The emergence of a ruling class

It became clear to me today.

The media are missing a significant piece of the puzzle when it comes to covering what is happening across the United States. They cover the town halls and demonstrations in sound bites, moving quickly to elite panel discussions of how rude and discourteous taxpayers are being to their elected representatives, how this rudeness does not advance true discourse, how they are ruining their own arguments because no one can hear above the screaming, how the rudeness perhaps masks racism against the President of the United States.

Well, fine. Washington's not been listening anyway. That's why we're screaming. What have we got to lose, at this point?

The truth is this: we're not just protesting the government takeover of health care.

We're protesting the blatant and audacious emergence of a ruling class.

We don't like it. It is un-American. And unconstitutional.

Those of us who are conservative, a MAJORITY in this country, by our very nature do not protest. We do not get into people's faces. We do not march on Washington.

In the past, we didn't anyway.

We just paid the bills, made the mortgage on time, rolled our eyes when we saw healthy young couples buy steak with food stamps, groaned when we paid our taxes every spring and pursed our lips as we watched liberals try to steal God from every nook and cranny of our lives.

Some of us voted for the first black president, gladly and with great hope.

Many of us voted reluctantly for a so-called maverick, who seemed to be more of a tool of the left than a guard of principles and conservatism, labeled a maverick only because he sided too eagerly with the left at times. We tolerated him, held our noses and went ahead and voted for him. Some of us stayed home.

It's true that 9/11 changed us. It struck deep in the hearts and minds of people who love this country.

Many young people responded to an enemy who threatens to swallow our way of life, who hates everything about us: our way of life, our love of country, our clothing, our music and, most of all, our religion. The young people see and understand the threat.

But still we did not stand up to the emerging ruling class. We hung flags, sent packages to our brave ones overseas, quietly went about our business sporting our patriotic bumper stickers and t-shirts, paid the bills and hoped for the best.

So why did the tea parties begin? What happened that snapped the attention of so many traditionally mute, law-abiding citizens?

I was talking to a liberal friend of mine one day and mentioned that I had attended a tax day tea party. He mocked me and sneered, "Nobody's raised taxes! You don't even understand the history of our country. You're protesting something that hasn't happened yet."

Ironically, President Bush is the one who started this revolt with the stimulus package.

"It must be done now!" they cried. "We must hire this [tax cheat] to run our finances and we must spend 200, 400, no EIGHT HUNDRED BILLION dollars to shore up our economy."

And where will we get this money?

Why, we'll print it, of course.

In circulation at the time this demand was made was $800 billion.

Breathtaking.

On April 15, 2009, we knew that the taxes we were paying now are only the beginning. And the economy is resting on lacy porous bones.

We watched as Washington appointed dozens of czars outside the purview of any watchdog or accountability, had staffers write thousands of pages of legislation in the most obtuse language they themselves refused to read, and rammed it all through as quickly as possible before we could put down our cheese sandwiches and reach for the phone.

We watched as billions of dollars were thrown at companies with connections, while local auto dealers who had faithfully served their communities were cut off, bankrupted; we watched while people who had bought houses they couldn't afford were rewarded, and people who ran up credit card charges in excess of $10,000 were bailed out by our tax dollars. Why do I pay my mortgage, we asked.

The ruling class flies around the world on important missions, such as investigating global warming, in jets that spew thousands of gallons of fuel into the atmosphere, and ride around in their SUVS and limousines while advising us, the little people, to unplug our phone chargers from the wall and ride bicycles to work.

We watched while they voted each of their offices another $92,000 apiece in "petty" cash.

We watched their carefully staged and choreographed events whose purpose was to delude us into believing that things were all good, that everyone was in on the gig, that all change was good and that hope was still in store even as billions of dollars were routed toward crooked groups like ACORN and union thugs took over the once thriving auto industry. Under investigation in a dozen states, these groups are privileged recipients of our hard earned dollars, dollars representative of the time it took us to earn them., our lives.

So the cracks began with the stimulus package, which had even liberal taxpayers saying, "Gee, lots of earmarks in that package."

Regardless of the will of the people, the sneering ruling class patted themselves on the back, celebrated with raised glasses and rushed the bill through with an urgency that was so immediate that, say, a President would surely sign it immediately when it hit his desk, rather than take his wife out to dinner in Chicago first.

Oh, wait.

Then they went to cap and trade. Billions and billions of dollars in taxes, regulations and restrictions in the way we live our lives. A few of us caught on, and we jammed the switchboards in Washington.

To no avail.

But then they reached too far. They reached directly into our daily lives to our health care.

Why? Because they could. And because this way they can complete the cycle of social engineering that is at the root of these legislations.

You're dumb for thinking government health care will end in euthanasia, they said, even though that is happening in Europe and the state of Oregon and the government is planning to meet with seniors every 5 years to discuss their end of life plans (hint hint).

You're deceived if you think government health care will lead to more abortions, even though it's in the bill.

You're a tool of the Republican party, the ruling class declared, as if those nitwits are organized enough to get THOUSANDS of people out for rallies for the Constitution and town hall meetings. Ha. Can you imagine?

They mocked us by saying, "But if you're on Medicare, you're already on government health care and SEE? It's not so bad." Yeah, except we heard you want to partially dismantle Medicare to pay for this other BIG government boondoggle. And many of us use Medicare as supplemental, not primary, insurance.

You're being foolish, they said, if you believe that health procedures will be limited or controlled under government health care.

Except that the whole point of government health care is to save money, isn't it? ISN"T IT? And how do you do that without cutting?

By building parks and controlling our diets so we can all be physically fit and not get sick anymore? Those millions of baby boomers who are going to be taking their places as senior citizens will need to be supported by the younger workers in our society and you're going to CUT the costs of health care when they emerge on the scene as the largest segment of the population?

The President himself (or is it Himself) said you might be more comfortable taking a pain pill rather than having the procedure. His advisor, another Emanuel, believes health care should be determined by quality of life.

And who will determine that?

The ruling class doesn't want to drive out private insurance or tell you what doctor you must have, they claim, but it's too late. We're more informed than you are, we have YouTube now, and we've seen the President saying, with our own lyin' eyes, that the goal is universal single payer health care, yes, just like Canada, where you have to wait months to even get a doctor, where a movie star just died because they didn't have the equipment to handle her injury and where cats can get MRIs before people can.

We've had it.

Especially knowing YOU, the ruling class, will not even sign a commitment to enroll yourselves and your family in the same health care plan you want to herd all of us, the commoners, the peasants, the bourgeoisie, into.

So we took to the streets with our homemade (not mass produced) signs and our cheerful boos and our resistance to Nancy Pelosi's $550 million jets to sport her, the Democrats and the Republicans around the world and we started screaming, "Liar!"

We've been punched, slighted, abused, mocked and laughed at for believing in the founding principles of this country.

Last night even the beloved Charles Krauthammer said our noisy protests are losing the battle. That the ruling class is winning because we are so uncivil.

No, dear Charles, a paradigm shift is reorienting this country. We have had it, and we know no other way to protest than this. We're screaming because we AREN'T organized and being told how to do this.

We're screaming and booing because YOU AREN'T HEARING WHAT WE ARE SAYING. You won't listen beyond your talking points. Instead you hold "telephone conferences" for people you invite and then have the local newspaper print the results. What a joke.

You HAVE to say we are shills for some organization because you don't want to believe what's happening. You don't want to see that we aren't going back to the way it was and that scares the ruling class as much as 1789 France.

This country does NOT have a ruling class, no matter how much you cheat to make it so.

CAN YOU HEAR US IN THE BELTWAY NOW?

And, HEY, have you read the Declaration of Independence lately?

It's a pretty revolutionary document, ya know?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.