Yesterday, we learned the price of a Senator’s soul and her value of our Country as Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana turned her back on the children of the future who will be saddled with the debt this monstrous Health Care bill will create. As it turns out, Judas Iscariot was a piker because he only got 30 pieces of silver, whereas Mary Landrieu held out for $300 million and gave up any chance to become President.
“President? Where in the heck did that come from?” you may be saying to yourself. Yes, President. It is my belief that had Mary Landrieu taken the long view and stood up against Barack Obama, she would have gained the admiration and the immediate commitment of millions of Tea Party members nationwide as well as millions of independents who are queasy about spending an untold number of trillions of dollars and millions of seniors who are fearful of the changes that are coming to Medicare. Instead Mary took a provincial view and focused solely on what pork she could bring home to her voters and completely missed the opportunity she had staring her in the face.
I suspect that until recently few people outside of the south knew much about Mary and yesterday she guaranteed that even though the media will provide her with some ego-stroking sound bites in the coming days, her fifteen minutes of fame are half gone. I know the Louisiana Tea Party is probably already working out their strategy to defeat her and they have until 2014 to come up with a strong candidate to do so. She narrowly won her first two races so she is very beatable and in her last bid for the Senate in 2008 she only won 52% of the vote. She probably figured that with up to 4 years for the public to forget, she could take home the pork, enjoy the limelight for a while and the rubes back home would forget that one little time when she had a chance to change the political landscape and she took the easy way out.
But that’s the difference between Patriots and Politicians. Patriots understand that all decisions affect the Country and not just one locality. Politicians never miss an opportunity to steal what they can and hope part of the filthy lucre will go to build a new government building with their name on it. Patriots know that their job is to take care of the present AND the future, but Politicians worry about the moment at hand. Kind of reminds me of the story of the grasshopper and the ant. And right now, it seems we have an infestation of grasshoppers in the United States Capitol.
The end game for Tea Party members should be to focus on the 2010 elections to make some of these grasshoppers find honest work. In fact, when January 1, 2010 rolls around, I encourage each of you to join with me in making a resolution and a commitment to assist the opponents of all of the following Democratic Senators who are up for re-election:
- Bayh, Evan (D-IN) [10 years in Office]
- Bennet, Michael F. (D-CO) [1 year in Office]
- Boxer, Barbara (D-CA) [16 years in Office]
- Burris, Roland W. (D-IL) [1 year in Office]
- Dodd, Christopher J. (D-CT) [28 years in Office]
- Dorgan, Byron L. (D-ND) [17 years in Office]
- Feingold, Russell D. (D-WI) [16 years in Office]
- Inouye, Daniel K. (D-HI) [46 years in Office]
- Leahy, Patrick J. (D-VT) [34 years in Office]
- Lincoln, Blanche L. (D-AR) [10 years in Office]
- Mikulski, Barbara A. (D-MD) [22 years in Office]
- Murray, Patty (D-WA) [16 years in Office]
- Reid, Harry (D-NV) [22 years in Office]
- Schumer, Charles E. (D-NY) [10 years in Office]
- Specter, Arlen (D-PA) [28 years in Office]
- Wyden, Ron (D-OR) [13 years in Office]
But Democrats aren’t the only ones who need to be held accountable. We need to examine the records of all Republicans up for re-election in 2010 and ask ourselves if they have been representing the interests of ALL Americans or just their own. Here’s the list:
- Bennett, Robert F. (R-UT)
- Bond, Christopher S. (R-MO)
- Brownback, Sam (R-KS)
- Bunning, Jim (R-KY)
- Burr, Richard (R-NC)
- Coburn, Tom (R-OK)
- Crapo, Mike (R-ID)
- DeMint, Jim (R-SC)
- Grassley, Chuck (R-IA)
- Gregg, Judd (R-NH)
- Isakson, Johnny (R-GA)
- LeMieux, George S. (R-FL)
- McCain, John (R-AZ)
- Murkowski, Lisa (R-AK)
- Shelby, Richard C. (R-AL)
- Thune, John (R-SD)
- Vitter, David (R-LA)
- Voinovich, George V. (R-OH)
This is not the end of the Health Care battle, nor is it the end of our opportunities to affect change and ensure responsible governance. In fact, this is just the beginning.
It will require patience, dedication and a willingness to put our Country first for a change. We all have been silent far too long. While our reluctance to stand up and be counted has been understandable, it is no longer unacceptable. Freedom has been under assault for a very long time but each and everyone of us needs to take some time over the next 30 days and examine our hearts and ask ourselves a question that will be difficult and can only be answered individually:
“Are we willing as the Founding Fathers did before us, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor to defend our Constitution and live up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence?”
What say you?
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