Why We Ask: Our mission and operations are funded 100% by conservatives like you. Please help us continue to extend Liberty to the next generation and support the 2024 Year-End Campaign today.

April 9, 2010

“Give Me ‘Niceness’ or Give Me Death”

I believe that one of the greatest obstacles facing opponents of the socialist agenda of Obama Democrats is this misguided insistence that we always have to give them the benefit of the doubt – as if it were virtuous not to be vigilant in safeguarding our sacred liberties. Only if we first recognize and then clearly speak out against what they’re truly about will we have any chance of stopping their suicidal blueprint for America.

Willful blindness has destroyed many nations from within (and without) and is well on the way to destroying us. Those who would pat themselves on the back for being too kind to call it as they see it – or for sanctimoniously condemning those who are calling it as they see it – should reconsider. In the words of the great Edmund Burke, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” He might have added, “Or say nothing.”

That’s why Sen. Tom Coburn’s statement that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is nice was disappointing.

In the first place, it is irrelevant to the future of this nation whether Pelosi or President Barack Obama is nice. That said, I respectfully disagree with Dr. Coburn’s assertion.

Let’s look at what prompted Coburn – an admirably fierce opponent of Obamacare – to make the statement. At a town hall meeting, a woman asked him whether, under Obamacare, “they can put us in prison” for not purchasing health insurance.

Coburn responded: “The intention is not to put anybody in jail. That makes for good TV news on Fox, but that isn’t the intention.” That wasn’t a very “nice” thing for Coburn to say about Fox News, which has finally provided balance to television network news – representing a sea change from decades of left-wing mainstream media uber-domination.

Coburn added, “I’m 180 degrees in opposition to the speaker; she’s a nice lady.” When the crowd showed its displeasure, he persisted: “Come on now, she is nice. How many of you all have met her?”

Coburn was obviously trying to assure the audience that nice people wouldn’t put people in jail for not purchasing health care at the government’s order. That’s the only possible relevance of his statement.

Well, Doctor, the Pelosi version of Obamacare (H.R. 3962, as amended) contained jail penalty provisions (up to five years in prison) for those failing to purchase health insurance. When Pelosi was asked about the provision, she wouldn’t answer the question directly but implied imprisonment is fair. “The point is we want to make sure everyone has health care,” she said. “We all have to do our part. … The legislation is very fair.”

So if Coburn believes Pelosi is too nice to support imprisonment for those not buying health insurance, he’s wrong. She would (and did). And with all due respect to Sen. Coburn, it wasn’t very “nice” of him to suggest that there is something wrong with people’s outrage at what’s going on. He is wrong to attempt to shame people for their justified indignation at “nice” politicians for systematically dismantling and bankrupting the America they love, let alone putting them in jail.

But for the record, I don’t believe nice people would constantly lie about their intentions for the nation, as liberal politicians often do to get elected to national office in this center-right nation. Nice people wouldn’t force people to buy health insurance in the false name of compassion, especially when to do so violates the Constitution.

Nice people wouldn’t lie about what’s in a piece of legislation that involves government control over one-sixth of the U.S. economy, such as whether the federal government would fund abortion. Nice people wouldn’t condemn those who condemn them for lying about what’s in this bill. But that’s what Obama, Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic leadership did. Nice people wouldn’t suggest that patriotic, freedom-loving Americans are swastika-wearing rubes just a hair trigger away from “Clockwork Orange” ultra-violence.

Nice people don’t accuse capitalist and constitutionalist opponents of Obama’s socialist agenda of racism, yet that’s going on daily from the Democratic leadership and the liberal commentariat. Obama himself came close when he condemned a wide swath of Americans with his warped notion that they cling, among other things, to “antipathy to people who aren’t like them.” Is he projecting?

The best interest of this nation does not depend on our elected leaders’ being nice to one another. It does depend on their reversing the masochistic path of bankrupting spending, retreating in the war on terror and surrendering to the culture of death being forcibly imposed by moral relativists. It depends on rekindling the fire of liberty in our hearts.

Can you imagine Patrick Henry saying, “Give me nice legislators or give me death”?

COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.