Reminder

In a democracy, government is *US*. You and me. Not some foreign imposition upon us from outside. Not some alien invasion sucking our life-blood out. Government is We The People, you and I gathered together to provide for ourselves whatever services the free market for some reason will not or cannot provide us, services such as roads, public safety, or whatever else We The People decide needs be done collectively as a people rather than individually.

This is not some new concept. To quote some dead commie leftist: 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 of 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. And to quote another dead commie leftist: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. It is clear that these dead commie leftists believed that the purpose of government was to serve We The People -- all of us gathered together to tax ourselves and provide for ourselves what is necessary for defense of liberty and defense of life.

And of course, health care is one of those things. It wouldn't have occurred to the Founders to write health care into the Constitution because health care technology then was razors and leeches, neither of which is particularly expensive or requires a significant amount of society's resources to purchase. They did write post offices and highways into the Constitution, because they already had experience showing that private postal services and private highways did not serve the general welfare. But it is clear that if they had known that health care technology could advance to the point that 16% of the nation's GDP was going to health care, they would have had no problem with writing health care into the Constitution as one of the powers granted to government. Thomas Jefferson did not say that the Creator granted the right to life to only RICH people, after all. TJ said the Creator granted the right to life to ALL people. Not just those who can afford health insurance. Similarly, James Madison did not say that the purpose of government was to promote the general welfare -- the health and safety -- of only RICH people. He said that the purpose of our government was to promote the general welfare of We The People -- *all* of us.

So anyhow: That's democracy. And if we don't have democracy, we need to vote the bums out and vote new ones in -- ever single one of the bastards in Congress is there because somebody voted for them. That's the mechanism embedded in our Constitution for having revolutions, and it's happened twice in my very own lifetime, first when Ronnie Raygun came in with the Reagan Revolution that completely changed what the nation thought about the role and duties of government, and now, maybe, the Obama Revolution (but we'll have to see, neh?). We -- you and I -- have the ultimate power. We -- you and I -- have the power to show the bums to the door if they do not respect the wishes of We The People for universal healthcare for all Americans. The only question is, will we use this power? Or will we just continue being anesthetized sheeple bleating whatever our Party commissars tell is to bleat, regardless of whether it's in our best interests or not? Time will tell, hmm?

-- Badtux the Democracy Penguin