman

We even had a sailboat in attendance! The sign says, “Repeal or Retire.”

Some of the crowd

Protesters lined the streets

Keep it up conservatives! Keep it real, keep it honest, but keep it LOUD!