A Dixie Carpetbagger

This isn’t the end.  The end was passed a long time ago.  This is simply the epilogue.  – Robb Allen

Please note: there is quite a bit more, after the break.  Just didn’t want to throw all this up onto the front page…

(Courtesy Weasel Zippers)

(Courtesy Wyatt Earp)

So, ObamaCare passed the House, 219-212.  De Tocqueville was right… “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”

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Robb points out the hypocrisy of Bart Stupak.  One of the talking points repeated ad nauseam was “Jesus would be for socialized healthcare!”  Well, let’s look at the Master’s parable, shall we?

And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?  He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?  And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.  And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.  But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?  And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,  And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.  Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?  And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.  (Luke 10:25-37, KJV)

To recap: a man falls upon a hard spot, and officials of his government not only fail to help him, but ignore him.  The only help the man gets is from a private citizen who belongs to  a despised and disparaged social group.  (Notice that the Jewish lawyer cannot even bear to say “Samaritan,” but says “he that showed mercy.”)  Remind me again why this is a parable used to promote government aid?

To quote Wyatt Earp (from the link above): “You alleged Catholics barely flinched when you heard that the bill would include public funding for abortions, as if the Church was suddenly okay with that.”  You know, I wonder if Stupak and Pelosi would even flinch if they were excommunicated.  I’m guessing not– they’ve sold their soul, so they don’t have any fear for it.  Yeah, Stupak sold out for less than a million dollars– if the “Louisiana Purchase” was 30 pieces of silver, that makes Stupak’s Folly… a few denarii or so?

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But hey, as Uncle points out, I now own your ass.  In the interest of public health, there will no longer be any products containing tobacco, alcohol, or caffeine sold in the U.S.  There will be no premarital sex, and no sex period without a condom.  Also, since more people die from lack of exercise than from car wrecks, each morning, you will muster in your community for 30 minutes of supervised P.T.  Enjoy your morning jerks, comrades.  (Man, it’s like Orwell and Rand had a love child– not only is everybody enslaved to everybody, Big Brother’s like a demented Richard Simmons!)

Good luck on finding a doctor, though.  Via Robb: “My client is a healthcare company. [...] … we expect to lose about half the doctors before 2014.”  You know, there is… err, was… a reason Canadians traveled to the U.S. for care.  More diagnostic tools, more doctors, more testing labs… but that’ll change.

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Robb points out that this was never about health care but about health control.  Yes.  This was about using those who can be easily bought to buy even more people, and control (or destroy) the rest.  Notice how many people are bragging about how their premiums will be lower now?  “Man, I can get coverage now, even though I’m an obese alcoholic drug addict who has unprotected sex with lepers!  All for only a few hundred a month!  YES I CAN!”

Now, most of us can work from that statement to figure out how this is going to be bad for pretty much everybody… but I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that not many Obama voters read this blog.   Most of us can tell when that breadcrumb has a hook through it.  To quote Rep. Dingell:

Let me remind you this [Americans allegedly dying because of lack of universal health care] has been going on for years. We are bringing it to a halt. The harsh fact of the matter is when you’re going to pass legislation that will cover 300 [million] American people in different ways it takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people.

(Italics mine, emphasis Robb’s.)  All insurance coverage is equal– some will be more equal than others.

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From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.

(Via Kevin Baker)

Sunday night, a friend and I had a conversation about the life cycle of empires.  They begin as federations, then build into republics, begin slipping downhill to democracies, then become oligarchies, and finally end up and totalitarian states… right before they collapse.  The collapse always comes because the solid members of society get overwhelmed by those with ambition and hunger.  Rome had Nero and Caligula, we have Reid and Pelosi.

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But the beauty of the power hungry is that they’re usually… well, not subtle.

Apparently, some congresscritter was bribed with my money to change his vote. The supposed will of the people, bought and paid for with the people’s money. Every poll I read said the majority opposed the bill, it was just a matter of degree. At the current rate, Washington will soon be as financially bankrupt as it is morally.  — Uncle

Obamacare passed not because it reforms the health care system and reduces costs—it will create trillions in debt—but because of backroom deals, bribery, arm-twisting, deceptive accounting schemes, and outright lies from the majority party.  — Confederate Yankee (Via Cocked and Loaded)

Fortunately, the welfare state that we have inherited is visibly bankrupt in more than one way. Medicare in its current form is unsustainable; Social Security is no longer viable. The cohort of retirees is growing ever larger, and they live on and on. The cohort of those within the work force is not growing at a faster rate. Taxes can perhaps be raised but if they are raised too much they will choke off investment, get in the way of economic growth, cease to bring in the revenue requisite for supporting our entitlement programs.  — Paul A. Rahe

The left has painted this country into a corner– having promised everyone the moon, they now have to promise the moon and stars, and hope the bill never comes due.  The problem is that there is no such thing as a free lunch.  If I have 100 fig trees, and Uncle Sam takes 99 of them to try and give everyone their own, eventually I’ll just cut down the bloody thing and go on government fig stamps.  Leftist societies work until the productive tire of the unproductive.

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So, what does this mean to us?

A government creating a dependency on a significant portion of the population. This, folks, is the issue. And they’ve done it before with Social Security and Medicare. They’re creating a group beholden. A group that will vote a certain way or risk losing benefits.  — Uncle

Now get to work – there is a 500 lb. woman with diabetes somewhere out there in this great country of ours, eating half a birthday cake and smoking her fifth menthol of the day, worrying about her healthcare. You don’t expect her to pay for it, do you?  — Breda

I keep hearing about how this DeathCare deal will be the end of the Democrats in November. I cannot think of a single reason why that should matter, and there are many why it doesn’t. (For instance: when this thing is in the bag and done, who do you think is going to come along and take it all apart? Like Medicaid, for instance? {snort} Stop with the comedy, already. You will go to your grave carrying this rock.)  — Billy Beck

Those of you hoping that this will lead to some glorious GOP revolution in November, I’ve got one word: STOP. Ain’t gonna happen. 98% of the American public will have forgotten all about healthcare reform by November; hell, by the time the November election rolls around, the people will have forgotten the damn World Series.  –  Jay

But can you honestly tell me, looking me as close to in the eyes as one can on the internet, that the majority of Americans throughout the country actually care any more? Oh, sure, we care, but how many of us are there? How hard will we be to marginalize? How many people are actively interested in stopping us, much less simply do not care either way?  — Linoge

Our Senate is notably corrupt; the Executive rules by decree. Crowds protest and are ignored or slandered. We are living in one of those times of which historians, safe within their carrels, will write with glee. They’re no fun at all to live through.  — Roberta X

The dems are excited because this means that though in the short term, they’re all going to lose their cushy jobs, in the long term, America just took  another giant leap toward socialism.  However, since none of them can do math, they’ve set us up for an epic collapse before we even make it that far.  I have no idea what is going to happen.  — Larry Correia

Okay, so we’re screwed.  Doomed, our fate is sealed, etc., etc., right?  Not so fast…

There is nothing wrong with our current Constitution. Sure, I could see a couple of changes that would help with the “slapping down – hard” bit, but the problem isn’t with the document – it’s with US, the populace. Maybe it’s the side-effect of affluence, maybe it’s the clever plan of Rousseau’s followers, but this nation is no longer populated with a culture “born to freedom.” We’re now born to a cult of material well-being. Freedom is dangerous. Freedom is scary. Freedom is hard. We’re too comfortable to want that anymore, so we’re giving it up. Our culture has become the equivalent of the 35 year-old still living in his parent’s basement – we’re getting a Nanny State because that’s what too many of us want for the rest of us to be able to stop them.  — Kevin Baker

We are AMERICANS goddamnit. We are the posterity of Patrick Henry, Chuck Yeager, Carlos Hathcock, George Patton, Daniel Boone, Buzz Aldrin, Chesty Puller, John McClane, Frank Fletcher, Thomas Edison and George Washington and countless other hardass shitkickers who stared down tougher opponents than Nanci Pelosi. Repealing this half-assed bullshit bill is going to be damn near impossible, but #DEITY put Americans on earth to do the impossible.  — PDB

And Breda has an inspirational video mashup.

And a few members of the GOP are starting to look… (gasp) almost libertarian.

Via Lagniappe’s Guy

Via Sebastian

Inured to the criticisms of protests throughout our recent history by groups such as ELF, NOW, G8 protesters, Cindy Sheehan, John Kerry, and others like them, Washington has become “hard-wired” and predisposed to dismiss any opposition from common protesters, the rabble from the street.

Note to Washington: That was your first mistake.  — USCitizen

Some folks seem to be skeptical of the notion that the GOP will roll back ObamaCare. I’m skeptical too, because they’ve shown little inclination to dismantle federal leviathan when they were in power. But why does it have to be that way? I don’t think this is like the seasons, the tides, and the waxing and waning of the moon. Big government is not a force of nature. If the people really decide they are sick of it, it can be changed. It won’t be quick, and it definitely won’t be pretty, but it’s not impossible.  — Sebastian

Sebastian has a series of posts on what can be done going forward here, here and here.  Short version– get involved.

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So, now for my take.  (Hey, otherwise this would be just a really long post full of other people’s stuff, right?)

We’re in a tight spot.  There are only two paths forward– either the pro-liberty forces win, or the nanny-staters do.  It’s that simple.  Which box (soap, jury, ballot, ammo) is used has no bearing on the binary options here.  One side will win, one side will lose.  As a Christian, I know that the forces of good and righteousness win in the end… but I’d rather enjoy my time in this world, and I also have a duty to be a watchman, and sound the alarm.

This bill has the potential to break the very foundations the Republic was built on.  Personal responsibility, charity, self-determination… pretty much all gone.  Don’t like (your choice(s)- abortions, promiscuous sex, drug use, alcoholism, tobacco use, obesity, etc.)?  Tough, it’ll be covered, and you’ll help pay for it.

The first indication of which path gets taken (upward to the stars or back down into the swamps) will come in the next few months– if the rhetoric of the left falls on deaf ears, we have a chance.  If the talking points find traction… abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

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And now, to play you out with humor.

Linoge points out that Carter is now no longer the worst President.  Crap.

Cemetery shows us who Nancy reminds him of.  (Shudder)

And, my motivational addition: