Timothy Lawton

The last six months have seen the explosion of a new phenomenon, the conservative protester. It began with the Tea Parties early in 2009 and has made for the incredible scenes we have seen recently at Townhall meetings where ordinary citizens are venting their frustration at national political figures. This is the result of the explosion of debt and proposed government takeovers of nearly every aspect of our lives. It is the awakening of Americans to the threat that the ultra-left poses to the values that have made this country great. It is the voice of common sense standing up to an out of control ivory tower federal government. This is the cultural civil war that has been a long time in coming.

For decades the liberals have marched in the streets overtly protesting  and covertly used the courts and social institutions to bypass the American electorate. We have seen their effete socialism crawl into every corner of our society. Their relativism has been used to reorder our culture and traditions. They finally have gone too far. Feeling comfortable with their control of the White House, a fillibuster proof majority in the Senate, and a considerable margin in the House of Representatives they have proceeded to take the federal government to a level of power never envisioned by our Founders. The 787 BILLION dollar “stimulus” bill was their first strike in this war on the America we know. They have tossed bilions at their cronies, virtually taken over the auto industry, and have proposed the largest tax increase in history with their cap and trade bill. Their latest attack, the attempt to takeover our health care system, seems to have been the last straw. Citizens who never dreamed of taking to the streets have now become protesters with all of the accoutrements that go along with it. Signs, chants, and yes the occasional heated confrontation. Many people have realized what the left is up to and understand that if unchecked America as we know it will cease to exist.

I have sat smiling watching old men, young mothers, and countless others challenging the arrogance of our elected officials. Politicians who find it too tedious to actually read the bills that they are signing into law. Politicians who try to explain how we, the ordinary citizen, don’t know the good that they are trying to do for our benefit. The satisfaction that I take in seeing conservatives finally taking to the streets is more than I can express. For a generation, or more, the left has had a near stranglehold on demonstrations. It was the liberal who told us that it was their right to protest. That it was they who were acting on their American liberties. Well, now the tables have turned and they can’t stand it. The San Francisco socialist has likened the conservatives speaking out to Nazis. The President has a handpicked audience for his Townhall and tried to present it as a random crowd. Countless others on the left have tried to characterize the anger and frustration we have seen as unnatural and manufactured. That is fine by me. They do it to their own detriment. If they think that what has been happening over the last several months is not the organic reflection of a true opposition to the “change” they envision they are sadly mistaken. “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it any more!!”

This is the beginning of an open battle in our society. No longer will the leftists control the debate. No longer will they be able to inculcate their mantras into the minds of the people unopposed. College campuses and the media are no longer the sole bastions of the left. The social experiment is over. It is the common sense citizens of this country that must stand up now and loudly. We must take back the government at the ballot box and illuminate the millions who have yet to recognize the threat of the liberal agenda to our American way of life. The socialist state that they propose is the antithesis of everything that this nation is supposed to be about. The federal control of our lives, that they seek, is exactly what our ancestors rebelled against when we demanded our rights as citizens from the British Crown.