My Report from the Birmingham Healthcare Rally

Today around the nation there were rally's held to oppose the Democrat's healthcare plan, and I attended the one in Birmingham, home of Democrat Gary Peter's. It was a great turn out, and there were quite a few notable people there- Oakland County Executive L Brooks Patterson, County Commissioner David W. Potts, Michigan Governor-hopeful Michael Bouchard, and even theplogprof. It was a good time- saying hello to friends, educating one another about various issues, and sending a message to politicians that the people are opposed to this Obamacare proposal.

There were also supporters of the healthcare plan at the rally, and like the Greeks of old or our revolutionary forefathers, I engaged these people in debate, and the crowd circled us and listened to us as we each advanced our aguments. And every time, through every twist and turn of logic that these healthcare supporters took me, I won the debate by relying on facts, statistics, history, and the core principles of our nation. And every time I won the debate, these liberals would give me the finger or yell 'f-you' at me, and I would simply say that I am trying to fight tyranny and stand up for life, liberty, and property.

My favorite debate was with a guy from England, who, over a course of several minutes, went through all of the talking points of liberals- Bush bankrupted America, spent all our money on the war, Obama needs to put our nation more in debt to dig us out of Bush's jobless recovery, etc. I really enjoyed how proud he was of having not read the bill (HR 3200)- when I started quoting from it, he started yelling that that isn't the bill he supports. I wondered what bill he does support, and he told me that one that would create a heaven on Earth, as if man could create such a thing. After a while it grew tiring to talk to this guy though- his world was a maze of conspiracies and evil capitalists- and when cornered, he quickly would turn to character-assassination- he called me a liar, another guy a stooge, another guy unintelligent, etc. Typical rules for radicals- if you can't win the argument, attack the person.

This was usually the way I won the intellectual arguments- I found it much easier to win the ethical arguments. One Obama supporter (she had an Obama hat on) told me that it wasn't personal- that all she was trying to do was make me pay for insuring more poor people and provide better coverage for those who were in need in our nation. I told her that that was personal- my property was not hers to distribute to those who she favored. Her reply was that the government already does it- she mocked me by gloating about all of the liberal projects that my tax money already funds, and mocked me by saying that now that the Democrats were the majority, they were free to take my money and redistribute it for whatever they wished. When I told her that she was proud of tyranny and gloating about taking away my liberty and property, she said "yes, we can" and turned away from the debate, as if tyranny were something to be proud of.

Recently I bought a yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flag, and I brought that to the rally to wave. One lady, who was holding up a 10 foot long banner supporting healthcare (paid for by a special interest group- it had the logo on the back corner), asked me what the flag meant. I told her that my position on this issue as simple- I don't want government to get in my business, to tax me any more, and to let me live my life in freedom and liberty. She scoffed at that- she said it wasn't really a free world because of all the capitalists and private companies that ran the world, and that the only way we can truly be free is if the government runs everything. I think Stalin and Mao made those same arguments.

The highlight of the afternoon came as I was engaged by a supporter of the single-payer system (that's what her sign said), and told me that my view didn't matter at all, and that I should just pay for the increased healthcare and be happy about it. I told her that I was a person who had rights, and she laughed at me, and several of her friends came and told me that I was in the minority now. I started to grow angry, so I began to yell louder and louder that I was a person, that I was endowed by God with rights that no one could take away, and that those rights were life, liberty, and property. These Obamacare supportes laughed at me, and said that I was in the minority, and I began to yell louder and louder yet- the rights were God-given and include my right to live free and to keep and earn property. Liberals may laugh about these things, but I still believe in the Declaration of Independence and the ideas it espouses- revolutionary ideas that say to fight tyranny such as this proposal.

Don't get me wrong- the overwhelming number of people at this healthcare rally were patriots who were waving flags asking to be treated fairly, asking to not pay for government programs with debt, suggesting positive solutions like tort reform or increased competition, and voicing concerns about the constitutionality of the Obamacare program. They were grandmothers and young children, teachers and car workers, and when spoken to, they were good people who frequently had a good grasp of history and economics. They understand that this healthcare proposal is bad, and they were against it, and the only thing that they are hoping that will change is that they want our leaders, our Representatives and Senators, to hear them and their concerns.

UPDATE I: theblogprof has some great pictures from the event up as well, click here to see his post. I'm visable in one of the pictures.

UPDATE II: Welcome readers from Instapundit and Moonbattery!

UPDATE III: Welcome readers from American Power!