The organization ACORN has been in the news lately in a rather dishonorable way. ACORN is an acronym for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and was established in the early 1970′s for purposes of helping and assisting the poor in getting better housing and improved wages, more community development investment from banks and governments, better public schools and other social justice issues. Sounds all very honorable and deserves praise when achieving such goals.

            Then why is such an organization in the news? For the most part, do-gooders who dedicate their lives to helping others do not make the news, whether or not in the press or on television. Must be something else then and as most of us know, it is something else that gets ACORN into the nearly daily news cycles. In the most recent national elections, ACORN concentrated largely on voter registration and assisting people to get to polling places on Election Day. Again, at first sight, there is nothing wrong with it. But then complaints were heard across the land about “voter registration fraud”. Newly registered voters lists were found to be fraudulent including the likes of Mickey and Minny Mouse and members of the Dallas Cowboys Football team in Nevada. This prompted several federal and local investigations and led not only to indictments of individual ACORN workers but also convictions in several States. For some people it was also troubling when it was made public that Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign had given about $800,000 to ACORN for ‘getting out the vote efforts’ across America. Since Barack Obama told us with pride that he had been a Community Organizer in Chicago in years past, this did not quite pass the smell test for some but it was explained as totally above board and appropriate. We here at Common Sense University do not believe that voter turn-out by ACORN was the major reason that Mr. Obama became President. But we do question if the newly seated Senator from Minnesota, comedian Al Franken did not decisively benefit from voter registration and turn-out fraud in that particular contest?

            But then came a couple of young people onto the national scene: A documentary film maker named James O’Keefe and a young journalism student named Hannah Giles. They decided one day to check into the  day-to-day inner workings of ACORN by posing as a pimp and a prostitute, seeking advise to open up a whorehouse with illegal immigrants, under-age girls from Central America. They secretly filmed their talks with ACORN staffers and it was shocking what they heard. When they published videos from various ACORN offices across America on a website last month, it was a real eye opener for most Americans. Here were these young guys, a 26-year old man and a 20 year-old girl, dressed in such ridiculously wacko clothing, they should have been asked to leave the offices right away. Instead, there were given truly detailed advise by several ACORN employees how to beat the system and cheat the government by not disclosing their true business intentions.

            While the main-stream media tried to ignore this brewing scandal at first, they eventually had to report this story when State and Federal government agencies cut their ties with ACORN and barred, at least temporarily, any additional funding for ACORN. And what was ACORN’s initial response? They denied the facts as shown on the video tapes, considered them edited and therefore false and threatened to sue the two people who made them. Then we heard that those employees on the tapes had been fired and that ACORN would now launch a detailed investigation into the matter and also re-organizing the operation.

            This is great news but it is the equivalent of ‘closing the barn door after the horses ran out.’ That should fix it, right? We do not think so because this seems to be deeper than just what we saw on those tapes and it begs the question: How many other people who visited ACORN offices were given advise as to how to beat the system, subvert the law and cheat the government? If anybody wants to believe that these five interviews were the only occasions where this happened, we have to seriously ask you on what planet you have been living?         The eagerness and willingness to “help” the “pimp and the prostitute” cannot possible be limited to those few ACORN employees in different offices from Maryland to California. This appears to be the result of some basic training and firm direction given to the work force at this community serving organization and common sense should tell us that. Combine this with voter registration fraud and other nefarious activities by this operation, we believe that this requires a very systemic and deep-rooted investigation into all their activities since they have received vast sums of money from the Federal, State and local governments. We should demand this since it is our taxes that are being used to fund these operations.

            In the meantime and until all this is all cleared up and cleaned out, we would give the acronym ACORN a different name: How about American Criminals Organizing Rapacious Nonconformists?

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpheXxu9vM0]

At least they are consistent.  The Nobel Peace Prize has lost credibility over the years but this year’s decision may be the one that kills this honor for others in the future.

            The annual ritual of the September United Nations General Assembly meetings is over for 2009 and Common Sense University has to wonder why this remains to be the much publicized event that it has been for nearly half a century. Yet compared to previous years, the 2009 event was humorous. Every year it seems, some so called “world leader” has been trying to make headlines such as when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a few years ago stated that he could still smell the sulfur while speaking a few hours after President George Bush had addressed the assembly, comparing the U.S. President to the devil.

            This years speaking marathon began on September 23 and the opening act was our very own President, Barack Obama. While United Nations protocol calls for all speeches to be about fifteen minutes long, Mr. Obama could not bring himself to set a good example. Apparently, he just could not put all his apologies to the world about America’s misdeeds of the past into such a time limit. So he spoke for 35 minutes and gave his trusted teleprompter a good workout. We have to assume that all U.N. member nations were present and that this talk was possible the final apology by our President.

            He was soon followed at the podium by the President of Libya, Moammar Quaddafi who attended this event for the first time. Was it any wonder that he had a lot to say? Of course not! He spoke for 96 minutes and drove his personal translator into total exhaustion. He looked tired since he had had apparently a hard time in the days before to find a place where the authorities let him pitch his tent. But that did not mean that he did not have to say quite a bit. For instance, he wanted the United Nations to open up an investigation into former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination back in 1963 to clarify if President Kennedy had not been a victim of a Jewish conspiracy back then. But he had more to say. He referred to Barack Obama as his son based on the fact that Obama had an African born father. He suggested to the U.N. that the Security Council should from now be called the “Terror Council”. The only thing notable he suggested with which we here at this site can sort of agree with was his suggestion that the United Nations headquarters should be moved to Libya. Parts of his rationale were the severe traffic jams in New York. All in all, it was a remarkable speech based on the fact that it was so totally irrational, ridiculous and absurd.

            Later that day, Iranian President Mahmood Ahmadinejad took the podium and as his style, he found nothing good to say about anybody other than himself and his country. Quite a few delegations of various countries left the hall during his speech and many of them did not even show up for it in the fist place. But that did not stop him from telling everybody how evil they all were. He denied the holocaust once again and made threats against Israel and the United States as well as their allies.

            On the following day, the only substantive speech for the entire session was delivered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He challenged the United Nations membership how they could give a platform to speak in this place to a holocaust denier. He then presented visual and factual evidence that this event, the holocaust, had taken place in Europe under the Nazi dictatorship over sixty years ago. He complimented those countries whose representatives had not shown up for Ahmadenijad’s speech and those who had walked out during the speech. Then he asked those who had sat there during that speech: “Have you no shame, have you no decency?” He followed this up with a strong pitch for peace for the Israeli people and he invited all neighboring countries to come to the negotiation table to discuss this issue and he cited the fact that Israel had peace with Egypt and Jordan. He also defended the right of Israel to defend itself against attacks by its enemies.

            All other speeches paled in comparison since they all lacked substance. Hugo Chavez confirmed later that day that the sulfur smell was gone from the podium area and that it smelled like “Hope”, an apparent reference to President Obama.           

            In summary, this entire event was a farce as it has been in years past and it served no other purpose than varying degrees of ego gratification for the “world leaders” and the accompanying glamorous receptions and dinner affairs at the expense of the United Nations budget. It obviously does not matter that most speakers rule their countries like dictators, despots and tyrants, support worldwide terrorism and kill or jail political opponents in their own countries, whether or not they are complying with or openly defying United Nations protocol, rules and regulations, adhere to United Nations decisions and abide by Security Council resolutions and sanctions. That’s why we call this organization and all its operations a farce!

            It does not matter, once you are a member of the United Nations, you belong to the club and  you can give speeches in New York, do as you please at home, vent your anger at the United States of America and call this country of ours anything you want to. The nice thing about all this is that you cannot be thrown out of the U.N. and it does not cost them really too much money in terms of membership since the so called “rich” countries of the world carry the financial burden of this operation; the United States of America paying nearly a quarter of the budget, an amount of nearly five billion dollars.

            But this could change since these same country’s dictators now have someone in the White House whom they like and who has apologized for past American transgressions against them, maybe we will see a more peaceful world in the near future. But do not hold your breath. We here at this site believe the opposite will be the reality since Obama’s appeasement (apologies) policies are naïve and since appeasement has never worked in the past.

           Common Sense University wants to start this article with a question: Is there still Racism in America? The answer is simple: Yes, there is! We will end this article with an answer to the question: Where is the Racism today in America?  But let us take it one step at a time. The passage of civil rights and the voting rights laws by the Federal government in the 1960′s presented the first real foundation for racial equality. Until that time, some States in the Union had established civil rights equality for all but it was not the case in all States. The older folks among us remember the pictures of Governors blocking school doors to not let black children enter, the police dousing civil rights marchers in many places and arresting black civil rights advocates.

            These times are back well over forty years in our country’s history and the struggles to achieve true equality were hard and it took many years to see any significant results. Courts across the country decreed racial integration in schools and major busing programs of students were taking place, bussing black kids to ‘white schools’ and vice versa. The children born in those years – the 1960′s – grew up mostly in integrated environments and are now parents themselves, rearing their children and teaching them to be ‘colorblind’ when it comes to skin color as they themselves were brought up to be.

            Fast forward to the past ten or more years. There is no athlete who has the undivided adoration of people of all skin colors, not only across America but throughout the world, than Tiger Woods. Every tournament he enters, he is being followed not only by thousands of spectators around the golf course but also by millions of viewers in this country. When he wins a tournament, the people cheer and share the joy of his success, when he loses, these same people agonize with him and just hope that it will work out better the next time. He is admired and even idolized by untold millions who like to cheer him on and hope for him to break all records in professional golf and therefore become the most successful golfer of all times. And think about it: Golf is a sport where America has had hero’s in the past that were equally idolized, men such as Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus and many like them in earlier years, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead to name just two. And guess what, they were all white men!

            Now then, why would today’s golf enthusiasts cheer for a black man to break all existing records and be the all time winningest golfer if there was still deep-rooted racism in America? The truth is: It is not no longer deep-rooted in white America, plain and simple! And it is not just Tiger Woods who enjoys this level of adoration among all people, every town in the country has local heroes who are black. For example, San Diegans admired Tony Gwynn, a baseball player for the San Diego Padres throughout his professional career and he is still held in very high esteem. The same holds true today for Ladainian Tomlinson, the star running back of the San Diego Chargers football team. There are more Gwynn and Tomlinson sports jerseys with their respective names and numbers on them by white kids in Southern California and elsewhere (not just in San Diego) than one can count. True deep seated racism would not make parents buy those jerseys for their kids.

            But it is not only in sports where we seem to have naturally integrated. Interracial marriages and dating in general everywhere is the norm, almost all workplaces in America are ‘colorblind’ if we can call it that. Identification and association by skin color only is a thing of the past. The incredible phenomenon from years past and we speak of the sixties and before called ‘white-flight’ when a black family moved into a neighborhood is just that, a phenomenon of a by-gone era. A white family is not selling their home immediately after a black family moves in next door, that too is a thing of the past.

            We could cite numerous examples where integration and with it color-blindness has been achieved in real terms and actualities, instead we want to now answer the last question as we promised above: Where is the racism today in America? It remains in the minds of black civic leaders and liberal elites, plain and simple! We have no evidence that black America in general still thinks in terms of racism, we would hope not and instead want to believe that they have begun to trust ‘white America’ as being sincere in their daily lives and not harboring any racist views and prejudicial sentiments against the black population. If it would be otherwise, what could the average white man and woman do to make them believe that they are not? How do you prove otherwise?

            Back to our statement as to who still harbors thoughts of racism. We have simply come to this conclusion on the basis of fact that they are the only ones who are still talking about it! Another reason that there are currently bringing up racism is the emerging vocal opposition to President Barack Obama. The people who are critical of him and his policies are opposed to that on the basis of their personal beliefs and not as a result of their dislike for Obama because he is a black man. Therefore, the ‘liberal elites’ conclude that they, the opponents of Obama must be racists? This is the most vile and slanderous rationale for bringing up racism in our  opinion. Barack Obama would not have been elected to the White House had it not been for millions of ‘white’ voters in all regions of America. That is acknowledged by all but they claim the facts remain that white America is still racists and they want us to believe this! And the “they” include former President Carter who would be wiser to stay mute in today’s world instead of making a fool of himself by talking this nonsense.

            Now while we can see a motive for black civic leaders to continue the racism issue, after all, their power base came and still comes from the furtherance of the black’s suffrages and so, they have to keep this alive, we have to question the sincerity of the liberal elitists. For example, why would Newsweek magazine publish an article in a recent issue that questions whether or not white babies are born racists?  In fact, they showed on their cover a picture of a small baby and asked: “Is your Baby Racist?” This is outrageous! In addition, for them to blame racism as the basis for the opposition of President Obama’s frantic efforts to overhaul the American health care system is libelous. For any of these self-proclaimed liberal know-it-alls to come out publicly and say or write so is the ultimate insult to Americans of all colors, at least, it should be! When America objected to then President Clinton’s efforts to nationalize health care in the early nineties it was not racism but now when America largely objects to President Obama’s attempts to do the same, it is? Only idiots or arrogant liberal elitists would come with that kind of illogical nonsense!

            What is shameful about all this is the fact that it does not help the general population to continue or become more be colorblind but opens up old wounds of prejudice that should be left alone. After all, the word racism is the ugliest word in America and should not be used accusatorily and in an irresponsible way to further ideological or political goals!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G44NCvNDLfc]

Wow!  This is a perfect example of a congressman exercising common sense.

Thanks Mike.

            Yes, Mr. President, you have lost credibility with a majority of the American people, they do not trust you anymore! They have heard you now numerous times on health care reform in various formats: Town hall meetings, press conferences, at gatherings at the White House and most recently addressing a joint session of Congress. And it seems, the more you talk, the less they – the average Americans – believe what you are saying. To them, it appears as if you are still on the campaign trail and using your rhetorical skills with your reliable teleprompter.

            The American public in 2008 was looking for change, this is true. They were tired of the Bush administration who, over an eight year period had according to the liberal media outlets done nothing right. And since John McCain was considered too much of a continuation of Bush policies (besides being an ineffective campaigner in comparison to you). And so, a majority of voters decided to give you a chance and pulled the lever for you in early November of last year.

            Mr. President, you are eight months in office, yes, you are the President, and we wonder when you finally will assume the burden of this esteemed office? Every speech of yours starts with a strong reminder that all of our ills in America are the result of what the previous administration did and that you inherited an incredible “mess” and that you are trying to fix it. Then, start doing it, stop talking about it! The people of America are getting awful tired of your ‘buck passing’ and are wondering: When will he stop acting this childish? Your excuses sounding more and more like the well known excuse of school children “The dog ate my home work!”

            Another thing that is grating the average citizens: You are on television more often and longer than the network anchors on ABC, CBS and NBC. And since you are still the darling of the main stream media, their cameras are rolling whenever you are seen in public. We call this OVEREXPOSURE and it is not helping you at this time. We are not psychiatrists here at this website but have to wonder if this has to do with your apparent ego gratification complex? A lot of people are now saying to themselves when they see on television: “Oh, no, is he on the tube again?” And they turn you off. We think this is reflected in your falling poll numbers after each major speech or town hall appearance. There appears to be a growing credibility gap in the minds of people when they hear you talk. We don’t have to tell you this but credibility and trust are commodities that are very easily lost but very, very hard to get back.

            Over the past few months, the American people have heard you speaking about health care reform and you have made some unbelievable statements: You have accused doctors around the country as making decisions based on profit motives. For instance: Instead of treating people for diabetes, you have suggested that doctors make more money ‘amputating’ feet at a vastly excessive price (you suggested $30,000 to $50,000 when in fact the doctors only get about $800 to $1,200 for such an operation). That is outrageous and quite indefensible! A man in your position cannot afford to make these kinds of “bloopers”.  This is the kind of stuff we laugh at and expect from Saturday Night Live but not from the President of the United States.

            Finally, your speech to the joint session of Congress contained so many falsehoods and irresponsible promises, it was in our opinion a lousy performance for a President and whether or not you yourself believe this stuff, your advisors should protect you from making these kinds of giant mistakes because this is what makes you lose the respect of the citizenry and with it credibility and their trust!

            It was all well-intentioned: President Barack Obama was to address the school children of America from Kindergarten to Grade 12 on September 8 and encourage them to do the best they could do, share some examples of his own education years and so on. And there had been precedents, Obama was not the first President to do so. President Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush had done so in 1988 and 1991 respectively.

            Nobody questioned this initially but then it became known that the federal Department of Education had or was about to issue to all school teachers so called “Lesson plans”, a two-page outline for grades K through 6 and a four-page plan for grades 7 through 12. In it were the following suggestions for the students to respond to after they heard the President speak: 

• What is the President trying to tell me?
• What is the President asking me to do?
• What new ideas and actions is the President challenging me to think about?
• What specific job is he asking me to do?
• Are we able to do what President Obama is asking of us?
• Write down about what you can do to help the President?

 ….and there were many more such ‘suggestions’ to teachers from the Department of Education. When this became better known across the country, there was a resulting loud response from parents. They considered this outrageous and responded the only way they could by announcing that they would keep their children home from school that day. Responding to this, the Department of Education issued revised ‘lesson plan’ suggestions as in one particular issue. They changed the sentence relating to “helping the President” to “Why is it important to listen to your elected officials?

            These revisions were slightly less ‘offensive’, yet the damage had been done. One has to wonder why the brains in the Department of Education even considered such lesson plans? Are they so arrogant and ‘all-knowing’ that they did not think that the children of those sixty million citizens who did NOT vote for Obama might have heard from their parents opposing view points as to those of the President? Why not just leave it with the address by the President to the school children instead of injecting some “follow-up” action and discussions?

            Did they not recognize the tremendous uproar across the United States during August when thousands of concerned citizens energetically protested President Obama’s health care reform plans (resulting in the falling poll number for Obama) only to follow it up with a speech to all students coupled with some follow-up actions by the kids? These people must be blinded by their power and simply keep on pushing in the wrong direction.

            Speaking for myself here, I was born in the 1930′s in Germany and know from my own experience how easy it is to “indoctrinate” children. I am asking myself: How long will it be before the Democrat Party controlled Congress passes and the President signs into law that there will be a picture of the President in every classroom in America? This could then be followed in due time with a slightly changed version of the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ that could then be changed from ‘One nation under God’ to “One nation under President Obama’.

            I realize this will make many people cringe and others will simply declare me crazy. Let me all remind you that Adolf Hitler’s picture was not placed in every classroom on the day he became Chancellor (Kanzler) of Germany but very shortly thereafter. We should all stay vigilant and be alert and speak up loudly when things like this happen in our great country!

             Simply for the record, we like to state here: While there was opposition to President Obama’s speech to all school children, primarily from parents and local school officials but not the Republican party in general, back in 1991, the Democrats in Congress – being in the majority at that time – raised major objections to President George H. W. Bush’s speech to school children and even held public hearings in Congress on this and investigated the issue challenging its constitutionality. In our opinion, “what’s good for the goose, should be good for the gander.” It seems, the Democrats have never heard this before, or maybe, certain rules do not apply to them. We call this hypocritical, plain and simple!

            It has been a while since Common Senses University addressed in an article this year’s health care reform proposals. In fact, we posted an article on July 27 entitled ‘America – stop these monstrosities’ and it was our prediction at the time that the massive healthcare reform and the environmental ‘Cap-and-Trade’ bills would not be passed by Congress before the August recess. Well, we were correct and the only thing that did happen was a huge House committee approving a healthcare reform bill. Remember, it was just a committee and it never made its way for a vote in the House of Representatives.

            However, this particular piece of legislation passed narrowly (31:28, only Democrats voting for it) along party lines by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on July 31 of this year has been called

HR (House Resolution) 3200 – America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 and it is 1016 pages long.

Procedurally, it can now go to the full House of Representatives for a vote this month. Passing this giant piece of legislation by the Committee, it was now posted on the Internet and it has been looked at and analyzed by thousands of citizens ever since. Just for purposed of comparison, the Old Testament of the Bible has 1347 pages and is divided into 46 books, a mere 330 pages more than this legislation. But while the Bible can be read by a person, this bill is so full of lawyerly language and cross referenced to other legislation, it is nearly impossible to comprehend and fully understand its content.

            The month of August brought us hundreds if not thousands of so called Town Hall meetings across the country and it really got noisy. The people of America do not like this bill for a vast variety of reasons! But we do not want to go into the details of this bill, instead we like to focus on the size of this legislation and therefore repeat the question: Who wrote this? We cannot believe that it is truly the product of recent discussions, suggestions, debate, and dialogue or grass-root development by our legislators in Washington D.C. In fact, almost all Representatives and Senators holding these town hall meetings acknowledged that they had not read the bill and were not aware of many if not most of the provisions within.

            As a matter of fact, one such Congressman, Mr. John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan even mocked the suggestion that he should read this bill before voting on it. He called it complete nonsense to do so because he would have to have a couple of lawyers sitting with him for a few days to walk him through it and explain things to him. Even President Barack Obama admitted that he was not familiar with the particulars and specifics of HR 3200 but he kept on pushing for its passage during the three town hall meetings he conducted in August.

            But to the question: Who wrote this? We can only base our opinion here on common sense and some comparison with other documents dealing with complex issues: We think this bill - HR3200 – as it is called is nothing more than wish list of liberal ideology, assembled over many years of just that, namely wishful thinking with one main purpose overriding everything else: To gain power and control over a large sector of American life!  To support our statement, we like to call your attention to the eagerness by the Democrats in Congress in that they want to rush this giant legislation through both houses for the Presidents signature as soon as possible, preferably by the middle of this month. Their ridiculous name calling and slandering of opponents to HR3200 speaks volumes. The main objective is to just pass this bill and then leave it to the bureaucrats and lawyers and eventually courts to sort it all out and implement it in the coming months and years.

            This is a most shameful act by our elected Representatives in Congress – voting for a bill of this magnitude without reading and fully understanding it without regard for future expenditures and additional debt burdening to this country. Time will tell if it will happen and who wins out: the power hungry people in Congress or the will of the people as they in a majority are clearly against this monstrosity.

            In conclusion, we might not know “who wrote this” but we will know for sure who will vote for it and while the American people even in a majority cannot stop congressional action now, they most certainly can remember who voted for this legislation next year during the 2010 mid-term elections and can do something about it by not re-electing them.

            Well now, this does not sound correct, right? There are no Olympic events this year. Everybody should know this and so do we. We just decided on this title to summarize the major activities of the month of August. There were no Olympic events in the true sense, no medals were handed out, no national anthems were heard and yet, the television viewers were focused on this year’s real events, they were called Townhall meetings!

            Since Congress closed its doors in late July and early August, there have been hundreds of these so called town hall meetings for the purpose of having constituents meet with their respective Congressional representatives both in the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. Yet in terms of drama, suspense, excitement and also applause, quite a few of these public meetings were equal to regular summer Olympics. This year’s number one topic is, as everyone knows, healthcare reform legislation by the Federal Government. We personally have never seen such outpouring of public interest and emotion at any time during the past 45 years

            Of course, there is a very good reason for all this: Healthcare and the potential reform affects everybody in this country. While a vast majority of Americans is happy and content with their current healthcare, there are supposedly, according to President Obama, 47 million uninsured people living in this country. Many experts have tried to analyze and break down this number and almost all have concluded that it includes approximately 10 to 12 million illegal aliens (who should not be here in the first place). Removing this group, it would leave about 35 million uninsured of which twenty million fall into the category of the 19 to 30 year olds who feel, they do not need health insurance for a variety of reasons: A. They are healthy, B. It is too expensive, C. They rather spend this kind of money on the things they prefer to have and so on. That leaves roughly 15 million people who do not have health insurance. This number is about five percent of the American population.

            Now then, why do we have to drastically overhaul a system, representing sixteen percent of the economy when less than five percent are uninsured? The answer is very simple: It is called Socialized medicine, pure and simple! That has been a dream for the Democrats in America for a long time and with their overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress and a Democrat President, they now think that this is the time to go for it. Never mind the cost or consequences. Committees in the House of Representatives produced legislation before the summer recess one of which is over a thousand pages thick. It did not get to the floor of the House for a vote but is expected to be ratified in early September when they return. The bill is called HR 3200. The U.S. Senate has not reached that point as of now as they try to reach a bi-partisan bill but have not been successful to date.

            But the folks across the country heard about all this and many even read all 1000 pages of HR 3200 and now confronted their representatives during townhall meetings and it got quite exciting when these Representatives found out that their constituents had many questions for which they had no answers and tried to get away with truly lame responses. This infuriated many voters and it got at times hot and loud. People were yelling and they spoke up forcefully to express their anger over this healthcare overhaul.

            This was responded by the Democrats as follows: These people were ‘Un-American’ and nothing more than organized ‘mobs’ and they even compared them to  swastika-wearing ‘Nazis’. Other Democrats accused the Republicans of organizing these people and Representative Dingell of Michigan said that these meetings reminded him of a time during the 1960′s when he voted for Civil Rights legislation and his opponents were wearing KKK sheets. Outrageous statements in all and yet, it did not work.

            The public is slowly but surely convincingly opposed to this major legislation and government take-over and all polls indicate this. The President spent over a week to defend the necessity of comprehensive health care reform but he could not be specific, admitted that he was not too familiar with some of the provisions in HR 3200 and repeatedly blamed the health insurance industry, doctors who charged too much for amputations and Republicans for opposing his plans for universal health care reform.

            This all had no effect on the public as a whole and as of this day, a majority of Americans is opposed to this legislation and the next weeks should be interesting for us all to find out how far the Democrats are willing to go in passing such massive reform and if they are willing to ignore the majority of their constituents who oppose such action. If anything, it calls for exciting times ahead but until now, we conclude that while there were no medals handed out, the score is: A majority of Americans get points for standing up to Congress and President Obama and the Democrats including the President get nothing.

            In more precise terms, it is American constituents: One, Democrats in Congress: Zero! Stay tuned, Common Sense University will keep a close eye on the events as they will occur and unfold during the next weeks and months.

            As we did last week, we are presenting excerpts of a speech delivered on May 8, 2009 by Hillsdale College Associate Professor of Art Anthony Frudakis at the dedication of a statue of Abraham Lincoln. We are reprinting this article as follows: “Reprinted by permission from Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College.”

Allen C. Guelzo is the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era and Director of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College. A two-time winner of the Lincoln Prize, his books include Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America and Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America.

The following are excerpts from a speech delivered at Hillsdale College on May 8, 2009, at the dedication of a statue of Abraham Lincoln by Hillsdale College Associate Professor of Art Anthony Frudakis.

Part 1:  ”All Honor to Jeferson“

So what is there of the hero in the statue we dedicate here today? If we mean by ‘hero’ merely a sword-swinging swashbuckler on a spree, we will find little of that here (and in fact, it’s noticeable that in genuinely heroic statues of real soldiers, like the St. Gaudens of William Sherman in Central Park or the Henry Merwin Shrady statue of Ulysses Grant at the U.S. Capitol, no swords are ever swung). But this is because heroism is not about skull-cracking. It is, first of all, about profound moral conviction. The face of this Lincoln is set, not in excitement or antagonism, but in conviction. “I expect to maintain this contest until successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires, or Congress or the country forsakes me,” he wrote to Secretary of State William Seward in the summer of 1862, when things appeared bleak for the cause of the Union. Especially, Lincoln was single-minded in his commitment to emancipation. “While I remain in my present position,” Lincoln said in 1863, “I shall not attempt to retract or modify the emancipation proclamation; nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation.” And if, he added a year later, “the people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to perform it.” As he himself said, “I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.”

But heroism cannot be only a matter of conviction, since conviction and mere stubbornness are easy to confuse. The hero must also be the possessor of ability, and be conscious of that ability without any self-flattering hubris. People routinely underestimated Lincoln. After his election, one indignant newspaper editor demanded, “Who will write this ignorant man’s state papers?” That editor needn’t have worried. “Any man who took Lincoln for a simpleminded man,” said his old friend and legal associate, Leonard Swett, “would very soon wake [up] with his back in a ditch.” Swett especially remembered the deceptive shrewdness with which Lincoln conducted matters: “He kept a kind of account book of how things were progressing for three, or four months, and whenever I would get nervous and think things were going wrong, he would get out his estimates and show how everything on the great scale of action-the resolutions of Legislatures, the instructions of delegates, and things of that character-was going exactly as he expected.” No wonder that two years into the Civil War, Lincoln’s secretary, John Hay, could marvel that “the old man sits here and wields like a backwoods Jupiter the bolts of war and the machinery of government with a hand equally steady and equally firm. . . . There is no man in the country, so wise, so gentle and so firm. I believe the hand of God placed him where he is.”

Still, conviction and ability can often wilt in the face of antagonism, and Lincoln suffered enough antagonism to make the word fail on the lips. This statue shows a Lincoln of conviction and ability, but also of perseverance. Not angry defiance-for that, the hands would not be clasped behind him, but closed as fists in front of him, and the face would be contorted with rage. Instead, Lincoln’s face is set, composed, unblinking in the face of reality. The hands are joined, almost as a symbol of the Union he is determined to preserve-but notice that they are kept behind. Were they crossed before him, it would mean an end of forward motion. No, the man must lead the Union. He must endure a hurricane of abuse, and reconcile himself even to the prospect of failure, without whimper or casting blame; but he must always be prepared to move forward. Early in his career as an Illinois legislator, Lincoln said, “The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.”

Francis Carpenter, who would go on to paint one of the greatest historical canvasses in American history, the First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, understood how the old masters of the old world “had delighted in representations of the birth from the ocean of Venus, the goddess of love,” drifting in sweetly to shore on the half-shell. But the new republic in the new world had witnessed a far greater birth-what Carpenter called “the immaculate conception of Constitutional Liberty.” Ninety years after being conceived in liberty, the republic had experienced a new birth of freedom: “The long prayed for year of jubilee had come; the bonds of the oppressed were loosed; the prison doors were opened.” Surely, Carpenter believed, a voice might proclaim from heaven: “Behold…how a Man may be exalted to a dignity and glory almost divine, and give freedom to a race. Surely Art should unite with Eloquence and Poetry to celebrate such a theme.” Today, it has, and this statue is the mark. For a moment, the heroic has reasserted itself-not the reeking heroic of kings and emperors, but the heroic republican citizen, in broadcloth rather than in uniform…armed with conviction, perseverance and ability rather than a sword…standing, and always facing forward to the light.