Bonnie Alba
Elephant's conservative trunk dying
By Bonnie Alba
The existing Great Divide between our Capitol and "we the people" has never been wider or deeper. Both major parties are selling out our country. The comprehensive Illegal (amnesty) legislation is a case in point following a bread crumb trail of reform failures on most important issues.
Congress and the White House have been bombarded by phone calls, faxes, letters, e-mails protesting the Senate's fast-track bill. Blame the Internet which has grown to encompass fast communication and a myriad of grassroots organizations. Citizens may vote or send e-mails and faxes quicker than politicians express their "politically correct" rhetoric.
The fact is, the internet provides an alternative to the majority of hardworking, taxpaying citizens who have never taken time off work to protest. We average Jills and Joes who make up most of the population are too busy raising our families and working to keep food on the table. We've probably never written a complaint to our elected, congressional representatives. If we have, it has been on our own time with our own money.
We always wondered who those protesters were, carrying their anti-American signs, stomping on Old Glory or hoisting another nation's flag, screaming and protesting. Don't they have jobs and families? Don't they have to work for a living to support themselves?
Over the years, it became obvious that many organized protesters were hired hands by unions and other organizations. Many have been those living on the "pay checks" of LBJ's Great Society from taxes "we the people" working citizens paid out of our own paychecks.
Along comes the internet. Communication appears to happen at the speed of light compared to the pony express-postal service. Expressing our opinions on anything political, or otherwise, is wide open.
When Pres. Bush and fast-track democrats and republicans partnered to ram through a muddy and totally incomprehensible 1000-page illegal alien bill, "we the people" reacted. Then comes the politicians, like the mouth of Senate Minority Leader Sen. Lott, blaming conservative radio talking heads like Rush Limbaugh for this reaction, all I could think of was "Don't they watch CNN Lou Dobbs?"
These politicos don't quite blame their own constituents. Don't they know we "do think" about what's going on outside of our own little worlds? And, some of us actually know history. Don't worry, Limbaugh is still the ever-faithful GOP talking head.
It's citizen voters like me they should worry about — faithful Republican voter all my life — I find myself looking in a different direction, not to the democratic side either. The GOP no longer represents conservatives like me. Like the Democratic Party, the GOP has forsaken their Republican core and broken their oaths of office.
For example, after 9/11, the first item of business should have been National Security; stopping all legal and illegal immigration; securing the borders, ports and airports. Centralizing all security and law enforcement agencies under one monstrous federal government conglomerate called Homeland Security was the first item on the list. The argument against centralization and the resulting ineptness of Big Bro was proved out later in airport, port and border security. Not to mention national disasters like Katrina.
Pres. Bush told us we should just "go about our business" and the government would take care of everything. Where we had community civil defense and bomb shelters back in the 50s, we now have Big Brother who will take care of all those threats, nukes and otherwise.
Regarding the amnesty bill, Pres. Bush's declared that "the American people should do the Right Thing." This was an insult to "we the people." Add to that — "justice and mercy." This mammoth bill makes a mockery of our law and justice system. We are supposed to be a sovereign "nation under law" — not a nation guided by ideology contrary to our governing documents.
What I see is a continuing erosion of law and justice. Ordinary citizens are finally taking notice and reacting, not for individual or group rights, but for the purpose of saving the constitutional Republic which is fast disappearing in the pursuit of a global world.
If the borders are to be secure and illegal aliens stopped from flooding our nation, we must move to do just that; not ensure illegal aliens enjoy citizenship privileges and opportunities while legal-seeking immigrants wait patiently and legally for years. And Joes and Jills pay for it all.
Despite the growing division between "we the people" and DC, it is readily apparent that both parties have departed from America's reason for being.
The Elephant's conservative trunk is dead — this once-faithful GOPer is moving on.
© Bonnie Alba
The existing Great Divide between our Capitol and "we the people" has never been wider or deeper. Both major parties are selling out our country. The comprehensive Illegal (amnesty) legislation is a case in point following a bread crumb trail of reform failures on most important issues.
Congress and the White House have been bombarded by phone calls, faxes, letters, e-mails protesting the Senate's fast-track bill. Blame the Internet which has grown to encompass fast communication and a myriad of grassroots organizations. Citizens may vote or send e-mails and faxes quicker than politicians express their "politically correct" rhetoric.
The fact is, the internet provides an alternative to the majority of hardworking, taxpaying citizens who have never taken time off work to protest. We average Jills and Joes who make up most of the population are too busy raising our families and working to keep food on the table. We've probably never written a complaint to our elected, congressional representatives. If we have, it has been on our own time with our own money.
We always wondered who those protesters were, carrying their anti-American signs, stomping on Old Glory or hoisting another nation's flag, screaming and protesting. Don't they have jobs and families? Don't they have to work for a living to support themselves?
Over the years, it became obvious that many organized protesters were hired hands by unions and other organizations. Many have been those living on the "pay checks" of LBJ's Great Society from taxes "we the people" working citizens paid out of our own paychecks.
Along comes the internet. Communication appears to happen at the speed of light compared to the pony express-postal service. Expressing our opinions on anything political, or otherwise, is wide open.
When Pres. Bush and fast-track democrats and republicans partnered to ram through a muddy and totally incomprehensible 1000-page illegal alien bill, "we the people" reacted. Then comes the politicians, like the mouth of Senate Minority Leader Sen. Lott, blaming conservative radio talking heads like Rush Limbaugh for this reaction, all I could think of was "Don't they watch CNN Lou Dobbs?"
These politicos don't quite blame their own constituents. Don't they know we "do think" about what's going on outside of our own little worlds? And, some of us actually know history. Don't worry, Limbaugh is still the ever-faithful GOP talking head.
It's citizen voters like me they should worry about — faithful Republican voter all my life — I find myself looking in a different direction, not to the democratic side either. The GOP no longer represents conservatives like me. Like the Democratic Party, the GOP has forsaken their Republican core and broken their oaths of office.
For example, after 9/11, the first item of business should have been National Security; stopping all legal and illegal immigration; securing the borders, ports and airports. Centralizing all security and law enforcement agencies under one monstrous federal government conglomerate called Homeland Security was the first item on the list. The argument against centralization and the resulting ineptness of Big Bro was proved out later in airport, port and border security. Not to mention national disasters like Katrina.
Pres. Bush told us we should just "go about our business" and the government would take care of everything. Where we had community civil defense and bomb shelters back in the 50s, we now have Big Brother who will take care of all those threats, nukes and otherwise.
Regarding the amnesty bill, Pres. Bush's declared that "the American people should do the Right Thing." This was an insult to "we the people." Add to that — "justice and mercy." This mammoth bill makes a mockery of our law and justice system. We are supposed to be a sovereign "nation under law" — not a nation guided by ideology contrary to our governing documents.
What I see is a continuing erosion of law and justice. Ordinary citizens are finally taking notice and reacting, not for individual or group rights, but for the purpose of saving the constitutional Republic which is fast disappearing in the pursuit of a global world.
If the borders are to be secure and illegal aliens stopped from flooding our nation, we must move to do just that; not ensure illegal aliens enjoy citizenship privileges and opportunities while legal-seeking immigrants wait patiently and legally for years. And Joes and Jills pay for it all.
Despite the growing division between "we the people" and DC, it is readily apparent that both parties have departed from America's reason for being.
The Elephant's conservative trunk is dead — this once-faithful GOPer is moving on.
© Bonnie Alba
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
