November 2, 2010

Random thoughts on this early morning of election day.

• Voter turnout should be highest in decades for a midterm
• GOP will most likely get 60 to 65 House seats
  • that might be a conservative number (pun intended)
  • Will not be a vote for the Grand Old Party, but a vote against current, progressive agenda and those pushing, endorsing and voting for it
  • All those elected will bear watching closely for next two years to ensure government “by the people” and not a return to status quo by July or August
  • Primary order of business? Repeal of monstrosity Obamacare the Triumvirate foisted on us in March. Madam Speaker… Read this!
• Control of the Senate is a possibility

There are several potential issues I see with the above scenarios. Our elected officials from both parties over the last several years have been more interested in exercising dominion rather than in exercising restraint; restraint from interference into the lives of private citizens, restraint on spending and entitlement programs, restraint on the bureaucracy and overall size of the leviathan known as the Federal Government.

The public treasury has been raided for pet projects, pork projects projected pie-in-the-sky projects, and catering to special interest groups. The public trust has been denigrated. The public tolerance has been abused by frequent, premeditated failings by the people’s representatives who currently are viewed in large part as thieves, liars and self-serving, privileged elitists.

And, as the polls begin to open in just a few hours from now, Americans are going to make the time to vote and to say NO to the status quo that we have allowed such free rein in Washington, D.C for so long. The danger I see here is that after voting today, I am afraid that many of us will assume that our job is done. That we have done our duty and have saved the country from the evil politicians in perpetuity and we will slide back into complacency and return to our daily lives, congratulating ourselves on a job well done.

My friends, this cannot happen. We, the people, must from this day forward, remain vigilante. We must hold those elected officials accountable: Accountable to the Constitution, and accountable to us.

A smarter man than I once wrote that “governments … derive their just powers from the consent of the governed“. That’s us. You and me. In this country, more so than any other on the face of the planet and in the history of civilization, “We the People” determine how we are to be governed; how we are to be represented by our lawmakers.

To that end, there will be some changes taking place here at The Unofficial View. In addition to the Op-Eds that I write, as much as it is in my power to do so, I will begin posting links to proposed legislation, both House and Senate, that may require our attention. I will attempt to find discussions of those proposed bills and link to them so that you and I might educate ourselves and then voice our opinions to those we have elected to represent us.

No more health care abominations—or is that Obaminations?—no more “pass it to find out what’s in it”. No more bail outs. The current crop of Grift-resentatives will soon find out how badly they’ve failed us, how far they’ve overstepped their bounds. Those coming in cannot be allowed the same free rein.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
— Benjamin Franklin

Yet to come, here at the Unofficial View: “Because You’re Not Smart”.