This is What Change Looks Like

I wasn't planning on posting again until Tuesday when I share the second installment about how we spend our liberty. But I've been sitting here staring at the television for the past little while, trying to manage the alternate emotions of anger, disappointment, and worry that are competing for domination in my mind as I absorb what happened in Washington D.C. today. I hope we are all astute enough to make note of today's date, March 21, 2010, because its the day everything changed. The effects of the passage of the healthcare bill may not be immediately apparent when we wake up tomorrow morning, but make no mistake, from this moment forward our country is fundamentally different than it was when we woke up this morning. This is not the begining of the transformation of our great land. The transformation has been underway for some time, but it is the day the momentum shifted in a significant degree away from the foundation laid by our forefathers under the inspiration of heaven. We will see, going forward, an acceleration of efforts to undermine liberty in our land, and history will record this day as the one when the crack in the dam became irreparable. In its zeal to "grant us rights", which it has no legitimate power to do, Congress has manufactured their own right to reach further into our lives and prescribe for us how we are to live it. Return to your seats and fasten your safety belts friends and neighbors, we're heading for some rough air.

I don't write this to be pessimisstic, although this certainly is one of the least positive moments since I became awakened to the need to take action in preserving freedom, but rather I write tonight to acknowledge and make note of the movement forward of troubles and challenges that have been prophesied for centuries. There is an even greater urgency now for good men and women to awaken and stand firm in defense of the liberty we enjoy in America. The outcome of the war has already been ordained. Liberty will prevail and our rights will ultimately be held inviolate. God's work for this land is not finsihed and will not be until the New Jerusalem is established and Christ returns to reign. Nevertheless, we will be required to pass through difficult terrain to ensure God's declared outcome. Winning a war does not mean that some battles will not be lost and casualties and hardships will be avoided.

I watched news coverage for as long as I could stand hearing Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama celebrate what they deem a victory for the American People, even though an overwhelming majority of Americans did not support passage of this legislation. It was all I could do to listen to Pelosi invoke the name of our founding fathers and proclaim that she was carrying on the tradition they started and building upon their foundation. But, there was one thing I heard in the Washington gloat-fest that does ring true. President Obama stated, "This is what change looks like."

So, friends and fellow patriots, now we know. This is what the change looks like that he has been promising since he first set his foot on the national stage. This is the change that created the ground swell that carried him into office. Let's take a quick look at this change:

- The legislation was passed through a controversial parliamentary tactic known as reconciliation. What was actually passed was a package to alter the law that would have been created by the Senate bill passed earlier, even though that bill was never signed into law.

- The Senate bill was only passed because of scurrilous backoffice dealings and bribery. This included unfair and immoral concessions given to individual senators in Nebraska, Louisiana, and elsewhere.

- The passage of today's legislative package was very unpopular among the American people, and was clearly not the will of the people. It was passed despite the voice of the people, because it was aligned with the agenda of a powerful few in Washington, not the good of the people or the American way.

- The healthcare package contains provisions completely unrelated to healthcare, which dangeroulsy empower the federal government. For instance, the bill changes the funding of higher education to now allow only the federal government to provide student loans for colleges and universities. Under this provision, the government will now determine who receives funds to go to college, the criteria upon which the funds will be distributed, the terms of the loan (debt to be waived if students participate in government sanctioned social programs and advance the social welfare agenda). Additionally, now the government will be able to determine what institutions the loan dollars can be used for. If the University does not conform curriculum, programs, and philosophy to the will of the state, they can be shut out from enrolling students who take out loans for their education.

- Politicians are attempting, with this bill, to do as they like and avoid all consequences. A great example is our despicable Rep. Jim Matheson in Utah. He magnanimously announced yesterday that he had finally decided to vote against the legislation. I had called his office earlier in the week and was told he was still undecided. As if anyone in elected office had not yet chosen a position in this epic debate and knew where they stood. But once Speaker Pelosi had convinced Rep. Stupak and his coalition to flip their votes in support of the package, and she no longer needed other so called moderate democrats to lend her their support, he attempts to take a "courageous" stand for what his constituents want. It is unsettling to see this kind of duplicity in those we've elected and empowered to represent us. A so called stand on principle once the Democratic leadership had determined they would not punish him for defecting, he thought he could then go back to the good people of his district and tell them he was voting the way they wanted him to. I pray people will not be deceived by this nonsense, which is happening across the nation.

So, in the immortal words of our illustrious leader, "This is what change looks like." I, for one, don't like the look of it.

Here's one last thing I saw on the Internet this evening that seems appropriate:

With his health care holy war, President Obama is sending America at least 10 messages since taking office:


1. I win; you lose.

2. My will; not the will of the people.

3. Government of Obama, by Obama, for Obama; not government of the people, by the people, for the people.

4. Corrupt House rules and autocracy; not play by the rules and democracy.

5. “I’ll tread on you” now steps on “Don’t tread on me.”

6. “I, the president”; not “We, the People.”

7. “All men are created equal” but I am more equal than others.

8. “The dissent of the president” overrules “the consent of the governed.”

9. “Give me tyranny and give me debt” replaces “Give me liberty or give me death.”

10. “That government is best which governs most” supersedes “That government is best which governs least.”