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"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32
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Author:  J. J. Jackson
Bio: J. J. Jackson
Date:  September 12, 2009
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The Rules Of Engagement Are Set

“Battles are ugly affairs,” consoled Santa Claus as he handed young Lucy Pevensie her gifts in the movie telling of C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe” and as war approached.

“Battles are ugly affairs,” consoled Santa Claus as he handed young Lucy Pevensie her gifts in the movie telling of C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe” and as war approached. A few moments later after handing her elder sister a magical bow and arrows without such consolation Susan remarked, “What happened to 'battles are ugly affairs?'” Santa Claus merely laughs because there is a point where one must be grown up enough to not need reassurance in the face of adversity.

Battles indeed are ugly affairs and we are ourselves in one of our own these very days. This battle pits those who believe in liberty and limited government against those that desire power and to oppress. The later claim that by their will alone suffering can be ended by ceding to them some of our liberties. The former know that suffering can never be expunged from the planet and that those desiring power merely make that suffering worse as they pursue their goals.

The latest front in this battle is over government and its control, or more correctly its further control, of the nation’s health care system. It is a system that is already regulated to the hilt where many insurance companies are not allowed to compete for business simply because government has arbitrarily forbidden them from doing so. It is a system where billions (hundreds of billions really) are already spent by government each year on the existing government health plans that they already control like Medicare and Medicaid. Both of these are failing miserably at both getting care for those under these plans and paying providers the prevailing wages for their services. But such failings have not stopped the desire for even more government control from being proposed by those that would not be able to find their asses with both hands.

Some of my regular readers, judging by their emails, are getting a little peeved at me for talking about government’s plans for our health care so much. They say there are other topics to bring to light. But I say that as long as President Obama and his cronies in Congress seeking nothing but an unconstitutional expansion of their power can keep talking about it then so must I. This is the battlefield. This is where they have engaged us. Yes, there are other battles to be waged but I will not remove myself from this point to allow our lines to weaken in order to fight another.

Those of us upon this field and standing up against the radicals who have no care to uphold our laws and the liberty of the American people are winning. So let us continue the fight and not give up and inch of the ground that we have regained since storming into the fight. The enemy is floundering and obviously so. Let us not give them a chance to catch their breath by weakening the counter attack.

What we should not forget as we move forward and continue to advance as we rout them is how we have succeeded in turning the tide of this battle. We have done this great deed by casting off many of the frivolous rules that we have previously saddled ourselves with. For years we have attempted to play by the Marquess of Queensberry Rules while our opponents have not been so generous. When we knocked them down we allowed them to get back up thinking them to be noble. But they are not. When they in turn knocked us down, often after a sucker punch or the use of brass knuckles, they continued to pound and pound. But no more. We have come to realize that battles cannot be won with such a failed understanding of the enemy. The rules of engagement are set by one’s enemy and you must be willing to fight by the same standards as they have set with, I would generously concede, the exception of one. That one is that unlike the enemies of America against which we struggle, there is no need to lie because the truth is so powerful and is always against them.

When you knock them on their hind quarters, you keep beating on them. When you have them on the ropes you do not let them off. When they are bloodied and staggering, but still on their feet, you do not listen to the bell or referee as a sign to stop. You keep hitting them until they fall down regardless of what others tell you.

On Wednesday night President Obama took to the stage to once again plead with the American public to allow him and his fellow travelers to have more control over our health care system. The Constitution did not matter. If it did he would never have made such a plea. History and the truth it shows about such schemes for power are irrelevant to him. If history was important he would have learned the lessons of it and not made such a request.

During the speech Mr. Obama was met with a mighty call from the gallery from one Representative Joe Wilson who flatly called the President a liar. Mr. Wilson since has been the scorn of both the useful idiots who blindly follow the left as well as those on our side, at least supposedly on our side, that still wish to fight against the left by using outdated rules. When Mr. Obama said that the plan to manage the health care system of the United States even more than government already does would not cover illegal aliens that was too much for Mr. Wilson and he spoke up.

The truth? The truth is what will set you free. It is indeed true that the bill, H.R. 3200, specifically states that, "Nothing in this title shall allow federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States." And that sounds all well and good except for other stubborn facts. Those facts? Even Congress’ own research arm has said that the problem with such a proclamation in the bill is problematic because nowhere in the bill is there a method to verify citizenship for those applying under this proposed system. In fact, when Rep. Dean Heller (R- NV) put forth an amendment to give such a procedure to the bill it was shot down. Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) specifically called the plan “unworkable.”

So the bill says that no illegal alien will get the benefit of the plan but we cannot check citizenship status because that would be unworkable? Then by logic the claim that the bill would prevent illegal aliens from benefitting from it is also “unworkable!” The end result is that illegal aliens will scam the system and use this loophole to attain services paid for by the United States tax payer.

But still despite the truth, which is that if you cannot check whether one is a legal citizen or not you cannot guarantee that those who are illegal will not benefit, the left has launched on Mr. Wilson. They have wrung their hands calling it so demeaning and a serious breach of protocol for him to have acted in such a manner. But let us remember that the left has never really cared so much about such things when they had something to say. Remember that it was the left leaning members of Congress that for years heckled George Bush even doing so once by booing him during his State of the Union Address. Also remember that repeatedly we had members of Congress with agendas unkind to liberty help radical loons like those from Code Pink gain access to Congressional hearings and other functions in the Capitol specifically to disrupt. We had members of the Congress compare our soldiers to NAZIs and communists as well as pontificate about how they were cold blooded murderers sometimes even from the floor of Congress itself. And now they attack a Representative who does the same and actually has the truth on his side?

That is disgusting. But it is also typical for leftists who wish to hide their ideas be they socialist, fascist, communist or akin to the national socialists of Germany (aka the NAZIs). My friends, the rules of engagement have been set by the enemy. Battles are ugly affairs, but with the truth on your side and by accepting that you must fight the enemy as they have determined you must we will all be victorious. You are not ignoble for doing such. You are patriots!

J. J. Jackson

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Biography - J. J. Jackson

J.J. Jackson is a libertarian conservative author from Pittsburgh, PA who has been writing and promoting individual liberty since 1993 and is President of Land of the Free Studios, Inc. He is the Pittsburgh Conservative Examiner for Examiner.com. He is also the owner of The Right Things - Conservative T-shirts & Gifts http://www.cafepress.com/rightthings. His weekly commentary along with exclusives not available anywhere else can be found at http://www.libertyreborn.com


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