If you think we got the American Health Care Act (variously nicknamed RyanCare or TrumpCare) because the conservative establishment has once again sold us down the river, I’ve got some oceanfront real estate in Arizona I’d like to show you. Paul Ryan and Donald Trump are not the problem, we are. Rather, our silence is.
“Silence?!” you ask.
Yes, silence.
While you and I were celebrating our recent electoral successes and laughing at the wailing of anti-Trump snowflakes, the subversives were hard at work #Resisting. What the insurgent Left knows, after decades of making the slow march through the institutions, is that politics is about more than one battle. The Left is fighting a perpetual war; one that is well funded by self-interested partisans and facilitated by trained organizers.
These radicals understand all too well what motivates the political class: the desire for re-election. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his compatriots in Congress know that some action must be taken on the Affordable Care Act or they will lose their positions. Their aim isn’t just a selfish desire to maintain their lifestyle of affluent elitism. It is also an acknowledgement that if they want to achieve their long term goals, they need to be around for the long hall. This requires they get re-elected.
But how do they determine what their chances for electoral success are during the lulls between election cycles? One way is by getting feedback during town hall events when they meet with constituents. I thought conservatives and Tea Party types knew this, because we acted like we knew this eight years ago. But memories are short. While you and I were spiking the ball and praising the God Emperor, groups like Indivisible were mobilizing activists to shout down our elected officials. We’ve all seen the news reports, so eagerly covered by the Democratic Media Complex, depicting constituents as protective of the Affordable Care Act.
Members of Congress like Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) might know in their hearts that their actual constituents want something more than Obamacare-lite, but that isn’t what they’re seeing at their town halls. What they are seeing is a hoary host of opposition. They are also seeing an explosion of “Obamacare saved my life” stories on social media. The fact that such stories are likely the product of professional trolls, or even programmed bots, is something they have neither the time nor the inclination to investigate. For the past month, Republican representatives have been assaulted by a wall of opposition on multiple fronts. In the face of that onslaught, they still had the temerity to put forth this milquetoast bill.
How have we, the grassroots Right, responded? We feed the Leftist narrative by shouting to the wind, and our social media accounts, that the Establishment has betrayed us again. Even our beloved bastion of bravado, President Trump, seems to be pushing for this mere paper cut to the leviathan state. And so we tweet, groan, and post on Facebook. If you are like me, and none of your 25 followers on Twitter happens to be a powerful politician, simply tweeting is not enough. It is time to stop being the polite attendee silently sitting on the sidelines as the #Resistance bullies our representatives. It is time that we break through the illusion that #Resistance voices reflect a majority of the American people, and it isn’t that hard to do.
First, we must take a deep breath and remember who our opponents really are. They are not the good and misguided representatives in the House and Senate who have been cowed by the Left. Those are our good, but deeply imperfect, front-line grunts in the battle to come. Our opponent is the socialist Left and its allies in the Democratic Media Complex who have, through their decades-long march through the institutions, constructed a leviathan state that threatens freedom in all aspects of our lives. The healthcare battle is, in a sense, but a minor skirmish in a much larger war.
Second, we must look carefully at what people like the president are really saying when they offer their “support” for the bill. President Trump said the “wonderful new Healthcare Bill is out for review and negotiation.” He didn’t say that it was out for immediate passage and revolutionary change; he said review and negotiation. That was a clarion call for us to band together and fight for something better. And the way to get that is not by whining that our representatives have betrayed us; it is rather to manfully tell them it is not enough and that we want and expect, and even demand more from them.
Third, given that the last two months have been filled with one final, intense, and massively well-funded anti-repeal push, we have let the Left distract us with feint attacks on former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn and Attorney General Jeff Sessions instead of understanding that our representatives are essentially trapped in a political Bastogne and see themselves surrounded by animosity. We even have Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) competing to see who can do the best impersonation of General McAuliffe as the Mainstream Media demands Republicans surrender and capitulate in the Battle of Obamacare. It is our job as citizen soldiers to play the role of Patton by attacking our opponents and reminding our representatives that we are to fight alongside them.
We must flood the phone lines. We must attend the town halls ready to stand and shout rather than sit and capitulate. We must write letters until their inboxes are overwhelmed. We must transform our tweets into letters to the editor of every press outlet we can think of, and we must hold anti-Obamacare events. We must revive the energy of the all the past Tea Parties.
What is even more amazing is that the sinister side of society has, in its hubris, left us with all the tools we need to defeat them. Indivisible, that risible Leftist astroturf organization, has published a toolkit with everything we need. Let’s use it.
Time to launch our assault on their flank.
We must mock our opposition. Let our representatives know that not only do we want them to fight for us, but we are willing to fight for what we believe in as well. Because if we don’t fight for what we want, what right do we have to expect others to fight for us?