The Noose of Tyranny Tightens

“You are building Jerusalem on a foundation of murder and corruption. You rulers govern for the bribes you can get.” (Micah 3:10,11).

We have a new day of infamy in American history: December 24, 2009.

In one of the most corrupt and brazen exercises in American history, an out-of-touch United States Senate led by Harry Reid voted to kill the “American experiment in liberty” by laying the initial foundations for socialized medicine in our once free nation.

The noose of liberal tyranny has been greatly tightened. I am stunned, shocked, appalled, angry and weep for my country. All the blood, sweat and tears that our ancestors shed over our “great experiment in liberty” is now being suffocated by greedy, power-hungry and anti-democratic forces who flipped off the will of the people and acted like a political lynch mob.

The US Senate healthcare debate and vote was nothing less than tyrannical:

• Numerous senators were bribed with hundreds of millions of dollars. Mary Landrieu’s cash for cloture is now being called the “Louisianna Purchase.” John McCain labeled traitorous Ben Nelson’s bribe the “Cornhusker Kickback.”
• Long standing Senate rules were scorned and “deliberation” was thrown out the window of a fast-moving train that didn’t care what lay in its tracks.
• All the polls of the populace screamed out by 52% to 63% margins that  “We don’t want this bill!” The Democratic Party (is that an oxymoron?) said “To h___ with you! We know what’s best.”

America once stood for the people’s sovereignty under God guaranteeing “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Little now remains on these three pillars of the republic.

Life was eliminated in 1972 when we legalized abortion on demand. Since that time we’ve callously murdered 45 million Americans.

Liberty was put on life support with the infamous Senate vote. Tyranny could now replace it as America’s future.

Instead of the Pursuit of Happiness (building wealth and holding private property), we’re about to inherit a massive re-distribution of wealth with Big Government oversight. Our new Progressive Masters will now tell us how much happiness we can pursue. We are theirs–mere pawns of a ballooning state that has taken the place of God and doesn’t care what its subjects think.

America is being lynched. The question is: Will we and our children be able to throw off the noose?

Some will say I’m being too harsh, or extreme.  After all it’s just a piece of health care legislation. But something in my gut tells me it’s much bigger than that. We’re in grave danger. Consider this:

The United States has been slowly moving toward government tyranny since FDR in the 1930s. For America’s first 150 years we were a Christian-based nation–a free people with less than 10% government control of the people’s affairs (the economy). That’s why millions came here from other nations–to enjoy the fruits of freedom–the degree of which no other nation had every experienced.

But Roosevelt’s New Deal and subsequent Great Society initiatives began to steadily grow the power of government in the past century so that today–before the December 24th vote–the federal government’s involvement in the economy and lives of people was about 30%. That’s bad from a standpoint of American history–but still decent when you compare us with other (non-free) nations.

The passage of national health care changes all that. By setting in motion an ultimate government takeover of medicine, the federal government’s control of American life will reach nearly 50%. If Cap and Trade goes through (or the new EPA standards on carbon emissions), it will add another 10%.  Bank and regulatory reform will also add another 10%,. If there is not an astounding political revolution in 2010 to reverse these legislative nightmares, then Barack Obama will have succeeded in a jaw-dropping liberal takeover of America with the Federal Government controlling 70% of  our lives.

70 percent. That’s the USSR, not the USA. 

Do you know why early Americans thought 10% taxation and regulation was enough? They got their cues from America’s founding textbook–the Bible. In 1 Samuel 8:10-22, God warned the Hebrews that if they rejected God and his ways, then tyranny in the form of a human king would rise up and take ten percent of their livelihood. Here are his sobering words:

“This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle [a] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.” 19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles” (emphasis mine).

In God’s mind, ten percent or more of government control is excessive, oppressive, dangerous, and in a word–tyranny. For most of our history we shared that freedom-loving perspective.

The passage of Obamacare is a major tipping point. With 50% of America life now in jeopardy, we are barely breathing as a free nation. Not a fire was shot. No treaty was ratified.  Rather, sixty unwise and greedy senators, following the leadership of the House and US president, drove the death knell into a once great and free society. Why did they do it?

They did it for power. They did it for control. They didn’t do it for God, liberty, or the people (as some think or say). That’s why the whole process was rushed, done behind closed doors, and corrupted. Has there ever been a worse major piece of legislation passed in the history of the United States?

To answer that question, it’s interesting to compare liberty and tyranny in the form of two historic bills.

• The “Homestead Act” of 1862 is widely considered one of the greatest “freedom” bills in the history of our Republic. It was a beautifully crafted two page bill that encouraged God-fearing, hard-working, self-reliant American families to homestead and develop 160 acres of land in the untamed American west. It was signed by President Abraham Lincoln.
• On the other hand, the health care bill dubbed The “Affordable Health Choices Act” of 2009 is a poorly written 2000+ page monstrosity.  Grover Norquist of  Americans for Tax Reform notes that the House version contains the following words: “Tax” 87 times, “Taxable” 62 times, “Excise tax” 10 times, “Taxes” 15 times, “Fee” 59 times, “Penalty” 113 times, “Require” 118 times, “Must” 58 times, and “Shall” 3,424 times. He laments “It’s not exactly the language of liberty, is it?” President Obama wants to sign it.

Two beautiful pages of empowerment versus 2000 mind-numbing pages of control. Lincoln or Obama. Which America do you want? Which president do you trust?

Even the Seattle Times said candidly in a December 23 editorial titled “Now’s Not the Time for Health-Care Reform,” that “We don’t like the cost of it, and especially not right now. It has been a difficult year, following a scary year. Next year will be a difficult year. To us–and to the American people, if polls tell the true story–the top issue is the economy. We wish Congress would focus on that for the moment and set this expensive health care package aside.”

Amen.

A Wall Street Journal Op Ed on December 21, 2009 went even further:

“The tragedy is that Mr. Obama inherited a consensus that the health-care status quo needs serious reform, and a popular President might have crafted a durable compromise that blended the best ideas from both parties. A more honest and more thoughtful approach might have even done some good. But as Mr. Obama suggested, the Democratic old guard sees this plan as the culmination of 20th-century liberalism.”

“So instead we have this vast expansion of federal control. Never in our memory has so unpopular a bill been on the verge of passing Congress, never has social and economic legislation of this magnitude been forced through on a purely partisan vote, and never has a party exhibited more sheer political willfulness that is reckless even for Washington or had more warning about the consequences of its actions.”

“These 60 Democrats are creating a future of epic increases in spending, taxes and command-and-control regulation, in which bureaucracy trumps innovation and transfer payments are more important than private investment and individual decisions. In short, the Obama Democrats have chosen change nobody believes in—outside of themselves—and when it passes America will be paying for it for decades to come.”

Amen and amen.

And Joseph Sobran writing in the World Net Daily on December 11, 2009 spoke with the greatest foresight:

“Soon, if the enemies of freedom and the proponents of government command-and-control economies have their way, this is what you can expect:
 
You will be told what medical procedures you can have and which you can’t have: The government will soon be a middleman between you and your doctor. Even your hard-earned money, if you have any, will be useless in persuading doctors in this country to treat you.

The financial system will collapse: This will, as it always has in the past, make the government more powerful – prompting emergency powers and possibly even martial law.

Criminals and terrorists will have free reign to victimize you: While government officials are protected from the ensuing anarchy, you will be on your own to deal with the mess they have created.

Does this sound like an implausible nightmare scenario to you? Or can you already discern which way the wind is blowing? Is the end of freedom as we have known it inevitable?

Yes, unless we get off the road we are on – and fast. The history of the world shows that freedom is fragile and fleeting. Most Americans take it for granted. Previous generations have made most of the major sacrifices necessary for birthing it and maintaining it. This one has not done the heavy lifting. But that’s about to change.

Either we prepare to lay it all on the line – risking our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor – or we will be remembered as the generation that exchanged liberty for chains.”

Amen, amen, and amen.

Thankfully, the battle is not over. After Christmas, the Senate and House health care bills will have to be reconciled–which will not be easy. But the bribes will be ready, and the power brokers may once again turn deaf ears to the American people who elected them.

We must rise up as free men and women and cast off the noose of tyranny in our generation. As Thomas Jefferson rightly stated: “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” We need to fight in fervent prayers to God (this is a spiritual battle at its roots), through public opinion in our neighborhoods and townhalls, and at the ballot box in 2010 and 2012.

I suggest we take our marching orders from the fifth stanza America’s national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner. Francis Scott Key wrote these memorable words:

 

“And thus may it be when free men shall stand.

Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation.

Blessed with victory and peace, may the heaven rescued land

Praise the power that blessed and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must when our cause it is just.

And this be our motto–In God is our trust!

O say does that star spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

 

Maybe we should start singing verse five at every sporting and in every classroom in America. With God’s help, it can become our future if we pray, act, vote, and believe.