By
Herbert London
FamilySecurityMatters.org
The beginning of Spring 2010 marks an historic
moment in American history: A nation organized as a republic is being
transformed into a tyranny. The health care bill that has been bruited
over for weeks will be law of the land giving Washington D.C. control of
one-seventh of the national
economy.
More significantly, this act violates the
Constitution in several critical ways. All Americans will have to obtain
health
care
insurance
whether they want it or not. The act also forbids repeal.
By any measure this is a coup d’ etat, with
the administration employing a combination of threats and blandishments
to achieve its revolutionary goals.
Supporters will argue, of course, that this act
universalizes
healthcare and that detractors are
exaggerating its effect. But it should be noted that the cost will be at
least a trillion
dollars
and perhaps twice that sum if CBO estimates are relied on. These costs
are on top of the accumulated
debt
that has reached unparalleled proportions in the last year.
Moreover, this bill is being imposed on the
American people who oppose the legislation by margins between 60 and 70
percent. It would seem that proponents are driven by an ideological
fervor that is resistant to public opinion. If the Tea Partiers have any
traction it is largely because of the left’s overreaching. The public
seemingly understands what many in the Congress do not. Personal freedom
– the ability to choose a physician and select appropriate treatment if
it is needed – will be imperiled. A bureaucrat will have the latitude to
determine your fate which means rationing is the inevitable outcome.
Charles Eliot Norton,
19th century author, sounded the clarion call for our own time when he
wrote in True Patriotism, “The voice of protest, of warning, of
appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and
drum,
echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall
in and keep step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command.
Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be
silent.”
Should Americans awaken from their slumber
they will realize – I believe – that their most valuable possession, the
liberty the Founders conferred, has been taken away from them in a
coercive effort to make citizens slaves of the state or, at the very
least, dependent on the state. This is the time to shout from the
rooftops, “We won’t take it anymore.”
As I see it, the very fabric of society is being
shattered with legislation that materially changes the way we live. Walt
Whitman wrote: “…if the people lose their roughness and spirit of
defiance – Tyranny may always enter – there is no charm, no bar against
it – the only bar against it is a large resolute breed of men.” I would
add that a state so expansive it cannot recognize its natural and
Constitutional limits ultimately transforms freedom into tyranny even if
this is not the initial intent. That explains why the Founders
constructed a limited
government based on the recognized
fallibility of human nature. They realized that the tyranny they opposed
and fought against can emerge from within through an emboldened
government that believes only it knows what is best for the governed.
It would appear that the administration does
not appreciate the fact that unlimited power invariably corrupts the
mind of those who possess it. This is the place where the rule of law
succumbs to the pressure of despotism. And whether recognized by all or
not, healthcare is the wedge that is altering America.
In 1776 Thomas Paine wrote, “These are the
times that try men’s souls.” Alas, 2010 is a time, not unlike the
American Revolution, when our national soul is on trial and the very
liberty we were enjoined to defend is slipping away from our grasp. The
left argues that healthcare is a calamity, a crisis of unusual depth,
but as history notes “necessity” is usually the justification for every
infringement of liberty. Necessity is the argument of tyrants; the creed
of the despondent.
How the nation responds to this government
overreaching remains to be seen. But it is not an exaggeration to
suggest the future of the republic may depend on that response.