Category | Op Ed

How sweet innocent liberals want to kill your granny

Published on August 18, 2009 by Joel Mendelson

Hi, the name is Mendelson and I’ll be a humble commentator for The Sentinel this year. Brace yourself.

Thomas Jefferson once famously pronounced, “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” It’s a quote often repeated by those who disagree with government policies.

Currently an overwhelming debate is occurring from Capitol Hill to Main Street and everywhere in between. Health care is back on the table, and the fight is just heating up.

Without understanding why or even how the Federal Government would reform health care, protestors are taking to the streets; people have angrily stood up and told members of Congress to “keep your government hands off of my Medicare.” For those of you who don’t know, Medicare is and always was a government funded and run program.

We’re in the middle of a massive disinformation campaign, led by some who would like Americans to believe that health care reform equates with socialist policies, which obviously means we’re headed toward the evils that come with a political term no one can actually define.

Ignorance toward the issues will undue us. Rather than investigating the proposed health care packages, many naysayers simply believe the rants of the media-types who are trying to drum up controversy. Outlandish claims about “death panels” and “socialism” are just as ridiculous as calling Bush a fascist. There is something that prevents these dark changes in government and it’s the Constitution. What scares me most is how many people buy into what ideologues such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh try to sell them daily: a nightmarish scenario in which Obama and the thugs that now control the White House, Congress and your lives are going to implement a government that resembles the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and for good measure, some third world country where half of their population is suffering from some incurable disease.

Many have compared the health care protesters to those that rallied against Bush after the Iraq War began in 2003. In some sort of perverted madness, media types have successfully convinced a large part of the population that their protests against health care are as meaningful as those protesting an unjust war.

Both groups fully believe they are protesting for good and are saving lives, but this is starting to get scary.

While most Americans who are angry at the Obama administration have simply been waving signs outside town hall events, a recent report points to rapid growth of fringe groups. Many have tried to dismiss it, but make no mistake, these groups are growing and the Lou Dobbs of the world don’t help when they proclaim that President Obama may not in fact be an American. A recent poll shows that 47% of Republicans share that belief with Mr. Dobbs and others.

Will this  disrupt the daily functions of American life? Doubtful, but if those who believe in and support this President don’t stand up and vocally disprove these zany accusations, it’s going to be a rough ride toward November 2010 and 2012. If the Bush administration successfully sold the idea that Saddam Hussein was partially responsible for Sept. 11, how hard can it be to sell the idea that health care reform is socialism, President Obama is not a citizen, Rahm Emanuel is from Neptune and Joe Biden, well, he’s just crazy? Let’s have a real debate in this country over the issues that will define us, not take the word of crackpot “journalists” on television.