Leaving Lake View

My wife and I have lived in Lake View since August 2005. When we moved here, she had just started a job at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, and I was about to start graduate school at UA. We were fortunate to find a new house in a great location, with the best neighbors we could have asked for.

My wife left Children’s Hospital in the winter of 2008 to take a new job in Tuscaloosa, where I was already working for UA. After a year of commuting, we decided that we were tired of the drive, and we began looking around to see if there were any houses we liked in town.

In December 2009, we found a house that we both really liked, and we signed a contract to buy it—contingent on the sale of our house, of course. We listed our house with as low an asking price as possible, considering the market has been down—especially in our area. We waited patiently, but only a handful of people came to see it.

Last Tuesday, a couple from Birmingham came to see the house, and they took a second viewing on Friday. This weekend they made an offer, and we negotiated and reached an agreement. We signed a contract to sell our house today.

We will be leaving Lake View at the end of May and moving to Tuscaloosa. Unfortunately, this means that I will have to resign my seat on the Lake View town council. This was a tough decision to make, but ultimately it is the best decision for my family. I wish we could have done more to solve some of Lake View’s ongoing problems during my time on the council; I hope I will be able to continue to work to help the town in the future, even if it is in an unofficial capacity.

The Democrats fear for their safety

In the wake of their passage of ObamaCare™, it seems that a number of congressmen have had threatening phone messages from constituents or vandalism at their offices (or symbolic gestures like the coffin left at Russ Carnahan’s office). Some Democrats now say they are afraid for their safety. In the meantime, our Dear Leader president sounds as arrogant as ever, mocking opponents of the bill for “acting as if (it) would lead to ‘Armageddon.’”

I think it is a good thing that these tyrants are afraid. It’s about damn time they were afraid. They gallivant around Washington and spend our money like there’s no tomorrow, all the while looking down their noses at we “little people” in “flyover country.” They are the political elites, the ruling class, and they have believed for too long that they are better than us—that they are above us somehow. They are drunk on power, and they think they can do whatever they want without consequence. They ought to respect the people who put them in their positions; perhaps a little fear will lead to that respect.

I’m not advocating bloodshed, but I hope the people continue to voice their displeasure in no uncertain terms. As Sarah Palin said, “Don’t retreat…RELOAD!” Either these tyrants will get the message and start actually listening to their constituents, or they will find themselves cast out of the Capitol by the people’s pitchforks and torches (or perhaps rifles and shotguns).

On the current unpleasantness in D.C.

A few months ago, I said that the health care “reform” bill, if passed, could be the catalyst that leads to real change in our system of government. (What we have now is a perversion of what our founding fathers created; it needs radical change—indeed, it may need to be destroyed and reborn from the ashes.)

Little did we know the lengths to which our “representatives” in Washington would go in order to pass this terrible piece of legislation. What is happening on Capitol Hill right now is tyranny, plain and simple. Our Declaration of Independence stated:

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

I submit that the actions of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Louise Slaughter, and the rest of them are worse than anything that George III did to the Colonies. Certainly we the people have petitioned for redress repeatedly over the last several months, but our petitions have been ignored or answered with outright arrogance and contempt. Now these despots are changing their own rules in the middle of the game and completely ignoring the Constitution: they plan to “deem the Senate bill passed” without holding an up-or-down vote on it. And for what? Do they really think we are that stupid?

There was a time when men loved liberty enough that they would have given these tyrants the fate they deserve: their heads would be on pikes outside the Capitol, or they would hang from the trees on the National Mall.

Instead, the bill will likely pass. And what will happen in 2010 and 2012? Will the Republicans regain power and repeal the act? Not likely; if their candidates run on the premise of repealing the health care act, Democrats will do the same thing they’ve done for years with Social Security: use scare tactics. They’ll wail “Republicans are going to take away your health care!” Entitlements are nearly impossible to remove once they are enacted, and this is the biggest and most expensive entitlement of all.

Perhaps passage of the bill will act as the catalyst I referred to previously. Thirty-seven states have pending legislation that will require their attorneys general to sue the federal government if it requires the states’ residents to purchase health insurance, and Iowa just signed this into law.

But will any states go further? Many states have passed “sovereignty resolutions” over the past year, asserting their autonomy under the 10th Amendment. Will any threaten to secede? If a state does secede, will the federal government take any action?

If there were a legitimate threat of secession by any state, it might be enough for the federal government to begin reining itself in. Is there anything else, short of outright rebellion, that can stop the growth of this monster?

Only the good die young

A friend of mine, Matt Miller, passed away today. He was only 25, but he touched the lives of many people.

The "About Me" section on Matt's Facebook page said:

I strive to live life different. When I die I want people to say that I had a positive impact on the lives of the people that I came into contact with because I was willing to do things, say things, and give things other only dreamed about, and I want to have have fun while I do it.

I for one am sure that he succeeded. The world is worse off without him.

Godspeed, Matt.