Well, Amanda and I went to our state's Capitol to express our outrage over the uncontrollable spending happening in Washington.
I knew it was going to be a good event when we showed up and the speaker/organizer said that we were going to start the way our forefathers started their Continental Congress meetings: with a Benediction. The prayer asked for strength, courage, and the will to stand up for and protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. The gift given to us through our founding fathers and which 21 generations of Americans have faithfully fought to defend. As the man led us in prayer, the moment hit (if you've experienced it before, you know exactly what I'm talking about) and tears uncontrollably ran down my cheeks from behind my sunglasses. Why? Because deep inside, my soul knew that he was speaking truth. First and foremost, we need to hit our private closets of prayer and petition the Almighty on behalf of our nation and our future.
One of the speakers mentioned something that really startled me. Since 1974, 94% of incumbant politicians (National Politicians) are reelected at every election. In 2006, Congress had a 16% approval rating, yet 94% were reelected, in 2008, Congress had a 9% approval rating, yet 96% were reelected. How does this happen? His answer was that politicians found a way to give money to special interest groups in form of Earmarks. Those interest groups then donate to the politician's campaign... a vicious cycle.
In all this, the focus for the night was getting back to the Constitution. The framers of our Constitution were godly men. If you haven't, read David McCullough's 1776, it is an account of the Revolution from the diaries of these men. Some of the excerpts will touch your soul so profoundly.
I knew it was going to be a good event when we showed up and the speaker/organizer said that we were going to start the way our forefathers started their Continental Congress meetings: with a Benediction. The prayer asked for strength, courage, and the will to stand up for and protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. The gift given to us through our founding fathers and which 21 generations of Americans have faithfully fought to defend. As the man led us in prayer, the moment hit (if you've experienced it before, you know exactly what I'm talking about) and tears uncontrollably ran down my cheeks from behind my sunglasses. Why? Because deep inside, my soul knew that he was speaking truth. First and foremost, we need to hit our private closets of prayer and petition the Almighty on behalf of our nation and our future.
One of the speakers mentioned something that really startled me. Since 1974, 94% of incumbant politicians (National Politicians) are reelected at every election. In 2006, Congress had a 16% approval rating, yet 94% were reelected, in 2008, Congress had a 9% approval rating, yet 96% were reelected. How does this happen? His answer was that politicians found a way to give money to special interest groups in form of Earmarks. Those interest groups then donate to the politician's campaign... a vicious cycle.
In all this, the focus for the night was getting back to the Constitution. The framers of our Constitution were godly men. If you haven't, read David McCullough's 1776, it is an account of the Revolution from the diaries of these men. Some of the excerpts will touch your soul so profoundly.
The thing that I'm realizing in all this is that the Republican Party has failed us. I have been attending monthly gatherings with the Monroe County Republicans and in talking with them, their agenda has come out. They say that Conservatism doesn't win elections and that we had that for 8 years with Bush and that John McCain was more of the same. WHAT?!?!?! Wait, Bush was a Conservative?!?! That's news to me. Bush was just Right of Moderate with a Big Government Agenda. Don't get me wrong, I loved the guy and I think he was a far better choice than either Gore or Kerry! But he was not a Conservative... and no, John McCain was certainly not a conservative either... We haven't seen a Conservative President since Ronald Reagan. *getting back on topic* Monroe Count Republicans say that if we want to win elections we need to be centrists... we need to move to the middle. *shakes head in frustration* this is where I become disheartened and wonder what happened to this country. Personally, and especially with the strong support from Tea Parties that happened at over 2000 locations across the US today (and one in Copenhagen, Denmark), the Republican Party may be crashing soon... and all those Linguini Spined moderates too afraid to stand for an issue will have to choose... left or right. A new party will rise up and actually represent the people of this country-- for now, I'm calling it the Constitution Party.
The cool thing about tonight is that while we didn't throw-out and replace 535 politicians in Congress, we demonstrated that in 2010 and 2012, The Silent Majority has woken up and we will hold people accountable.
No comments:
Post a Comment