Call 911: Your country is being mugged

When did “we the people” become “we the bystanders”?

It is almost like the United States is being stabbed and raped like Kitty Genovese in that New York City Street in 1964 all over again, with plenty of witnesses but nobody able or willing to help.

A brutal image? Yes, but an apt one.

We cannot say for sure why the apartment dwellers in Queens, N.Y., who heard Genovese’s screams that rainy night when she was murdered didn’t do anything to aid her. They were probably confused, afraid and uncertain of what to do.

Likewise, the American citizenry — watching our country depleted of its resources, choked of its heritage and robbed of its future — seems to be sitting on the sidelines, almost dumbfounded — wishing to do the right thing but paralyzed. Maybe we think someone else is going to save our country for us. Or maybe we just think that it is too late to make a difference — that the victim is bleeding out so rapidly and with so few whimpers that action is pointless.

I’ll admit that sometimes it feels like that, but “Remember the Alamo.” Those defenders of Texas did not give up just because it was hopeless, and neither should we. If there is anything we can do to make a difference, to heal the wounds of our once-mighty republic, to restore the health of our economy, we should do it. And if there is anything we can do to catch the culprits who laid her low, who cut her down, then we should identify them and bring them to justice.

It doesn’t matter where we start either, but it DOES matter that we do start — and that we do NOT give up just because it looks hopeless. Pick a fight — any fight — for freedom, for liberty and for justice and then do your best.

Here’s a headline that got me riled up last week: “Montana to receive $15,598,051 in grants from the new health care law for community health centers.”

That comes from a press release by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was ironically (or intentionally?) issued on May 1, the international socialist holiday known as May Day. Of course, we all know that Obamacare is socialism, but we aren’t supposed to say so. Close your eyes and pretend it never happened. That’s the ticket for getting along these days.

But wait a minute! $15.6 million is a lot of money to be spending in little old Montana, and what does that have to do with health insurance anyway? Why is the federal government shoveling millions of dollars to Montana for community health centers?

Well, as then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said about the Affordable Care Act, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” Well now it has been a couple of years since it was passed, and we are finding out that Obamacare is the mother of all pinatas. There is plenty of stuff in it — and not just for Montana!

Why it turns out there was fully $728 million of goodies passed out to community health centers nationwide. Come to think of it, I am pretty sure Montana got gypped (oops! political correctness alert!) by only getting $15 million! After all, didn’t our permanant Democratic senator, Max Baucus, write one version of the health-care bill and then shepherd it through until the final version got passed?

But don’t worry about spending $728 million when the national debt is rapidly approaching $16 trillion. Don’t even worry about the annual budget deficit of $1.3 trillion. It’s not your problem, citizen! The government has people to worry about these “technical glitches.” You just go about your business, and thank your lucky stars for all the free stuff you can count on from your government for the next few years before it collapses.

Anyway, it turns out that according to good old Max, there’s actually about $9.5 billion in the Affordable Care Act “to expand Community Health Center services nationwide over five years and $1.5 billion to support major construction and renovation projects at community health centers.” In other words, this is the pinata that just keeps giving!

And best of all, Sen. Baucus has got it all figured out so that, according to his press release, “The funding is fully paid for and does not add to the deficit.” Cool! You know what that means, right? The elves got extra busy down at the U.S. treasury printing money so that you and I could get our free contraceptives! Ain’t life grand?

Maybe that’s why we became a nation of bystanders. The pay is right, and excellent benefits. Yep, just shut your eyes, keep your mouth shut, and hit that pinata again! I’m sure there’s more free stuff where those health-center grants came from.

Or else wake up and dial 911! A country is being murdered, and just maybe you can do something to prevent it.