I've been reading Glenn Beck's book, "Common Sense", which is inspired by Thomas Paine's original work, published in 1776. I'll give a full review when I'm done reading Paine's original, but the jist of Beck's book is that the political establishment, made up of both parties, no longer serves the will of the people. Instead, they rely on the people being ill informed and they foster fighting between political parties, while they remake the country in tiny increments. These Progressives (in both parties) believe they are the "experts" who understand what is needed for the "greater good" and they push that, no matter what the majority of Americans believe.
(Author's Note 11:04 pm, 11/8/09: Due to a comment I received, I feel I should explain the prior paragraph. That paragraph is intended to be a description of how things run in Washington, and not a commentary on the American people. I do not believe that all Americans are ill-informed. In fact, I believe the American people are more informed right now than they have ever been...or at least in the last 100 years. This is the reason that health care wasn't rammed through in August, and why it still faces considerable challenges in the Senate.)
Regardless of your political party, I suggest you read "Common Sense" by Glenn Beck. I found it eye opening.
Here, we have another example of what Beck is talking about. The U.S. House passed Health Care Reform yesterday, 220 - 215. This is despite a Rasmussen poll showing 54% opposed to the Pelosi bill, while only 42% are in favor of it. This is despite town hall meeting after town hall meeting this summer where Americans voiced their displeasure with this. They did this even though thousands of people marched on the capital on Friday to protest this measure.
Our representatives have said "screw you American people, we know what's best for you...shut up and take it!" Well, the good news is all 435 of them are up for re-election next November, and it's time for a change. When they no longer remember who they work for, they no longer deserve to be our public servants in Washington. This link shows how your representative voted. Remember this come election time, get informed and use your vote to send a wake up call to Washington.
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5 comments:
So your argument is that because the Representatives voted for this bill they need to be removed from office because they betrayed the majority of the American people according to a poll and a few “town hall” meetings? Two issues (besides the fact that you purchased a Glen Beck book… it’s only true purpose should be as a door stop).
One, in your own post you suggest that, according to Beck, the government has relied on the American people to be ill informed. So the poll states that 54% of Americans oppose the bill, how informed are the people that were polled? If you (or Beck) truly believe that the American public is as ill informed, as you/he suggest, then what is the point of putting the statistic of a poll in your blog (not to mention in your past blogs you have posted that you do not trust polls)? Even if the poll was administered by and independent group it wouldn’t matter as they polled a bunch of ill informed people anyway.
Second, what if the Representative made the best judgment for his/her respected district? As far as I remember, a Representative did not need to heed to national polls when making their vote. So just because they may have made a vote that went against a national poll means they need to be removed from office? That seems a bit harsh, don’t you think? What if the constituents in a particular district are happy with the vote their Representative made even thought it went against a few national polls and a few people who made the national news at a “town hall” for being really angry? You have to remember that for every outburst at a “town hall” meeting, there were multiple people either in support or just seeking answers. Representatives do not need to vote nationally, they can focus on the good of their district…what if they fully believe they made the right vote for their district???
I believe that the ill here is the amount of people persuading the American people that they can not trust the government. When the trust is gone, what do you have? Even if you vote in a complete new group…how long before the trust is gone with them? It is an ongoing cycle that can not be stopped. Progressives/Liberals/Democrats and Conservatives/Republicans are not the problem. The problem is the political pundit. These people who spew misinformation and pass it off as news. These people who use inductive fallacy and pass it off as a deductive argument. We need to trust our government gain and need to stop listening to political pundits.
MCD
Thanks you MCD for your typical liberal progressive response (very condescending by the way). I expect you'll be the first in line to sign up for government run health care and pay higher taxes. You are an excellent example of how we got where we are now. Now lets hit the other typical aspects of your response:
1) You don't agree with Glenn Beck, so you put down his work and seek to have his book (i.e. his expression of free speech) relegated to door stop status. Glenn Beck wouldn't agree with you on anything, but he would never personally attack your work. The liberals fear of conflicting points of view never ceases to amaze me.
2) You put your faith in the gov't rather than the American people. I'll expand on this more in a bit.
3) You put down people who show up at town hall meetings and disagree with your point of view. It was more than a "few" town hall meetings. Many reps were refusing to hold town halls because they didn't want to deal with their constituents on this issue. Those people are guaranteed the same right to free speech as the GW Bush protestors I'm sure you applauded.
To address your points:
1) The poll is from Rasmussen who has been the most accurate poller in the last 2 election cycles. He has stated that his livelihood depends on him getting the polls right. So, while I generally don't trust polls, I do trust Rasmussen's poll to be right.
2) Americans are finally getting informed, and it scares our representatives (which you would know if you read the Glenn Beck book, or waited for my full review). The only reason that this vote didn't happen back in August is the fact that the Amercian people are beginning to break through the distraction and misinformation put out by both parties and the media and discover what is going on. I'm sure a frightening thought to you liberal progressives, as your ideas don't stand up to scrutiny or logic.
3) A Representative is completely within his/her right to make the best judgement for their district. That's guaranteed by our Representative Republic. But when their judgement is wrong or against the will of the people in their districts, they should lose their jobs. Sorry if that seems harsh. I care about my kids future and if my rep. is screwing that up, he should lose his job.
4) Finally, we don't need to trust our government. Our Founding Fathers didn't trust government, and repeatedly cautioned against an over reaching government. In fact, I would argue that the Founding Fathers set up the Constitution specifically because Government's cannot be trusted. The history of the world indicates Government's cannot be trusted. Eventually they all over reach. Power corrupts.
But you go ahead and bury your head in the sand. You put your faith in the government and trust that they will do what's right. But, don't belittle those who don't love what's going on right now, and are using our freedom of speech and eventually our vote to try to reverse the course that our country has been on for far too long.
I know this sounds like a harsh response, but I'm not going to apologize. I believe my country and my children's future is being destroyed because of the type of thinking displayed in your comment.
I will not be the fist in line to sign up for government run health care, as I am happy with what I currently have. But I like the face that everybody can get covered if they want to. As an example…I have a student that moved from Las Vegas to help his grandmother with her health care bills. She is old and has “preexisting conditions” that make health care complete affordable for her. So my student goes to school from 8:00am to 3:05pm and then works the night shift at Morrells from 5:00pm to 2:00am, just to pay for his grandmothers health care. If his grandmother could get on a healthcare plan (government or not) then he could dedicate his time to his studies, as a student should. Problem is that no private health care plan would even consider covering her- what options are left?
I won’t even comment on the Glen Beck junk. Plus, who is to say I did not read his book? You are assuming I didn’t. I read “Common Sense” in College…so I guess I don’t need to read that again.
I didn’t say that the poll wasn’t legitimate. It very well may be…I don’t care. My problem is that you say “people are becoming informed.” I ask, by who? Who are the people doing the informing? How reliable are these people doing the “informing”. Hek, I could spew out any information I want (even if it is uninformed) and SOMEBODY would believe me- epically if it is what they want to hear. $20 says that if I go into the hall right now and tell one student that we don’t have school tomorrow it would make its way around school by at least 1:30pm. It’s what the students want to hear- not what is true. They could care less what the truth is. That is what the TV and radio pundit is- the person going into the hall and telling a half truth or flat out lie to stir the emotions of their base group. What I don’t understand is that the base group falls for it every time hook, line and sinker? They don’t blink an eye, they say, “Yah, that must be true!” They hear what they want to hear- not caring what the truth is. Blindly the follow to wherever the pundit wants to take them. What is the driving force? Money! They aren’t out to save jack…if they did they would have a show, or couldn’t write books- their muse would be gone. There is always going to be something to say- the more outlandish the better as it equal more viewer ship/ listener ship in the show and more book sales. The more people listen the bigger and more outlandish the statements become and the viewer or listener anticipates it. You have to produce- you bank account relies on it. I once saw a statistic that stated the more popular a pundit is, the more often they are wrong. Put people keep listing and buying their junk because it is what they want to hear.
As a proud Liberal I am not frightened at all. I want people to be informed, the more information the better. I am worried about where this information is coming from however. It seems that the ones that shout and yell the most are getting the most attention- no matter their message.
How many “town halls” were you at? Did you go around and count the number of upset people over the number of supporters?
My faith and allegiance will always be with our government. If I don’t trust them, who am I going to trust and why would I live here? What you fail to realize is that the US Government IS the American people. “Of the people, but the people, for the people” if memory serves me right, that is written somewhere. I would argue that the founding fathers created the Constitution so the Government COULD be trusted. Why would you not trust the person you, yourself, voted into office? What good is a Government in which I can not trust? I don’t get it. What is the point of even having a Government then?
Just because I don’t see things your way doesn’t mean my head is in the sand. Sorry you feel that way.
MCD
You entire argument is hypocritical. Liberals trust the gov't now because they are in charge, but when GW was in charge, everything was a conspiracy or a lie. The sudden change of heart came b/c your guy is ruling the roost.
It's interesting how concerned you are about information sources now when your guy is in charge, but I heard nothing when GW was in charge and all the shouting was against him.
Trust only goes until someone betrays your trust. At that point, they have to earn it back. And I've seen nothing to earn it back.
Thanks for your comments. Even though they are wrong, they illustrate what we're up against. If you want, you can post another comment and have the last word. I've learned enough that I will never be able to change the opinion of someone who thinks like you do, so I will stop wasting my time.
Forgot 1 thing. A simple bill that addresses the pre-existing condition issue would have helped your student and his grandmother. We don't need a 1990 page bill to do that.
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