The baby boomers protested the war in Viet Nam and changed the world.  Now we’re protesting world-changing stupidity.  Will we succeed this time?

We all think we know how the baby boomers changed the world.  Most of us look at how the world has changed since 1969 through rose-colored glasses; the truth is nowhere near the perception.

We were against the old folks wanting to keep the status-quo, not because it was bad, but because it was there.  We wanted everyone to love one another without accepting the age-old fact that some people are hateful.  The “greatest generation” gave away the world they had protected in World War II to the ignorant children they spoiled in response to the deprivation of the Great Depression.

We wanted to give peace a chance without remembering that all that we had that was good was won by the violent actions of patriots, not by sweet words.  The American Revolution, after King George laughed at our complaints of “taxation without representation”, was not a words thing; it was a bullets and bayonets and suffering for what we have today thing.  We were out to change the world, and we’ve come close to destroying it.

Now we’re at a point in our lives where we want to be like mom and dad, and we’re angry that society is what we made it, not what we want.  What do we do?  Well, we should start by throwing out the progressive ideas we’ve unsuccessfully tried to implement over the last 40 years.

Not everyone is going to be rich, or famous, or beautiful.  Some of us will have to work to get by, not be known or remembered by anyone excepting our family and friends, and when we look in the mirror we may wonder why the good Lord made us so homely.  That’s the fate of 95% of us, and you know what?  It’s okay.

We used to be known as the Silent Majority; now we’re the vocal majority.  If you listen to the politicians we’re criticizing we’re mobsters or tea baggers or some other demeaning name meant to belittle us and marginalize our opinions.  Well, right or wrong we weren’t marginalized in the ‘60s, and if we’re half as smart as we think we are we won’t be marginalized now.

So what do we do?  Start out by educating yourself; if you didn’t pay attention in civics class or you didn’t have a civics class learn how government works.  This country is governed by the rule of law, or at least it’s supposed to be.  The highest law in the land is the Constitution, and it provides a solution to many of the political problems we face today.  Just one amendment to the Constitution, the Tenth, is a fix for all the fog being spewed by the Administration and Congress about healthcare and Cap and Trade.

The 10^th Amendment says “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

In this one, rather short and totally unambiguous sentence all legislation that the current Congress and Administration is attempting to pass concerning healthcare and Cap and Trade is disallowed.  It’s not Constitutional, and when finally passed (and it will be unfortunately) court cases will end up in the Supreme Court, and it will be nullified as unconstitutional.

Remember the original plan presented by President Bush for military commissions to try the terrorists at Guantanamo?  Unconstitutional.  They had to go back to the drawing board and try again.  Same thing here; no matter how much the progressives rant and rave about healthcare being a “right”, it isn’t.  The government does not have the power to charge you or force you to buy something to be a citizen, yet that’s exactly what they’re trying to do with healthcare.  The same goes for Cap and Trade; the government has no authority to legislate what kind of fuel you use or how much you pay for it.  When it gets to the Supremes it will be nullified.

Lots of words to answer “What do we do?”  The short answer is don’t let the government take your rights away.  If no one complains or brings lawsuits over these abuses of power they will become law.  The Supreme Court can only choose to address or not address cases brought to it; it cannot bring suit itself.  An educated and vocal population is needed if we are to remain free.

We already have the vocal part down – remember the ‘60s?  Now it’s time to follow up and educate ourselves.  We must know our Constitutional rights and insist that they are honored.  We must insist that our elected officials tell us what they believe and then hold them to it, firing them if needed to protect our freedom.

We must be vigilant, we must be vocal, and most of all we must vote.