Did they really die for this?

I’m about halfway though the DVD set of the HBO series “John Adams” which my wife gave me for my birthday a few weeks ago.

As I watched an episode on Sunday after reading the news about the passage of the health care “reform” bill in the House – the legislation with potentially the biggest impact on the lives of Americans of any piece of legislation in this nation’s post-Constitutional history yet passed with the vote of only one Republican – I asked myself “Did our Founders really fight and bleed and die for this?”

Did the signers of the Declaration of Independence pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor so that a nation of venal, handout-seeking, citizens and unions could, like leeches, suck the life blood out of the productive sectors of society, redistributing wealth in the name of “social justice”, all while having an understanding of what this nation represents and of the substance of policy issues so weak that their only defense is a political theory called “rational ignorance”?

Obviously, they didn’t. Madison and Jefferson wouldn’t recognize this country. Even Alexander Hamilton, the original champion of a national debt, would be shaking his head in disgust. Can you imagine what Samuel Adams would say as he looked at a bill which combines radical redistribution of wealth, interference with people’s ability to make their own health care decisions, and the insertion of dozens of government bureaucracies into the most personal and important aspects of our lives?

Of course, our politicians – especially but not exclusively the Democrats – are reprehensible embarrassments to the fundamental principles of this nation. It’s as if they’re not American. They might as well be French, with their embrace of socialism. They might as well be British, with their acceptance of political correctness. They might as well be Russian, with their hunger for control over citizens’ lives.

While in terms of political effectiveness, I recommend that Republicans focus relentlessly on jobs, and maybe not as much as I do on philosophy and history. But for those of you who do care about what this nation means, I encourage you to really think about such things and to try to get others to care as well. It’s an uphill battle, with a soft, non-self-reliant electorate who have come to expect and enjoy the Nanny State. We are undoubtedly living Atlas Shrugged, and the situation will probably have to get worse before it gets better.  If that’s what it takes, so be it.