Heads Up! We've Won Some Victories!

July 20, 2007

By Tom DeWeese, American Policy Center

So many in the freedom movement are quick to accept the idea that we cannot win against the forces of tyranny. They are dragging their chins on the ground and sit in despair. Darned if I understand why.

2007 and the Democrat-controlled Congress has been one of the greatest tests for the ideas of limited government and preserving the Republic. Forgive me for sounding like Pollyanna, but so far, we are winning. Frankly, this Congress has failed to pass a single significant piece of legislation to hurt us. Of course that can change quickly, but we can face that when it comes. For now, stop fretting and look at the bright side.

First, the defeat of the Senate Immigration bill is without question, the greatest victory for the Republic in at least a decade. While many have lamented that the American people are asleep, paying no attention to issues of the day, the fact is a full 80% of the American people opposed the guest worker scheme and saw it was truly amnesty for illegals. They saw the threat and said so.

The Senate and the White House, not used to an enflamed electorate, continually tried their usual flimflam tactics of ignoring the will of the people. Not this time. Americans hated this bill and said so. The Senate got more phone calls and more letters than on any issue in recent memory. The Senate switchboard was shut down. And it DID NOT PASS.

Of course they will try again. Who said Freedom is easy to preserve.

The North American Union. We're told this is a done deal. Can't stop it. Wanna bet? Even with virtually no national media to expose it, the word is spreading like wildfire. As a result, currently 18 state legislatures have now passed, or are working to pass, resolutions against the idea of a North American Union.

The Teamsters Union has filed suit to stop the Bush Administration's plan to allow Mexican trucks to cross our borders and haul good throughout the nation. The suit is shining a very bright spotlight on the scheme and could well sidetrack the program.

Keep in mind; all of the Americans who stood up to oppose the immigration bill are potential allies in the fight against the North American Union. It's the same issue in different wrapping.

In Texas, just a year ago, state legislators basically denied there even was a Trans Texas Corridor. Just a highway improvement program, they said. Yet, just one year later, in landslide margins, the Texas Legislature voted overwhelmingly to put a moratorium on the project so more discussion could take place. That was a major victory.

True, many of the legislators lost their nerve at the last minute and put in amendments to basically cut the teeth out of the bill. But first we must remember that the vote in itself was an amazing victory to expose the corridor. There can be no denial that the vote was to stop the TCC. The people of Texas said no to that Corridor. Now they must continue the fight by exposing those legislators who betrayed them. The momentum of the first vote much be used to continue the fight until we win the final victory to stop the TCC - just like we did in the immigration battle.

In 2005, Freedom's warriors were convinced the battle to stop the National ID was over after Congress passed the Real ID Act. Yet, there are now 12 states refusing to go along with implementing it. There is legislation in Congress to repeal it outright. Americans are learning it is not a tool to fight terrorism or illegal immigration, but a plan to impose a big brother style tyranny on us all. We're stopping it.

A couple of years ago, Congress passed a horrible bill which literally robbed our First Amendment right of free speech. The McCain-Feingold bill severely restricted the ability to even name elected representatives in campaign ads. It then was impossible to run effective campaigns against incumbents, giving them a free election ride. Last month the Supreme Court ruled that it was against the First Amendment to ban businesses and unions to fund advocacy campaigns in the closing months of an election. It was a huge victory for the right of free speech and the Republic.

Word has now come down from Congressional Democrats that they will not renew Fast Track authority for the president. Of course it's a political ploy against Bush, but the fact is, Fast Track is the one issue that actually gives the President the power to negotiate policy like NAFTA, GATT and the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), to implement the North American Union. It is a victory for our side to take that authority away for him, no matter the reason.

Worried about the invasion of Chinese goods now flooding the American market place? The problem may take care of itself soon. The month of June has seen a huge backlash against Chinese goods - more powerful than any boycott could ever produce. And they are doing it to themselves. Chemicals in killer dog food have been traced back to China. The FDA has just moved to block the sale of Chinese fish because of still more chemicals. Defective Chinese tires have been discovered. All of these things will only serve to prove to the American people that Chinese goods are inferior and undesirable. Americans may yet learn that China is a brutal communist regime that has no concern for the quality of its products. It cares only for the power of the money it makes off of them. It proves that the free market can be trusted and those who think they can manipulate it will eventually be exposed.

There are lots of good things happening in the name of freedom around the world. There are efforts to create private property as a means to eradicate poverty. There are efforts to bring back DDT to eradicate malaria. Of course there are bad things going on. Of course the forces of tyranny continue to build to enforce their will.

The good news is every victory they score creates new victims. Every new victim finds their way to the camp of Freedoms Heroes and our forces swell. And that can ultimately lead to freedom - if we will just get our heads out of the sand and appreciate a victory when we win one.

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Tom DeWeese is the publisher/editor of The DeWeese Report and president of the American Policy Center, a grassroots, activist think tank headquartered in Warrenton, Virginia. Its Internet site is www.americanpolicy.org. Tom can be reached at: letters@canadafreepress.com