I think I've finally figured it out.
What is it about this administration and the mainstream media that grates on people's nerves? Why are folks so angry that they're holding heated town hall meetings, rallies and tea parties from coast to coast? Why do we object so strongly to current policies that we're willing to travel great distances at our own expense to protest, only to be called loathsome names?
Is it that the government is trying to shove health-care reform down our throats despite the fact that 83 percent of Americans are satisfied with what they have? Is it the cap-and-trade farce that will skyrocket prices on every conceivable good and service for no discernible benefit? Is it Obama's goal to spread our hard-earned wealth to those who haven't earned it?
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It's all of those things, of course, and more. But the objections of many Americans can be summed up in one single word: ARROGANCE.
Have you noticed the arrogance of this administration and its media? If you combine a liberal president with a liberal Congress, reported by a liberal press … the result is a degree of egotism and superiority toward the citizens of this country seldom equaled in any presidential term.
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Consider Rep. Joe Wilson's shout of "You lie!" during Obama's address to a joint session of Congress. Putting aside the fact that the president was lying (on the issue of whether illegal immigrants would have access to government-run health care), it seems the administration is determined to make an example of Wilson by demanding multiple apologies in various locations and under assorted conditions (standing on his head, hopping on one foot, walking while chewing gum, that kind of thing).
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Next we listened, mouths agape, as Jimmy Carter lavishly painted us all with the same hateful brush of racism if we disagreed with Obama. "There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president," he snarked. That's amazing, don't you think? Every waitress, every lawyer, every stay-at-home mom, every house painter and secretary and mechanic and grocer and farmer and banker – we're all racists if we don't like our government's out-of-control spending and wild ride into socialism. Who'da thunk?
Then we have the mainstream media's persistent refusal to cover the shocking fact that ACORN encourages child prostitution supported by your tax dollars. Reporters and news agencies will no longer report major breaking news stories if it might make the administration look bad (Van Jones, anyone?). Apparently, anything that might even indirectly cast aspersions on our godlike president is off-limits.
How about when Obama stood before cameras in Cincinnati and said, "I've got a question for all these folks who say, 'You know, we're going to pull the plug on Grandma' and 'This is all about illegal immigrants' – you've heard all the lies. I've got a question for all those folks: What are you going to do? What's your answer? What's your solution? And you know what? They don't have one." Wrong. Republicans have offered up at least three alternative plans for health-care reform. Obama just doesn't want to admit it.
Then of course there's last weekend's tea party in Washington, D.C. Did you know – you're gonna love this – that the White House was unaware that the protest was going to take place?
A million people planned to show up outside their door and they didn't notice any preparations? Didn't they see all those workmen putting up Port-a-Potties the week before? Didn't that register? "I don't know who the group is," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters with a shrug.
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With a shrug … And what does that "shrug" mean? Why, it's quite simple: You shrug when you're dismissing something. We the People don't exist. We're just a bunch of racist whiny brats having a collective temper tantrum. Doubtless Mr. Gibbs feels that the current administration should be allowed to do anything it likes since we're too stupid to know what's good for us.
Undaunted – or perhaps "unaware" – of the 9/12 March on Washington, Obama chose last Saturday to stump for his health-care reform far away in Minnesota rather than face his own citizens screaming for governmental restraint.
Yawn.
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Though crowd estimates vary from as low as 60,000 to 70,000 (ha!) according to ABC News to a high of 2 million by the London Daily Mail, photographs and videos of the rally clearly demonstrate its enormity. (The best guess seems to be 1.2 million.) Do you realize this means roughly one out of every 300 Americans was on the doorstep of the Capitol last Saturday? And for those unable to go, there were oodles more that were there in spirit, my family included.
It's like the administration and the media are all saying, "Awwww – it's so CUTE when the rabble gets agitated!" White House senior adviser David Axelrod said that the protesters do not represent the views of the broader public when it comes to health-care reform. "I don't think it's indicative of the nation's mood. … My message to them is, they're wrong."
Only somebody filled with breathtaking arrogance can look out the window at over a million protesters and tell them they don't represent the views of a broader public.
And therein lies my point. Probably one of the biggest gripes Real America has about the current administration is not just the out-of-control spending, it's the arrogance of not listening to us. It's the conceit they show in ignoring us. It's the contempt they express for our legitimate complaints.
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Nancy Pelosi dismisses the citizens who object to a socialist agenda as Nazis and Astroturf protesters "funded by the high end." Don't make me lob cow patties at you, Nancy dear. No one's paying us to protest, though I've heard rumors that the administration is orchestrating and manipulating its own rallies to only allow supporters, not detractors. Just rumors, you understand.
Probably the best comment I've heard comes from Frank Turek who wrote, "Astroturf doesn't grow." He's quite right – it doesn't. But We the People do.
This time it was a million of us in the capital streets.