Civics 101: Let's discuss the "will of the American people" Shall we Rep. John Boehner?

So it is April 1st, also known as April's Fool's Day. So it comes around only once a year and I had many options to choose from to be the "fool" to talk about in today's blog. I seriously considered Sarah Palin as she is always a favorite of mine to pick on. But today I am a little fired up about one fool in particular, so I will nominate Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), the whimpering, whining idiot better known as the House Minority Leader. I choose him on the basis of a phrase he consistently uses that I am about sick of. He persists on stating that President Obama "continues to defy the will of the American people."

Now I state that he is being foolish because if he had half a brain and understood our system he would understand the idiocy of that statement. He used it again in reference to the decision of the Obama Administration to open off shore drilling in some areas and close it in others. He also used this phrase repeatedly during the arguments about Health Care Reform. Now the purpose of this phrase is purely political. The idea is to fire up those that see Obama as a socialist terrorist out to destroy America. If the Rethuglicans can paint the President and the Democrats as violating the will of the American people then they (hope) can get enough people riled up to go tell those rascally socialists exactly what they think!

So let's get the record straight.

How is the "will of the American people" expressed?

Keep in mind that this is a Representative Democratic Constitutional Republic. What that means is that we are representative, in that we elect our leaders and they go to the Capitol to represent us. We are democratic in that the vote of the majority rules. And we are a Constitutional Republic in the sense that a Constitution keeps a majority from trampling the rights of the minorities. Now when you take this in mind let us consider how the "will of the American people" is NOT expressed:

It is NOT through polls.

Understand polls, while helpful at times, are generally useless. Polls can be molded and interpreted to say just about anything you want them to say. Faux News simply searches for the polls that suit their agenda...it could be argued that CNN and MSNBC do the same. When President Bush was in office all the polls said the country hated him and everything he did...but the Rethuglicans stood resolute that the polls meant nothing...now that they can get polls that say what they want, the polls reflect the "will of the American people." But the truth is the polls do not reflect the whole picture ever, they didn't for President Bush and they don't for President Obama.

It is NOT through protests.

We have the right to peaceful assembly and to ordered and peaceful protest. There is no doubt about this fact. And nobody argues that right. Yes, the Tea Party "Patriots" have the right to march on the capital...just like the immigrants do...the gays and lesbians do...we all have that right guaranteed to us by our laws and by our Constitution. But protests do NOT reflect the "will of the American people." I find it ironic that the Tea Party nut jobs have the audacity to claim they represent the voice of the American people while the majority of this very same right wing Gestapo would vehemently argue if a person dared to suggest that the hundreds of thousands and millions of gays and lesbians that have marched on the capitol represented the "will of the American people."

Let me make this clear while polls and protests are peaceful tools that can be used in the right context and for the right purpose these are still at their very core the will of the mob...not the will of the people. If this is the case than how is the "will of the American people" expressed?

It is through the election process that the "will of the American people" is expressed.

The way that the American people express their will is through the election process. Our candidates announce what they plan on doing during the campaign and they hope the people like what they have to say and vote for them.

So for just a moment let us go back to 2008. Then, Candidate Obama and Candidate McCain faced off. Candidate Obama presented Health Care Reform, with what actually was a more liberal or progressive tone. Candidate McCain along with Vice President Candidate Sarah Palin (now a major face of the Tea Party "Patriots"), mocked it as socialism. They decried the coming destruction of America. The off shore drilling had also be discussed and Candidate Obama signaled he was in favor of it. Both candidates were behind the stimulus package, something that was going to happen regardless of who became president. Basically, Candidate Obama committed himself to the very policies he is now promoting and fighting for and in some cases is getting passed. There are no surprises here folks...it is the agenda and mandate he ran for president under.

So the day came in November of 2008 for the American people to go and express their will, not as a mob, but as a people. We went and we voted. Now just in case you poor Tea Party "Patriots" have slipped something into your tea that has caused massive memory loss...allow me to remind you of the stunning defeat you took in November of 2008. In November of 2008 the "will of the American people" was expressed in a resounding election victory with historical numbers.

The voter turnout was the highest it had been in 40 years. The President won the popular vote with a 53% percent compared to McCain's 46%. That my friend is a decisive win when you consider Al Gore won the popular vote by less than 1% in 2000. Now I know what you are saying, we do not elect the President by popular vote. And you are right. The darling of the right wing is the Electoral College, an antiquated system that is the only thing that gives the right the control that they have in this country. So lets look at the Electoral College. President Bush was awarded the Electoral Votes of the State of Florida, whether correctly or incorrectly is not my point and I refuse to get into that argument. Regardless of right or wrong, the United States Supreme Court awarded the Florida Electoral votes to President Bush who, as a result, won the Presidency by five electoral votes. During President Bush's reelection against John Kerry in 2004 President Bush wn by what was considered a decisive thirty-four electoral votes. President Bush also won the popular vote by what was generally considered a decisive 2%.

President Obama won with the largest margin in both the popular vote and the Electoral College since Bill Clinton. He had a decisive Electoral College victory of 365-173. I remember when Bush won by five votes and less than 1%, and everybody was saying that the election was so close that the President should govern in a bi partisan manner and should show respect to those that felt he had won the election in what was a shady outcome at best. I remember the right wing (of which I was a part back in those days, much to my shame and embarrassment) proudly said, HELL NO! We won so we rule. Period. 2008 was no shabby or shady win; this was a clear, decisive and overwhelming win with one of the largest voter turnouts in 40 years.

So what am I getting at?

I am making a point to Rep. Bonehead from Ohio. I am making a point to the Tea Party protestors, and Faux News and the Republican sulkers and whiners that keep insisting the President "continues to defy the will of the American people." HELL NO!

Did you hear that you whining sons of bitches?

HELL FUCKING NO!

The will of the American people was made clear in November of 2008. We the people of the United States of America, in an overwhelming and decisive vote elected a President that is doing exactly what he was put in office to do. Not only did we overwhelmingly elect him as President of the United States of America, but we ALSO elected enough officials in Congress to go there and get the job we elected them to do done. That is how our American system works. It works this way whether we like it or not. If the Republicans come back and they win the mid terms, if they come back in 2012 and win the White House that will be the American people expressing themselves as well. And I may find myself at that point a part of the mob, sounding out against the President and the ruling party, but I will be the mob, and they will be the voice of the American people, because THAT my friend is how this system works!

During the last four years of President Bush’s final term. There were protests. Hundreds and thousands across this country protested against the President and his decisions. Protestors around the world, by the millions protested against us as a nation and against President Bush as our leader. But in the end, most of the people that put him in office (myself being an exception) were happy. And even I had to shut up mostly because I had helped put him in office and he was doing exactly what we had voted him into office to do. That I had changed mattered little. He was doing what he had been elected to do. Because that is how our system works.

So you may disagree with the President and with the Democratic MAJORITY in the House and Senate. You may disagree with what they do and how they do it. But the reason you are the House MINORITY Leader Mr. Boehner is because the American people expressed their will. You may sway that will, you may change that will...mostly because the voting population sadly tends to be ignorant and easily swayed by fear and angry rhetoric, but you cannot change the facts and you cannot change history...

We the People of the United States of America spoke, we voted and we expressed our will. The President is not defying us. He is serving us....those of us that voted him into office. And if you don't like it change it...not with polls, not with racist protests and death threats and violence...but at the voting booth.

Signed,
We the People.