by Conservative Generation, Left Coast Rebel

Gaze back in history, 232 years. An American Revolution from British tyranny, from tyranny worldwide. The beginnings of the birth of the brightest experiment in humankind, the seeds of liberty unlike the world had seen and perhaps ever will.

At this time, American rebels fighting for this vision were nearly without victory, one can imagine their despair. When General Charles Lee cut and ran from a formidable force of redcoats that were amassing at Monmouth in 1778, the entire revolutionary army fell into disarray. About five miles away, General George Washington gazed at the confusion that was his front lines. Angry, but resolute, he rode out to Lee, determined to put his army back in order.

From “Patriots” by AJ Langguth:

“Colonel Harrison galloped up and reported that the British main force was barely fifteen minutes away and pressing hard. Washington had time only to act on reflex. He charged through the confusion, lining up the Americans behind a hedgerow. Alexander Hamilton watched admiringly as Washington, cool and firm, molded the soldiers back into a fighting force. Lafayette, who was also looking on, decided that he had never seen so superb a man as George Washington at that moment. Washington was still clearly angry, but calm as he rode effortlessly among the men, converting panic into enthusiasm.”

Yes, Washington was still clearly angry, but calm as he rode effortlessly among the men, converting panic into enthusiasm. Where is America’s Washington in March, 2010? Be brave – the answer may surprise you.

Since last Sunday’s health care vote, the passage above has been echoing in my mind. I love history. In fact, I was a history-education major before I settled on economics, as fate would have it. It is from this prism of thought that I look back when confronted with the disturbing daily news in America. I find there is something comforting in the stories of the past and the tales of men who handled situations far graver than you or I will ever know. It’s inspiring.

I think of parallels today to the times of George Washington. Unlike Washington, we aren’t up against armed aggressors, bloody battlefields and enemy foes. Nevertheless, we are an army without a Washington. This is why I’m concerned about the disarray of our front lines and can sense the panic among you, that you sense this dissaray too. I’m no George Washington myself, but I can offer you the truth behind all the spin this week.

I’ll start off with the bad news first, as I realign from a vision of history.

We are in a battle that foregoes sugar-coating sensibilities. Obama has signed a socialistic welfare entitlement in the form of health care into law. Don’t fool yourselves, it will be nearly impossible to dislodge it from our government and you can be sure the current administration is going to do everything to ensure this. It is the tyranny that they desire more than all – even more than their election campaigns. This truth hurts and gnaws at my mind. But it has been done and is what it is, now we must simply get over it. It is time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. And that is precisely what Washington did over 200 years ago.

On Tuesday the leftist radicals in the government were giddy as school children at the health care signing. They accomplished the near impossible; passed an extremely large, complicated, and poorly written bill into law while being extremely unpopular at the same time. Most importantly, it was the prize-jewel of the statists to accomplish, having tried and failed all the way back to the days of Teddy Roosevelt – the progressive-Republican.

As they control the press and academia in our nation liberals control the mood in Washington. The media articles and rhetoric from leftist politicians over the last week seems a bit overconfident – if not borderline delusional. There are two reasons for this:

First, the tone in Washington is out of touch with the American voter and basic American values. At best, the country is evenly divided over the merits of the health care bill (check Gallup for this). This is hardly the kind of atmosphere you want in the electorate when you are out celebrating a bill that is going to affect everyone’s health care, even though most Americans were pleased with their health insurance before it’s passage. The fact that Obama is headed out to sell the bill is proof that they are in damage control and not doing victory laps. Arrogant celebration like we are seeing, when the country is in no mood for such; can have an undesired, even opposite effect.

Second, the left needs to create the illusion that the health care bill can be a winning platform or they are going to face a massive defeat in the November elections. The illusion has a two-fold purpose. They need to somehow find a way to embed the entitlements that are in the bill before they take effect in 2014. The more successful they are, the harder it will be to repeal. Most importantly, the democrats need the illusion as a recruiting tool. It’s the 23rd hour in recruiting for the November elections and due to the toxic nature of the progressive agenda, the DNC is well behind in lining up viable candidates. If they can convince other strong democrats that health care is a big winner at the polls, they might be able to contest enough elections to maintain their majorities. Illusion is what democrats do best, how else do you think they managed to push so many of their ranks off the plank?

That’s the essence of the Democrat’s house of cards. Not entirely impressive when you strip it down. Over the last week there have been those on the right advocating property damage and soft intimidation. I understand that these very tactics are used by the left on a regular basis, but we do not have the benefit of a media that will herald or whitewash these actions. Instead, tactics like these don’t portray a coordinated strategy, they portray weakness. They look like the desperate acts of a group of people lost and leaderless, like the revolutionaries at the battle of Monmouth. What we should be exuding is confidence in the face of adversary, like Washington.

We are not desperate.

We’ve helped to hold up the health care bill for almost a year through town halls and phone calls. We helped win major elections in deep-blue states like New Jersey and Massachusetts. We’ve already turned the blue swing states back to red. Yes, you my friends, are a powerful political machine. That is why it is the left that is desperate to discredit you.

Even prior to the health care vote, the left went to work on a campaign to smear the tea party protesters. They created false accusations of hate that have been exposed. They’ve made up stories out of thin air, which have been exposed. Is this the work of a confident political machine? Or acts of desperation surely to backfire?

If we are going to win this battle, this is what you need to do. Keep calling your congress members, keep protesting – if you can find a candidate with a spine, donate to their campaign, and call and write the journalists and editors when they are out spinning for the left.

We are without a George Washington, so as individuals we are going to have to be our own George Washingtons. We need to exude confidence and resolve in the face of difficulty and aggression from the left, if we are to succeed. I’ve given you the truth about the state of the opposing political machine and it is seriously vulnerable, the victory is there for the taking and I’m excited, not demoralized. Perhaps I can already hear the fireworks of celebration, of reborn independence – in the town that bears Washington’s name.