who we are

[rjj]

There seems to be a bit of confusion among Democrats about the nature of the opposition to their plans. Maybe I can help clear things up, by telling them a few things about us.

We’re not paid minions of any corporate interest or lobby. Most bloggers working to stop the Obama health-care disaster are like me, writing when they can find the time, because we care about the future of our country. The same is true of the people showing up at town hall meetings, and organizing rallies. Some of us are well-dressed in tailored suits. Others wear jeans and T-shirts. Most of us are dressed in what we wore to work.

Our support for a massive government program does not increase when you tell us we’re not allowed to ask questions about it.

We’re not racists. We’re also not racialists. We don’t think a wise Latina is inherently more qualified to do anything than a wise Asian woman, a wise white woman, or a wise white man. We’re tired of being fed excuses for high government offices staffed by anything but the best people for the job. There are too many high government offices, so we’d like some of Obama’s absurdly incompetent appointees to take their titles with them when they leave. We remember what it was like when we got rid of the Clinton mob, so we’ll be conducting inventories on the contents of those vacated offices, before we turn out the lights and pour cement in the locks.

We don’t like having to fight desperate battles to save our freedom and future from socialist politicians every ten or twenty years. We don’t like having our time wasted with trillion-dollar statist fantasies, when our government is already trillions of dollars in the red. We’re tired of checking the papers each day, to see which group of us has been targeted as enemies of the State. We’re growing impatient waiting for the Democrats to come up with ideas that don’t require their supporters to hate someone. We’ve had our fill of “progressives” who act as if we’re living in 1909, and none of their diseased policies have ever been tried before.

We believe government should be punished for failing to live up to the expectations of its citizens, not the other way around. We don’t think people who destroy thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in market value should get a pass because they meant well. We’ve had enough of dodging a massive State that wants to organize, subsidize, penalize, and divide us. We refuse to pay tithe to a religion we don’t support, including the official State religion of global warming. We demand honesty, humility, and transparency from our public servants, no matter how many elections they’ve won. We won’t settle for making the only important decisions about our futures in the voting booth, once every couple of years.

We don’t blame people for showing up to grab their share of a government handout. We blame the people who stole the money from the rest of us, and put it on the table for them. We don’t think respect for private property ends at a certain income level, or that only some people should be applauded for doing their best to get ahead in life. We believe in the power and righteousness of capitalism, the exchange of goods and services between free people acting in their own best interests. There is no moral substitute for it. Every other scheme for governing human affairs amounts to a few dominating some, to the applause of others. Our freedom is not for sale, and we reserve the right to defend it from theft.

We don’t invest our hopes in the government. It is beneath the dignity of free men and women to spend their days hoping a politician decides to provide for our needs. We face the future, not with passive and helpless “hope”, but with active and dynamic faith in ourselves, and our fellow Americans. We are opposed to a political class that tries to cultivate our hopes by showering us with fear. We don’t trust politicians with our fortunes, much less with our lives. In fact, we don’t trust politicians much at all… but we absolutely require them to trust us.

We do not regard America as the sole country on Earth that should be forbidden from taking pride in its history, traditions, and achievements. We reject the notion that celebrating our traditions is an automatic insult to anyone else. We owe absolutely no apologies to murderous dictators or unelected tyrants, and we care little for their feelings. We believe there are many lessons to be learned from our history, by all the people of the world, and we cannot teach those lessons if we allow ourselves to be shamed into silence. We will never hesitate to call evil by its proper name, or give evil men good reasons to fear us.

[toxigal]

plagarize much?

it was an interesting read but you didn't write it, did you?

[rjj]

plagarize much?

it was an interesting read but you didn't write it, did you?

it was sent to me by a friend, no source documented from him. i did not write it.

[toxigal]

it was sent to me by a friend, no source documented from him. i did not write it.

a simple google search does the job...

The Greenroom Forum Archive Who We Are

[Sailaway]

Regardless, it was an excellent piece, and so very true.

[rjj]

a simple google search does the job...

The Greenroom Forum Archive Who We Are

thanks, I really appreciate all of your concern & your help.

[EdMundo]

There seems to be a bit of confusion among Democrats about the nature of the opposition to their plans. Maybe I can help clear things up, by telling them a few things about us.

We’re not paid minions of any corporate interest or lobby. Most bloggers working to stop the Obama health-care disaster are like me, writing when they can find the time, because we care about the future of our country. The same is true of the people showing up at town hall meetings, and organizing rallies. Some of us are well-dressed in tailored suits. Others wear jeans and T-shirts. Most of us are dressed in what we wore to work.

Our support for a massive government program does not increase when you tell us we’re not allowed to ask questions about it.

We’re not racists. We’re also not racialists. We don’t think a wise Latina is inherently more qualified to do anything than a wise Asian woman, a wise white woman, or a wise white man. We’re tired of being fed excuses for high government offices staffed by anything but the best people for the job. There are too many high government offices, so we’d like some of Obama’s absurdly incompetent appointees to take their titles with them when they leave. We remember what it was like when we got rid of the Clinton mob, so we’ll be conducting inventories on the contents of those vacated offices, before we turn out the lights and pour cement in the locks.

We don’t like having to fight desperate battles to save our freedom and future from socialist politicians every ten or twenty years. We don’t like having our time wasted with trillion-dollar statist fantasies, when our government is already trillions of dollars in the red. We’re tired of checking the papers each day, to see which group of us has been targeted as enemies of the State. We’re growing impatient waiting for the Democrats to come up with ideas that don’t require their supporters to hate someone. We’ve had our fill of “progressives” who act as if we’re living in 1909, and none of their diseased policies have ever been tried before.

We believe government should be punished for failing to live up to the expectations of its citizens, not the other way around. We don’t think people who destroy thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in market value should get a pass because they meant well. We’ve had enough of dodging a massive State that wants to organize, subsidize, penalize, and divide us. We refuse to pay tithe to a religion we don’t support, including the official State religion of global warming. We demand honesty, humility, and transparency from our public servants, no matter how many elections they’ve won. We won’t settle for making the only important decisions about our futures in the voting booth, once every couple of years.

We don’t blame people for showing up to grab their share of a government handout. We blame the people who stole the money from the rest of us, and put it on the table for them. We don’t think respect for private property ends at a certain income level, or that only some people should be applauded for doing their best to get ahead in life. We believe in the power and righteousness of capitalism, the exchange of goods and services between free people acting in their own best interests. There is no moral substitute for it. Every other scheme for governing human affairs amounts to a few dominating some, to the applause of others. Our freedom is not for sale, and we reserve the right to defend it from theft.

We don’t invest our hopes in the government. It is beneath the dignity of free men and women to spend their days hoping a politician decides to provide for our needs. We face the future, not with passive and helpless “hope”, but with active and dynamic faith in ourselves, and our fellow Americans. We are opposed to a political class that tries to cultivate our hopes by showering us with fear. We don’t trust politicians with our fortunes, much less with our lives. In fact, we don’t trust politicians much at all… but we absolutely require them to trust us.

We do not regard America as the sole country on Earth that should be forbidden from taking pride in its history, traditions, and achievements. We reject the notion that celebrating our traditions is an automatic insult to anyone else. We owe absolutely no apologies to murderous dictators or unelected tyrants, and we care little for their feelings. We believe there are many lessons to be learned from our history, by all the people of the world, and we cannot teach those lessons if we allow ourselves to be shamed into silence. We will never hesitate to call evil by its proper name, or give evil men good reasons to fear us.

Well, duh.

Was this written by a high school student or just someone with a personality disorder? This has all the over-the-top solemnity and naïve flag-waving of a bad Chevy commercial. Seriously, who on God’s green earth has ever implied that our freedom is for sale? This sounds like the babbling of someone who is either schizoid or who sits in the basement in their mustard-stained t-shirt drinking Mountain Dew and reading FreeRepublic all day.

I’ll tell you what a lot of Democrats can’t understand: that a disturbingly significant portion of this country’s population, who are willfully ignorant of actual U.S. history, legislative precedence, and many extremely obvious and readily available facts, can’t help but throw their misplaced and ill-defined nationalistic pride behind the very politicians and corporate fat cats who have been raping them over a saw horse for the past 40 years.

These are people who have seen wages stagnate or sink, jobs disappear overseas, public services evaporate, healthcare costs sky rocket, coverage shrink, wealth become increasingly consolidated amongst the top 5% of the U.S. population, energy costs rise, education spiral down the toilet, and they’re worried about vague platitudes like freedom and big government? Seriously?

What in Christ’s name have unfettered markets given these people besides the ability to go out and buy a big flat screen TV they can’t afford on credit? Sorry, I forgot that’s how they preserve the myth that somehow they have a choice about the trajectory their life is going to take in our current society. Yeah, economic free will. Meanwhile they have $50,000 dollars in credit card debt, no savings, a knuckle dragging kid with an iPod stuck in his head who will be fit for nothing but work at Burger King, nickel and dime healthcare coverage (if they’re lucky), a mortgage they can't pay, and a big fat car loan on their 12 MPG SUV. Wow! What a paradise of supply side economics.

Those who have rigged the game in this country love to shake that little red, white, and blue birdy in front of the faces of the people who actually believe the trite pabulum quoted above, and all the while they are having their pockets picked and their brains washed, courtesy of corporate owned infotainment outlets.

So when it comes to a bunch of clueless people, who are getting their “information” from the likes of Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, and Brian Killmeade, disrupting public meetings so they can holler and cry about their paranoid delusional fantasies, excuse us for being just a tad f*cking flabbergasted. The people that are shouting about socialism wouldn’t know true economic socialism if it was shoved up their *sses sideways. The people who are talking about destroying healthcare have no idea how truly broken it already is. The people who are stomping their feet against climate change awareness are apparently happy with their heads in the sand (or up their *sses), and the people who are hysterical about the government controlling their lives have no clue how utterly enslaved they already are to the very corporate interests who are now telling them that a public health care option will bring about the end of our freedom and our country.

If it wasn’t so embarrassing it would be laughable.

If you want to believe all the John Wayne bullsh*t in that ridiculous little manifesto, then knock yourself out. But try not to get too bent out of shape when others actually recognize things about this great country that could use improving…and try to improve them.

So, if you are still convinced that our government, which already maintains passable roads, maintains electricity grids, provides clean drinking water, provides unemployment insurance for those out of work, social security benefits for the elderly, delivers the mail, controls our nation’s air traffic, cleans up toxic waste, regulates the safety of our food and drugs, provides deposit insurance, provides for our common defense, and educates as many of our children as possible, is somehow threatening your “freedom” simply because it seems like a good idea to also provide affordable healthcare (you know, like every other developed Western nation?), then take your tinfoil hat and get the f*ck out of the way, because there are people living in the reality-based world who want progress.

[catguy]

^
Well said.

[Salad Days]

Well, duh.

Was this written by a high school student or just someone with a personality disorder? This has all the over-the-top solemnity and naïve flag-waving of a bad Chevy commercial. Seriously, who on God’s green earth has ever implied that our freedom is for sale? This sounds like the babbling of someone who is either schizoid or who sits in the basement in their mustard-stained t-shirt drinking Mountain Dew and reading FreeRepublic all day.

I’ll tell you what a lot of Democrats can’t understand: that a disturbingly significant portion of this country’s population, who are willfully ignorant of actual U.S. history, legislative precedence, and many extremely obvious and readily available facts, can’t help but throw their misplaced and ill-defined nationalistic pride behind the very politicians and corporate fat cats who have been raping them over a saw horse for the past 40 years.

These are people who have seen wages stagnate or sink, jobs disappear overseas, public services evaporate, healthcare costs sky rocket, coverage shrink, wealth become increasingly consolidated amongst the top 5% of the U.S. population, energy costs rise, education spiral down the toilet, and they’re worried about vague platitudes like freedom and big government? Seriously?

What in Christ’s name have unfettered markets given these people besides the ability to go out and buy a big flat screen TV they can’t afford on credit? Sorry, I forgot that’s how they preserve the myth that somehow they have a choice about the trajectory their life is going to take in our current society. Yeah, economic free will. Meanwhile they have $50,000 dollars in credit card debt, no savings, a knuckle dragging kid with an iPod stuck in his head who will be fit for nothing but work at Burger King, nickel and dime healthcare coverage (if they’re lucky), a mortgage they can't pay, and a big fat car loan on their 12 MPG SUV. Wow! What a paradise of supply side economics.

Those who have rigged the game in this country love to shake that little red, white, and blue birdy in front of the faces of the people who actually believe the trite pabulum quoted above, and all the while they are having their pockets picked and their brains washed, courtesy of corporate owned infotainment outlets.

So when it comes to a bunch of clueless people, who are getting their “information” from the likes of Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, and Brian Killmeade, disrupting public meetings so they can holler and cry about their paranoid delusional fantasies, excuse us for being just a tad f*cking flabbergasted. The people that are shouting about socialism wouldn’t know true economic socialism if it was shoved up their *sses sideways. The people who are talking about destroying healthcare have no idea how truly broken it already is. The people who are stomping their feet against climate change awareness are apparently happy with their heads in the sand (or up their *sses), and the people who are hysterical about the government controlling their lives have no clue how utterly enslaved they already are to the very corporate interests who are now telling them that a public health care option will bring about the end of our freedom and our country.

If it wasn’t so embarrassing it would be laughable.

If you want to believe all the John Wayne bullsh*t in that ridiculous little manifesto, then knock yourself out. But try not to get too bent out of shape when others actually recognize things about this great country that could use improving…and try to improve them.

So, if you are still convinced that our government, which already maintains passable roads, maintains electricity grids, provides clean drinking water, provides unemployment insurance for those out of work, social security benefits for the elderly, delivers the mail, controls our nation’s air traffic, cleans up toxic waste, regulates the safety of our food and drugs, provides deposit insurance, provides for our common defense, and educates as many of our children as possible, is somehow threatening your “freedom” simply because it seems like a good idea to also provide affordable healthcare (you know, like every other developed Western nation?), then take your tinfoil hat and get the f*ck out of the way, because there are people living in the reality-based world who want progress.

Beautiful.

[OutOfContext]

a simple google search does the job...

The Greenroom Forum Archive Who We Are

Why didn't you just google it yourself if it were so easy, you know, before asking him to do it?

[Lolly]

Well, duh.

Was this written by a high school student or just someone with a personality disorder? This has all the over-the-top solemnity and naïve flag-waving of a bad Chevy commercial. Seriously, who on God’s green earth has ever implied that our freedom is for sale? This sounds like the babbling of someone who is either schizoid or who sits in the basement in their mustard-stained t-shirt drinking Mountain Dew and reading FreeRepublic all day.

I’ll tell you what a lot of Democrats can’t understand: that a disturbingly significant portion of this country’s population, who are willfully ignorant of actual U.S. history, legislative precedence, and many extremely obvious and readily available facts, can’t help but throw their misplaced and ill-defined nationalistic pride behind the very politicians and corporate fat cats who have been raping them over a saw horse for the past 40 years.

These are people who have seen wages stagnate or sink, jobs disappear overseas, public services evaporate, healthcare costs sky rocket, coverage shrink, wealth become increasingly consolidated amongst the top 5% of the U.S. population, energy costs rise, education spiral down the toilet, and they’re worried about vague platitudes like freedom and big government? Seriously?

What in Christ’s name have unfettered markets given these people besides the ability to go out and buy a big flat screen TV they can’t afford on credit? Sorry, I forgot that’s how they preserve the myth that somehow they have a choice about the trajectory their life is going to take in our current society. Yeah, economic free will. Meanwhile they have $50,000 dollars in credit card debt, no savings, a knuckle dragging kid with an iPod stuck in his head who will be fit for nothing but work at Burger King, nickel and dime healthcare coverage (if they’re lucky), a mortgage they can't pay, and a big fat car loan on their 12 MPG SUV. Wow! What a paradise of supply side economics.

Those who have rigged the game in this country love to shake that little red, white, and blue birdy in front of the faces of the people who actually believe the trite pabulum quoted above, and all the while they are having their pockets picked and their brains washed, courtesy of corporate owned infotainment outlets.

So when it comes to a bunch of clueless people, who are getting their “information” from the likes of Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, and Brian Killmeade, disrupting public meetings so they can holler and cry about their paranoid delusional fantasies, excuse us for being just a tad f*cking flabbergasted. The people that are shouting about socialism wouldn’t know true economic socialism if it was shoved up their *sses sideways. The people who are talking about destroying healthcare have no idea how truly broken it already is. The people who are stomping their feet against climate change awareness are apparently happy with their heads in the sand (or up their *sses), and the people who are hysterical about the government controlling their lives have no clue how utterly enslaved they already are to the very corporate interests who are now telling them that a public health care option will bring about the end of our freedom and our country.

If it wasn’t so embarrassing it would be laughable.

If you want to believe all the John Wayne bullsh*t in that ridiculous little manifesto, then knock yourself out. But try not to get too bent out of shape when others actually recognize things about this great country that could use improving…and try to improve them.

So, if you are still convinced that our government, which already maintains passable roads, maintains electricity grids, provides clean drinking water, provides unemployment insurance for those out of work, social security benefits for the elderly, delivers the mail, controls our nation’s air traffic, cleans up toxic waste, regulates the safety of our food and drugs, provides deposit insurance, provides for our common defense, and educates as many of our children as possible, is somehow threatening your “freedom” simply because it seems like a good idea to also provide affordable healthcare (you know, like every other developed Western nation?), then take your tinfoil hat and get the f*ck out of the way, because there are people living in the reality-based world who want progress.

Excellent rant. May I plagiarize (I mean, borrow) that?

[EdMundo]

Excellent rant. May I plagiarize (I mean, borrow) that?

Have at it.

(Not that it's going to convince any of the birthers, deathers, or other ignorant conspiracy theorists.)

[KeepingItReal]

Why didn't you just google it yourself if it were so easy, you know, before asking him to do it?

No way! Whenever I catch students plagiarizing, half the fun is watching them squirm and get all flustered!

[OKT3]

You had me at Chevy commercial.

>tear<

[Oladybug]

Well, duh.

Was this written by a high school student or just someone with a personality disorder? This has all the over-the-top solemnity and naïve flag-waving of a bad Chevy commercial. Seriously, who on God’s green earth has ever implied that our freedom is for sale? This sounds like the babbling of someone who is either schizoid or who sits in the basement in their mustard-stained t-shirt drinking Mountain Dew and reading FreeRepublic all day.

I’ll tell you what a lot of Democrats can’t understand: that a disturbingly significant portion of this country’s population, who are willfully ignorant of actual U.S. history, legislative precedence, and many extremely obvious and readily available facts, can’t help but throw their misplaced and ill-defined nationalistic pride behind the very politicians and corporate fat cats who have been raping them over a saw horse for the past 40 years.

These are people who have seen wages stagnate or sink, jobs disappear overseas, public services evaporate, healthcare costs sky rocket, coverage shrink, wealth become increasingly consolidated amongst the top 5% of the U.S. population, energy costs rise, education spiral down the toilet, and they’re worried about vague platitudes like freedom and big government? Seriously?

What in Christ’s name have unfettered markets given these people besides the ability to go out and buy a big flat screen TV they can’t afford on credit? Sorry, I forgot that’s how they preserve the myth that somehow they have a choice about the trajectory their life is going to take in our current society. Yeah, economic free will. Meanwhile they have $50,000 dollars in credit card debt, no savings, a knuckle dragging kid with an iPod stuck in his head who will be fit for nothing but work at Burger King, nickel and dime healthcare coverage (if they’re lucky), a mortgage they can't pay, and a big fat car loan on their 12 MPG SUV. Wow! What a paradise of supply side economics.

Those who have rigged the game in this country love to shake that little red, white, and blue birdy in front of the faces of the people who actually believe the trite pabulum quoted above, and all the while they are having their pockets picked and their brains washed, courtesy of corporate owned infotainment outlets.

So when it comes to a bunch of clueless people, who are getting their “information” from the likes of Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, and Brian Killmeade, disrupting public meetings so they can holler and cry about their paranoid delusional fantasies, excuse us for being just a tad f*cking flabbergasted. The people that are shouting about socialism wouldn’t know true economic socialism if it was shoved up their *sses sideways. The people who are talking about destroying healthcare have no idea how truly broken it already is. The people who are stomping their feet against climate change awareness are apparently happy with their heads in the sand (or up their *sses), and the people who are hysterical about the government controlling their lives have no clue how utterly enslaved they already are to the very corporate interests who are now telling them that a public health care option will bring about the end of our freedom and our country.

If it wasn’t so embarrassing it would be laughable.

If you want to believe all the John Wayne bullsh*t in that ridiculous little manifesto, then knock yourself out. But try not to get too bent out of shape when others actually recognize things about this great country that could use improving…and try to improve them.

So, if you are still convinced that our government, which already maintains passable roads, maintains electricity grids, provides clean drinking water, provides unemployment insurance for those out of work, social security benefits for the elderly, delivers the mail, controls our nation’s air traffic, cleans up toxic waste, regulates the safety of our food and drugs, provides deposit insurance, provides for our common defense, and educates as many of our children as possible, is somehow threatening your “freedom” simply because it seems like a good idea to also provide affordable healthcare (you know, like every other developed Western nation?), then take your tinfoil hat and get the f*ck out of the way, because there are people living in the reality-based world who want progress.

Excellent.

[Not New]

PROGRESS....LOL! you mean SPEND, SPEND, SPEND, any mindless dope can do that. Just look all the foreclosures around the nation. You call "winging it" PROGRESS? Your rant didn't make much sense, just shows how angrey you are. The protesters who caused riots when Bush was in office are deemd patriotic. Sounds like you're the one in grade school, go get your "Time Out".

[five apples]

PROGRESS....LOL! you mean SPEND, SPEND, SPEND, any mindless dope can do that. Just look all the foreclosures around the nation. You call "winging it" PROGRESS? Your rant didn't make much sense, just shows how angrey you are. The protesters who caused riots when Bush was in office are deemd patriotic. Sounds like you're the one in grade school, go get your "Time Out".

I actually laughed when I read this. The dude laid down an eloquent and intelligent statement, though I disagreed with it, and this was your response.

BTW - what riots?

[Sailaway]

Seriously, who on God’s green earth has ever implied that our freedom is for sale? This sounds like the babbling of someone who is either schizoid or who sits in the basement in their mustard-stained t-shirt drinking Mountain Dew and reading FreeRepublic all day.

It is on many levels though. When you have to work 6 months out of the year to pay your taxes, that's not freedom. That's limited slavery.

I’ll tell you what a lot of Democrats can’t understand: that a disturbingly significant portion of this country’s population, who are willfully ignorant of actual U.S. history, legislative precedence, and many extremely obvious and readily available facts, can’t help but throw their misplaced and ill-defined nationalistic pride behind the very politicians and corporate fat cats who have been raping them over a saw horse for the past 40 years.

A significant portion, if not the majority, recognize that it is largely their policies that threw us over the saw horse and butt----ed us to begin with. This is not to say the GOP isn't guilty of that to a large degree either. But, theoretically, the GOP is supposed to be the party of limited government and the Dems are not.

These are people who have seen wages stagnate or sink, jobs disappear overseas, public services evaporate, healthcare costs sky rocket, coverage shrink, wealth become increasingly consolidated amongst the top 5% of the U.S. population, energy costs rise, education spiral down the toilet, and they’re worried about vague platitudes like freedom and big government? Seriously?

Well, yeah, sure. A lot of us don't want all our money going to pay for government services, fat-cat union salaries and pensions, etc. You've shoved a lot into a rant-like statement (which, don't get me wrong, has a lot of validity), but haven't gone into the why this is happening. Something that's best segmented into different threads, though I suspect that won't happen.

What in Christ’s name have unfettered markets given these people besides the ability to go out and buy a big flat screen TV they can’t afford on credit? Sorry, I forgot that’s how they preserve the myth that somehow they have a choice about the trajectory their life is going to take in our current society. Yeah, economic free will. Meanwhile they have $50,000 dollars in credit card debt, no savings, a knuckle dragging kid with an iPod stuck in his head who will be fit for nothing but work at Burger King, nickel and dime healthcare coverage (if they’re lucky), a mortgage they can't pay, and a big fat car loan on their 12 MPG SUV. Wow! What a paradise of supply side economics.

Um, the Community Reinvestment Act certainly played a big part of that. Certainly the antithesis of free-market theory here. I wholeheartedly agree that many Americans did and still do live well beyond their means, but if it wasn't for government interference in the market, many if not most of those folks wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting credit to begin with.

Those who have rigged the game in this country love to shake that little red, white, and blue birdy in front of the faces of the people who actually believe the trite pabulum quoted above, and all the while they are having their pockets picked and their brains washed, courtesy of corporate owned infotainment outlets.

Agreed.

So when it comes to a bunch of clueless people, who are getting their “information” from the likes of Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, and Brian Killmeade, disrupting public meetings so they can holler and cry about their paranoid delusional fantasies, excuse us for being just a tad f*cking flabbergasted.

They are just as likely, if not far more so, to get their indoctrination from the likes of Keith Olbermann or the New York Times. Excuse us for being just as flabbergasted and a little pissed at being lied to.

The people that are shouting about socialism wouldn’t know true economic socialism if it was shoved up their *sses sideways.

We do know a phony pitch though. No matter what you want to call it, it's socialism. Moreover, once you give government an inch, it will take a mile, eventually. You may deny "socialism" and "rationing" all you want, but once the government gets its nose under the tent, there are few limits to what it can and will do. Remember, government has a power you don't: The ability to make laws and to take your money, whether you support its policies or not. History has shown governments that acquire just a little bit of power tend to acquire more and more as time goes on.

The people who are talking about destroying healthcare have no idea how truly broken it already is.

Is making it more broken a good solution?

The people who are stomping their feet against climate change awareness are apparently happy with their heads in the sand (or up their *sses)

The people repeating "climate change" as if it were gospel and ignoring the evidence to the contrary are merely mindless lemmings.

and the people who are hysterical about the government controlling their lives have no clue how utterly enslaved they already are to the very corporate interests who are now telling them that a public health care option will bring about the end of our freedom and our country.

Agreed about the enslavement. Government-sanctioned slavery. Government has the power to make the rules you and I must live by. It's no wonder the marriage of corporate greed and governmental lust for power go hand-in-hand.

But sense a very left-wing rant here. You probably don't realize it, but you are essentially making the same core arguments as the "teabaggers", the anti-health care-reform, the anti-global-warming crowd, and pretty much what the right-wing has been saying all along: It's all an excuse to further squeeze more money out of the working citizen to line the pockets of politicians and their buddies.

If you want to believe all the John Wayne bullsh*t in that ridiculous little manifesto, then knock yourself out. But try not to get too bent out of shape when others actually recognize things about this great country that could use improving…and try to improve them.

Those of us not on the left are trying to do just that.

So, if you are still convinced that our government, which already maintains passable roads, maintains electricity grids, provides clean drinking water, provides unemployment insurance for those out of work, social security benefits for the elderly, delivers the mail, controls our nation’s air traffic, cleans up toxic waste, regulates the safety of our food and drugs, provides deposit insurance, provides for our common defense, and educates as many of our children as possible, is somehow threatening your “freedom” simply because it seems like a good idea to also provide affordable healthcare (you know, like every other developed Western nation?), then take your tinfoil hat and get the f*ck out of the way, because there are people living in the reality-based world who want progress.

Your citations could very well be used against you. Other than ATC and the Coast Guard, with which I have intimate familiarity, I'd say those aren't exactly strong arguments. Granted, our government isn't the worst on the planet either, and it's only the folks who see things in the black-and-white who believe those on the right want no government and those on the left want Stalinist communism. It's possible to have good government that is not too intrusive into the daily life of the average citizen, doesn't take too much of their money and give it to their friends e.g. insurance companies. Indeed, as you yourself intoned, government and corporations are wholly in bed together, performing 69's in between the periodic a$$-raping of the average citizen.