Liberty Postings

So, there was a big rally of conservatives in D.C. today.  Thousands gathered to share their distrust of the government, speak out against President Obama’s plans for health care, and advocate the notion of personal liberty.  On paper, looks like a party I would like to attend.  I consider myself a libertarian, particularly on domestic issues, so I should have stopped at Walgreens and bought some poster board, scribbled down a nifty slogan, and marched with the rest of them.  However, for some reason, I just can’t really get behind it.  The outrage seems somewhat … disingenuous.

The federal government’s swallowing of our liberties and expanding of the welfare state did not suddenly begin on January 20, 2009.  In fact, President George W. Bush did quite the nifty job of expanding the size of government.  Perhaps like many others, I kept thinking, “He’s a Republican.  He’s a conservative.  Surely this madness with the programs and the spending will stop soon and he will remember his core political beliefs.”  Nope.  In fact, I’m not sure if Bush has any core political beliefs.  All of us who claim to be true conservatives, particularly in the fiscal sense, did not speak up loudly enough from 2003-2008 (I’ll give him a pass for the first couple of years … he progressively got worse … and feel free to read “progressively” in multiple ways there).  Why not then?  Why was it not bad enough yet?

I understand, and I agree, that President Obama has set the federal government power train into warp speed.  I support, well, pretty much nothing that he wants to do to our country.  And yes, I do mean “to our country” and not “for our country.”  However, why has the outrage gone from 0 to 100 in no time at all?  Come on, people.  It’s been bad for a long time.  I know that everything has its tipping point and some of President Obama’s ideas certainly can cause one to tip, but usually an anger has been quietly brewing before that point is reached.  Were that many of us really brewing through the Bush administration?  (OK, side note — check out that amazing tea reference I just made there.  Get it?  Brewing tea?  Tea parties?)

I don’t buy the race argument.  With the exception of a a few protesters whose silhouettes likely resemble that of a neanderthal on the evolution chart, I honestly do not believe that most of the people who gathered in D.C. today did so because they are upset about having a black president.  And, my downplaying of the race factor is not because I’m naive.  Believe me, I am far from it.  So, what is it?  If you are a “tea partier” or a “9/12 marcher,” what compels you to participate?  Why now and not last year?  I’d really like to know.