As the President and Vice President cheer with the Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader I sit here this evening and I think of two things:

1.       Will we remember today in coming years as Black Sunday?

2.       What do we do next?

The first point is not nearly as important as the second.  It is time to go on offense.  We have been on defense now for more than a year trying to make politicians and citizens alike understand the consequences of this legislation.  We  have been involved in countless debates.  We have listened to the same talking points expressed time after time, talking points we all know to be false.  I hope to never hear again how satisfied Americans are with other entitlement programs like Social Security.   I contend we are not satisfied with this program.  The problem is so many are dependent upon it.  We have known for decades that the program is in fiscal difficulty and has been since Democrats removed its status as a Dedicated Trust Fund and placed its resources in the General Fund to hide a deficit Johnson was experiencing because of the Vietnam War.  How could anyone intending to retire in ten years be happy with Social Security when the program is bankrupt and likely not to be there in fifteen?

We have been lied to.  We have been ignored.  We have had Congressmen evade questions that do not fit their talking points and more importantly we have been abused by a Congress that presented legislation to our representatives that consumed more than 2,700 pages of print with hidden agreements buried inside where people are likely not to find them.  Then to add insult to injury we have been provided only brief periods to read and digest what was in these bills.  But, to their amazement and surprise, we did this.  We had citizens and members of the Republican caucus read the details and it was the substance in the details we rejected overwhelmingly.  

We have been subjected to corruption and bribery in our Congress.  Chris Dodd got a hospital for Connecticut.  Mary Landrieu got $300 million in aid to Louisiana.  Ben Nelson got exempted from the Medicaid unfunded mandate in Nebraska.   Blanche Lincoln sold her vote in Arkansas.  Floridians are allowed to keep their Medicare Advantage program that was taken from every other state.   North Dakota banks benefitted from an exception regarding student loan programs that are to be decimated in every other state.    Oh for sure, Ben Nelson was in so much trouble in Nebraska that he had his deal eliminated from the Senate Bill but what about the rest?  And, what does this say about the legislative process that created these exceptions to begin with?  Had any one of these Senators had the courage to hold to what they proclaimed to be their convictions cloture would never have occurred on Christmas Eve and we would not yet have a Healthcare Bill.    

I listened to an interview this morning that included both Paul Ryan and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.   Congresswoman Schultz was asked twice about the inclusion of a half billion dollars of Medicare cuts as savings to justify two different programs.  Chris Wallace pointed twice to this and asked Ms. Schultz for a yes or no answer as to whether this was correct and all she would say was that this was no different than any other legislation that is brought before the Congress.  If this is true then we will be correcting more problems than simply Healthcare when we elect a Congress in November to repeal this bill.  

To that end we must be on the offense.  We cannot expect the anger we feel this evening to maintain its same crescendo into November.  To this end we all must be contributing to Republican House and Senate candidates.   We must be involved in the primaries to verify that the candidates we put on the November ballot are conservative candidates willing to stand up to the corruption now in the Congress.  We must support them further with our time and all our energy.  We must wear a button to work, to the movies, to the grocery store, everyplace we go that will identify us as resolved to have our country returned to those who still believe that liberty is more important than safety, that freedom is more important than security. 

Sadly we thought we had some democrat allies in Bart Stupak and his gang of twelve.  In the end Stupak was satisfied with an Executive Order that proclaims that federal funds may not be used to finance abortions.  I would like Mr. Stupak to explain how an Executive Order was able to resolve his public concerns?  Executive Orders are not legislation.  They are directives by one man that can be eliminated in a heartbeat by that same president or the next.  It does not trump legislation.  Further there are Constitutional questions as to where the president gets the authority to sign an executive order that impacts more than the Executive Branch.   Sadly again we are watching as our Constitution is summarily ignored and the Congress and the President make up rules as they move along. 

We need not be at their mercy.  We know that the crush to include Stupak was to allow others who were prepared to vote yes to vote no and provide them cover for the fall elections.  We must regard every democrat as being behind this bill regardless of how they voted.  To do otherwise could result in the retention of a wolf in sheep’s clothing in the Congress.  Our goal needs to be a 2/3 majority in the House and a minimum of 51 Senators in 2011 to control all legislation.  Further, when we gain this majority we cannot do what Trent Lott did and act like milquetoast toward the democrats in an effort to be magnanimous.  We also cannot ever allow a shameful display of disenfranchisement that was demonstrated this past year by Pelosi and Reid.  We must be open and transparent but we must control the legislation and repay democrats for this vote that was shoved down our throats by pushing this Healthcare Bill back up their a**.   Our goal in 2012 must be a veto proof supermajority in the Senate.  There will be 29 Democrats and 4 Republicans seats up for re-election in that year.  More than half of these seats in conjunction with a 51% majority in 2010 would give us a veto proof majority in the Senate.  Hopefully we will have removed Obama as well but we can’t rely on that assumption.  We need a Congress that is intent on reversing this legislation before people become dependent upon it in 2014.  I refer to this as my 2/3 Movement.  Get a button that says 2/3 on it.  Make people ask what it means.  When they ask, tell them and tell them why it is so important to reverse a dangerous trend that has begun where the Congress has demonstrated a desire to rule, not to govern. 

I invite you all to do what I have done.  I haven’t money to contribute so I am contributing my time.  I was elected by my precinct caucus to be a Precinct Leader during these next two years.  I am an elected delegate to the Colorado Congressional Assembly and the Colorado State Assembly.  I will be there to do my best to ensure we nominate conservative candidates  and replace a Democrat seat in the US Senate with a Republican.   I challenge everyone to do at least as much.  Those without the time who have the money, contribute to conservative candidates.  Do this not only in your state but help replace Senators like Boxer in California, Lincoln in Arkansas, et al with Republicans in 2010.