The tide is turning in this country. The opinion polls have been turning towards the points of view we hold and they continue to push higher as long as the force of "change" without reason or sense push against us. Like the tide, as the moon moves against us, we shall gain momentum, force and mass, as the oceans of reason and freedom follow us to rise up to meet the pull of the moon. If we are successful, if we can defeat cap and trade, the health care bill, and any future calls for a second stimulus package, where will we lay? Will we be the high tide that crested, and, successful in encroaching new ground, draw back to the sea? Will we lap at the edges of the land we fought for, neither gaining nor losing ground? Or are we capable of moving past the shore, sweeping the land?
I use these metaphors for specific reasons. Many of those involved in this movement were not interested in politics until recently, many do not know how the political system operates, many do not know history, and many formed an organization only to ask what they should do. Many have called in to Glenn Beck's show asking what is next? This shows that the wave has a sort of mass direction without focus.
Back to the metaphors. Waves have happened in the past against the force of government. They have lapped back away from the shore, satisfied that it went far, but not too far, and letting the shore advance against them, just as Louisiana has surrendered land to the sea each year. When FDR did the New Deal, World War II stopped him, and only that. When LBJ started the Great Society, we fought back, but it advanced. It has advanced again under Barack Obama and President Bush in TARP and the stimulus bills. In truth, it has advanced under every president, even Reagan, though he fought more than most, not despite our resistance, but more often than not, underneath it.
If we are successful, what next? Can a group that gets offended by being called conservative or republican or democrat still cohesively defend against the threat of government expansion? Can it hope to move it back? Can we push government to the ideals we seem to hold true together now or of limited interference? Or is it limited spending? Or limited now vs. the past?
We sit without definition or purpose, because, in truth, we are reacting. We can be more. We can define ourselves and become the free men and women we once were.
We stand at the precipice of the only sort of revolution that occurs without violence, the movement of democracy, and to have as a goal the return of the principles we began with. We are unique in history because of this. We face an administration that duplicates the past.
We need to be prepared for what is next, win or lose, and this is where we will be defined.
I use these metaphors for specific reasons. Many of those involved in this movement were not interested in politics until recently, many do not know how the political system operates, many do not know history, and many formed an organization only to ask what they should do. Many have called in to Glenn Beck's show asking what is next? This shows that the wave has a sort of mass direction without focus.
Back to the metaphors. Waves have happened in the past against the force of government. They have lapped back away from the shore, satisfied that it went far, but not too far, and letting the shore advance against them, just as Louisiana has surrendered land to the sea each year. When FDR did the New Deal, World War II stopped him, and only that. When LBJ started the Great Society, we fought back, but it advanced. It has advanced again under Barack Obama and President Bush in TARP and the stimulus bills. In truth, it has advanced under every president, even Reagan, though he fought more than most, not despite our resistance, but more often than not, underneath it.
If we are successful, what next? Can a group that gets offended by being called conservative or republican or democrat still cohesively defend against the threat of government expansion? Can it hope to move it back? Can we push government to the ideals we seem to hold true together now or of limited interference? Or is it limited spending? Or limited now vs. the past?
We sit without definition or purpose, because, in truth, we are reacting. We can be more. We can define ourselves and become the free men and women we once were.
We stand at the precipice of the only sort of revolution that occurs without violence, the movement of democracy, and to have as a goal the return of the principles we began with. We are unique in history because of this. We face an administration that duplicates the past.
We need to be prepared for what is next, win or lose, and this is where we will be defined.
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