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?