Welcome to Nineteen Eighty-Four

Does the government fear us? Or do we fear the government? When the people fear the government, tyranny has found victory. The federal government is our servant, not our master!

Thomas Jefferson

This past week Macon Phillips, the White House Director of New Media, created a blog post titled Facts Are Stubborn Things. In it Mr. Phillips warns people of the "[s]cary chain emails and videos [that] are starting to percolate on the internet". He includes a video from Linda Douglass that was made in response to a link on The Drudge Report. The link was to a video showing Obama and other Democrats in their own words talking about eliminating employer provided health insurance in favor of a single-payer system. It's a pretty basic video and Obama is quite clear about his goals. However, Ms. Douglass tries to explain Obama's position by telling us about the "misinformation" being spread. And Mr. Phillips goes on to repeat the lie that "the President has consistently said that if you like your insurance plan, your doctor, or both, you will be able to keep them". If you believe that, I have a bridge for sale (check out the truth).

What's most disturbing about this post is in the next paragraph where Mr. Phillips suggests "[i]f you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov". Is this really what we want our government focused on? Spying on your neighbor and reporting them to the White House Director of New Media? This is Obama's idea of liberty – make people live in fear of being reported to the White House. This is his idea of "fighting the smears". This is his vision when he called on us to join him in transforming America.

It's scary that the government, particularly the Executive Branch, is requesting that individuals keep track of each other and report on their neighbor's actions. It harkens back to the days of Hitler and the Nazis. It goes against everything for which this country was founded. It even goes against Obama's campaign rhetoric. Remember the speech where Obama suggested "I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them … I want you to argue with them and get in their face." Isn't that what people are doing at these town hall meetings? They are talking to their friends and neighbors, arguing with them and getting "in their face". The problem is that they are arguing against Obama; and the chosen one doesn't like it. As a matter of fact, most of the liberals do not like it.

It starts at the top with Obama saying "I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess." What he means is get out of the way so that we can push through our liberal agenda without any real discussion. Get out of the way and let government take over health care without real, open and honest debate. When it is in his favor he wants people to argue with their neighbors and "get in their face". When it is against him he wants "them to get out of the way". This is amazing hypocrisy.

Going down the chain we come to Harry Reid describing the protestors as being "nothing more than destructive efforts to interrupt a debate that we should have, and are having. They are doing this because they don't have any better ideas. They have no interest in letting the negotiators, even though few in number, negotiate. It's really simple: they're taking their cues from talk show hosts, Internet rumor-mongerers ... and insurance rackets." Really? They don't have better ideas? You obviously have not been listening to them. There are better ideas out there and they do not include a government option. Most include less government, not more.

Then you have Barbara Boxer suggesting that the protestors are too "well-dressed" and Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA) deciding to forgo town hall appearances in favor of telephone town halls. He suggested that all people wanted was to have "the chance to shout and make YouTube videos". Not that they are concerned and want to be heard. He further insulted concerned Americans voicing their opposition to this health care "reform" suggesting that "[w]hat we're seeing right now is close to Brown Shirt tactics." And finally there is Nancy Pelosi claiming that insurance companies are evil and that protestors are "carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on healthcare."

What we're supposed to believe is that the people who are protesting this health care reform are being organized by the evil insurance industry, do not have any better ideas, are taking marching orders from "fishy" websites and talk radio, only want to shout and make You Tube videos, are like the Nazis with their swastikas and Brown Shirts and need to get out of the way. That sums up what is being heard at town hall meetings across this country according to the liberals on the left.

While the mainstream media continues to report on all of the evil right-wing extremists protesting against health care with their brown shirts and swastikas they neglect to report about the tyrannous behavior of those who support this health care atrocity. They do not report on the town hall meetings closed off to the general public but open to Blue Shirt union members (see the video). They do not report about the black conservative (Kenneth Gladney) handing out "Don't Tread on Me" flags that was beat up by Blue Shirt SEIU union thugs after calling him the N-word. Of course this should be expected considering the White House told the Democrats that "If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard." I guess some of those SEIU thugs took that literally or maybe that is what the White House meant – Chicago politics comes to Washington.

So the White House is asking people to keep track of their neighbors and report them, they are suggesting that the Democrats should "punch back" (some literally), they are vilifying people that "get in their face" and they are trying to suppress free speech by making people who disagree with them live in fear. Is this the change that people voted for? Is this a government of the people and by the people? Does this government fear us? Has tyranny found victory? Has the federal government become our master?

Welcome to Nineteen Eighty-Four's Big Brother and Obama's vision for America.