4um: Where Were You When the Republic Died?

In November 2008, Americans elected a socialist as their president. In March 2010, they woke up stunned to find themselves living in a socialist country.

Health insurers - once private companies - are now organs of the federal government. Every citizen is a ward of the state, which can now compel you to have insurance; punish you if you don't; determine if your insurance is acceptable; punish you if it isn't. Thousands of new federal bureaucrats will soon spill from the D.C. Beltway and flood the country, scrutinizing our finances to verify compliance with this new law.

A government that grants itself this kind of power over us can conceivably do anything to us. For our own good, of course. Such a country is in no meaningful sense "free."

And this is only the beginning. Liberals are salivating in contemplation of all the fanciful window trimmings that can in the future be hung from this legislative framework. Public option will soon appear as prelude to single payer, as was the intent all along. Soon, Americans won't even have the illusion of a choice - the government will move from subsidizer to provider, and it will be the only game in town.

So what's next? Some look to the states as possible saviors. Please. The states long ago surrendered their sovereignty, and are now junkies on federal monies, which they need for schools, roads, Medicaid, and much else. If the citizens are now wards of the federal government, the states long since preceded them in that sorry servitude.

The individual? What are we going to do, not pay the taxes to support this beast? Oh, they'll take that from you before you ever get your check; we gave them that power to them long ago, remember. March on Washington, en masse? Lot of good that's done thus far.

The Republicans? Assuming the GOP can take back both houses of Congress and the White House in the next couple of elections (by no means a sure thing), can you name one gigantic entitlement enacted by liberals that Republicans have successfully repealed? Or even made serious effort to repeal? Ever? Anyone?

The Courts? Sure, maybe Obamacare will work its way through the courts, and maybe the Supreme Court will finally take up the case (there is no guarantee of that, remember), and maybe the Court will not have tilted left by then, and maybe the Justices will declare it unconstitutional. Then what? Who will enforce this decision? Obamacare is already unconstitutional on its face, and yet is the law of the land. Do you think the Democrats will say, "Oh, all-right, never-mind," and cheerfully strike it from the books after their successful five-decade long crusade?

And even if a court challenge is eventually successful, how much of the bureaucracy will by then already be in place, how many of the thousands of new regulations already in effect, how much of the billions in new taxes and fines collected, how many jobs killed, how many middle class families addicted to the entitlement?

There's a reason Democrats were desperate to ram this through at all cost - once enacted, such things are all but perpetual. Former freedom-loving peoples begin to tell themselves it's really not so bad. Sure, government is forcing you to eat state-approved gruel, but hey, at least they hold the spoon, and they even pour a little sugar on top when you're good.

The worst part of watching the proceedings unfold on Sunday was the endless stream of commentators and pundits calmly discussing this bill as if it were just one more piece of bad legislation we will have to live under. In fact, what has transpired is nothing less than an overthrow of the old Constitutional order.

In 1776, the American Republic boldly announced its birth with the Declaration of Independence. In 2010, it quietly expired with a declaration of dependence - on government, on entitlement, and on the Democratic party.

I was at the Roseburg, Oregon VA with a friend who is also a veteran and needed a ride to the emergency room for treatment.

Yes, ironic indeed. Helping someone who couldn't help himself. You were kind to volunteer your service. Big Government will now take your place.

I am a volunteer DAV driver anyway, so if I'm not doing anything and someone has gas money and is a friend I'll run them down there.

They plan on building a new Veteran's hospital in Eugene to replace the old one in Roseburg which was built in 1934 and originally was named, "the Oregon Old Soldier's Home."

"You've got to put right and wrong above legal and illegal. Because when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty; and it is not rebellion at all, it is submission to the higher law that our government is in rebellion to. We're not the rebels, they're the rebels."

I've thought about how people like us use the word Americans of late. I'm reaching the conclusion "Americans" are individuals in most cases with different needs and wants. Most come from different cultures. We "Americans" have no business calling the land we live in the United States. More accurately, the USA has dissolved and we all live in an area of North America formerly known as the United States. It will only return if constitutionalists can repel the welfare state recipients. The odds of that happening are slim, but I'm not saying there won't be an attempt. As the Chinese say, we live in interesting times.

The system is owned and operated by the few as you know, the masses are too ignorant to realize they are PROGRAMMED. One hundred and thirty million patriotic "voters" trekked to the polls and did their duty.

Therefore it will be left for the masses to wallow in their own ignorance, it will once again be the few at the bottom that forcibly make changes. Just as theRevolution and Civil War.

In that vein, the "masses" have the opportunity next November to turn out the entire membership of the House. Top to bottom, all could be gone.

That safety valve was written in by the founding Fathers in lieu of term limits. The masses would have their local representatives on a short two year leash.

What do we have??? We have members spending 50 years in the same seat, a lifetime. The masses are programmed, the few are not and will make the change, one way or another.

The Republic died in 1865 when the states lost there ability for self determination. Socialism came upon us with the income tax and the ability of the government to "steal" from one individual in order to "give" to another. Fascism came upon us when the government decided that it could dictate to private enterprise how they had to run their private business. No...we are in the full blown throws of the implementation of Communism...where the government owns it, and controls it. This is what happens when people continue to vote for the lessor of 2 evils...they still get evil. And there are STILL people that believe the Republicans are the answer to what we face...people need to wake-up and realize the globalist/corporate takeover of this country has happened with the blessings of both parties. BOTH PARTIES!

Oh, I'm there. I'm prepared and ready. I'm honestly shocked I reached this age, so anything beyond is gravy. This summer our side and the Left will meet in the street. You can take book on that.

Agree. People like us aren't "tea party" folk. They're a political decade behind us.

The masses have had their way for nearly 100 years when it comes to voting, with that, we can all see the results.

Just as last time, they voted for MORE war, MORE control each and every time, they have voted themselves the nanny state, a lifetime of parental care.

To expect a return to free life and liberty, to spring from the voting masses, is beyond their mental grasp.

Go back to 1787, there was one thing that the majority of the founding Fathers feared, quite openly, that someday some how, the masses MIGHT gain control.

How right they were, with exception to one caveat, the masses are indeed in control, however they are totally controlled by a tiny minority of the elite.

The Fathers never envisioned an elite few controlling the masses, that was beyond their imagination.

The Fathers were mostly good men, risking their lives and fortunes for the future, they were the elite.