Ever since Sunday, when Congress passed what has come to be known as Obamacare, the news has been covering stories about bricks being thrown through the windows of Democratic offices, representatives being spit upon and harassed, and their having received threatening messages.

CNN reports that, “Washington (CNN) — Democratic congressional leaders Wednesday demanded Republicans join them in condemning a spate of threats and vandalism that has followed Sunday’s vote on a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health care system.

More than 10 Democrats have reported trouble since the weekend vote, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters. Windows have been smashed at Democratic offices in at least three states, and federal agents were investigating whether a cut gas line at the home of a Virginia congressman’s brother was related to the lawmaker’s yes vote.” http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/24/congress.threats/index.html?hpt=T1

Are our elected representatives that arrogant that they thought they could go against the wishes of their constituents on such an important issue as this without receiving some backlash?

On the weekend prior to the first House vote, the polling group Rasmussen, posted the results of a poll on their webpage. The data may shed some light on why certain members of Congress have found themselves on peoples shit list.

According to Rasmussen, only 41% of the people supported the president’s plan, while 54% opposed it. Rasmussen states that those numbers have “barely budged” in recent months.

Although it is not an overwhelming majority, those numbers certainly conflict with what the president, and members of Congress had been telling us, that the majority of the people were in favor of the president’s health care reform bill. If I may ask, if that is true, why has the president needed to go on the road to drum up support for this new law?

It is common knowledge that politicians use all kinds of polling data to gauge the public’s support of their policies in regards to various issues. You can’t tell me that they were unaware that the polls stated that half the people were on record as saying they would be less likely to vote to reelect a member of Congress if they voted in favor of the health care bill.

It wasn’t just polling data that should have given these clowns an idea that people were getting mighty upset with their government. For months preceding their vote, representatives came face to face with angry constituents at town hall meetings across the nation. Not only that, but numerous Tea Parties sprung up across the nation which should have been sufficient to show the extent of the people’s disgust with their government. Nevertheless, the president, and Congressional leaders worked overtime to sweet talk, bribe, or bully enough members of Congress to get the required votes.

Whether you, as an individual supported this health care bill or not, what does the action of Congress tell you about what they think about the wishes of a majority of the people? It tells me that they could give a rats ass about what we think. It tells me that they find our opinions insignificant and that they are going to do whatever the hell they want. Is it any wonder people are mad enough to throw a few bricks through some windows, or make a few threatening phone calls?

The day after Congress passed the bill my local news station asked viewers to send in their thoughts and comments regarding its passage. Normally I would have spoken my mind, but not this time. I don’t think they would have posted what I felt like saying. You see, it is my opinion that every son of a bitch who voted in favor of this bill should suffer the same fate as did William Wallace at the end of the movie Braveheart.

This evening, NBC news reported that those who tossed those bricks through a few windows were told to do so by blogger Mike Vanderboegh. Mike may have suggested it, but the fact is that unless the people were already angry, they would not have chosen to act upon his suggestion.

Honestly, how long did those bastards in Congress think that people would sit still for their arrogant disregard for our will. I guess they are finally getting a lesson in the law of unintended consequences? Sometimes I think that our elected representatives must have skipped class when the subject was the events that lead to the American Revolution.

You know, the colonists didn’t weren’t just sitting around in a pub when they decided that they were going to start a war with Britain for shits and grins. What happened was that the King of England kept pushing the colonies around until enough people decided that they had had enough of his shit, and decided that they were not going to put up with it anymore.

Patriot Patrick Henry is famous for saying, “Give me liberty or give me death.“ However, after the Revolutionary War General John Stark said something that may be even more fitting, “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.”

Twice now I have seen House Minority Leader John Boehner on the news saying that violence and threats have no part in the debate. Mr. Boehner, with all due respect to the office he holds, must have his head up his ass.

John Adams, our nation’s second president, was once quoted as saying, “The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea.”

Our nation’s birth certificate, the Declaration of Independence, states, “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”

I am pretty certain that Thomas Jefferson wasn’t so naïve that he thought that Britain was just going to grant us our independence because we asked them politely. Our nations founders had already petitioned King George, on numerous occasions, regarding perceived injustices.

And, just as have been our phone calls, our peaceful protests, and our petitions to Congress, the petitions of our founders to King George were ignored. The colonists were left with no recourse but violence.

The news reports that members of Congress are expressing outrage at the level of animosity, the acts of vandalism, and the threats made against their persons. Do they not remember that prior to the first shots being fired at Lexington and Concord, windows were broken, officials were tarred and feathered, and sundry other acts of civil disobedience took place?

When Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech in St. Johns Church, in Richmond Virginia, he is most often remembered for saying, ‘give me liberty, or give me death.’ However, there is a less known line from that speech which I would like for people to consider. Mr. Henry also stated, “I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past.”

History often has a habit of repeating itself, especially when people ignore the valuable lessons it provides. There are other writers who have a much broader understanding of American history than I do, but I have spent my fair share of time reading about the events which caused our founders to take up arms and fight for their liberty.

Those who answered that call to arms, it was a common belief that the laws being imposed upon them by King George put them on a course which would establish “an absolute tyranny over these states.”

Congress, and the media, is making a fuss over the outrage expressed by people over the passage of Obamacare. Yet the passage of this piece of legislation is the last straw in a long series of abuses of power by our government.

After all the phone calls, the protests, and the angry receptions they got at town hall meetings, it should come as no surprise that people have become so frustrated that they lash out in, less than traditional methods. They should count themselves lucky that it was only a few broken windows and threatening messages.

There are those in this country who feel that history is repeating itself, that the actions of our government bear a striking resemblance to the actions of King George, leaving the colonists no recourse but to take up arms against their government.

It is of interest that when the bullets began to fly, only a small percentage of the people actually participated in the fighting, roughly three percent. These were men, who in the eyes of the British, were committing an act of treason by taking up arms against their lawful government.

We do not wish for it to come to that, to the time when freedom loving Americans will once again have to take up arms, and die, defending their rights and their liberty. But if it must, so be it.

There is a quote that is attributed to Scottish-born lawyer, Alexander Tytler. It describes the sequence which most civilizations have undergone. It goes like this, “From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again to bondage.”

If you apply that to our nation, and are honest with yourself, you would have to admit that we are somewhere between the last two stages of that progression. Many people realize this, and are fighting like hell to make sure we never make it to the last stage.

When Patrick Henry gave his famous speech in St Johns Church, he asked, “Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?” To which I would have answered, not while I still have any say about it.

It may very well be that there is another revolution coming, although that will only happen if our government continues to disregard the constitution, and continues to threaten our liberty.

There is one thing that people need to understand, if it does come to that, things will get very ugly in this country. If it does come, people may wish that they had gotten mad enough to go out and toss a few bricks through some windows so that their representatives had gotten the message before it was too late and there was no turning back.

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says “OH SHIT!!…. HE’S AWAKE!!”

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?“

~ The Author ~
Neal Ross can be reached for comments at bonsai@syix.com. Visit Neal’s Blog at http://www.zombie-slayer.com/neal