Annual Twenty-Two Good Men Award: In Defense of the Bill of Rights

Annual Twenty-Two Good Men Award: In Defense of the Bill of Rights
by Diane Alden

All it takes are a few. In fact life is full of events where only a few do the right thing for the many. Life's heroic efforts are usually the result of one or two standing up to tyranny or for principle. In Scotland it wasn't anyone in the crowd whose name is remembered as William Wallace was disemboweled for standing up for freedom while others, like Robert the Bruce, stood by. Hardly anyone remembers the name of the French king who watched while Joan of Arc burned at the stake. It isn't the silent majority in Virginia's House of Burgesses who are honored today, but rather the passion and words of Patrick Henry as he proclaimed his love of freedom.

The voyages of discovery to the New World were accomplished by a few. Even though it is not politically correct these days to call what Columbus did an accomplishment, nevertheless, his courage and that of a few hardy explorers eventually led to the founding of a nation where fools are allowed the freedom to be politically correct.

A courageous few put their names on the Mayflower Compact, one of the first documents signed on American shores which laid the base for constitutional government. Barely a third of those who lived in America in 1776 pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor - the rest stayed home and made butter, had parties, and hoped that the British would leave them alone. Only a few decided that it was better to die as freemen than to live under the rule of tyrants.

Led by Lewis and Clark only a few trekked to the Far West on a journey of discovery. It was a courageous few who would seek the far horizons. At first it was only a few that left the safety and security of the East Coast to build a nation out of adversity and sacrifice.

In America today a few are still doing the work of many. It should be frightening to Americans that they are so few. With the conservative leadership in the Congress totally out to lunch, and with the cowardliness of the mob and the uncaring herd instinct of sheep to the slaughter, on April 11th the majority of Congress did not do the right thing.

The wonderful thing is that a mere twenty-two stood for principle. A paltry twenty-two knew what the Bill of Rights and the second amendment represent. These few good men and woman seem to be the only ones who understand that what ails this country is not a lack of gun laws. These few know that piling on more laws or regulations strip Americans of freedom. These few are acquainted with the fact that their colleagues have a craven fear of the appearance of doing nothing in the face of certain heinous crimes committed by the spawn of a debased culture. So the many pile on more laws, which are not enforced.

The twenty-two appear to be the only surviving members of representative government who care diddly-squat about the Bill of Rights. Several names stand out because they are always at the forefront of what is appears more and more often like a vain attempt to keep the spirit of the Constitution intact. They do so at a cost and in the face of concerted attacks by forces from all over the political spectrum. It is always these few who seem to take the brunt of criticism and media scorn. Yet somehow they find the courage to consistently do the right thing.

The twenty-two are:

Bob Barr (GA)
Alan Mollohan (WV)
Helen Chenoweth-Hage (ID)
Ron Paul (TX)
Tom Coburn (OK)
Collin Peterson (MN)
Jim DeMint (SC)
Richard Pombo (CA)
Virgil Goode (VA)
Nick Rahall, II (WV)
J.D. Hayworth (AZ)
Bob Riley (AL)
Rick Hill (MT)
Mark Sanford (SC)
John Hostettler (IN)
Mark Souder (IN)
William Jenkins (TN)
Bob Stump (AZ)
Walter Jones (NC)
Zack Wamp (TN)
Jack Metcalf (WA)
Don Young (AK)

Stalled in committee for months, the juvenile crime bill with a section proposed by anti-constitutionalist Democrat John Conyers of Michigan, contains language which would mean trigger locks on guns, a ban on medium capacity magazines, a prohibition on young adults owning certain semi-automatic firearms, (we are NOT talking machine guns here) and restrictions on private sales at gun shows.

The final vote on releasing the bill from committee was 406-22. The anti-gun juvenile crime bill is another useless attempt to prevent the law abiding from exercising their Second Amendment guarantees. All the thousands of crime bills already on the books can attest to the fact that the next one won't solve our problems but it will give a bureaucrat more paper work and a raise in pay.

We can protest more gun laws until Bill Clinton admits he ever lied about anything or hell freezes over. I suspect the devil will be skating on the lake of fire before the former happens. The Congress, including ostensible conservative republicans, is still following the Judas goats among them. With a servile fear of the media they stick their fingers in the wind to see which way it is blowing while they serve up one more useless law to curtail the freedom of the law abiding. In a better age honorable men would have the courage to amend the Constitution. But instead the entire Congress snipes away at the grand old document one section at a time.

Totally ignoring statistics about gun deaths and gun ownership, Congress actually allows the lies told by the liar-in-chief to go unchallenged. But never mind that - it's one beaten dead horse that won't get up. Congress knows he lies about the number of gun deaths and that he tortures statistics till most thinking people would expire from the pain of listening to his aloney. Nonetheless, he gets away with it because no one challenges him.

Forget the media they are a lost cause but Congress should be doing its job in spite of the media.

The "smart" guys say we live in a different world now. That Americans no longer can be trusted with certain freedoms inasmuch as Bill Clinton's boomer generation trashed and corrupted cultural standards. We can no longer count on the good will and decency of Americans to abide by cultural norms and the rule of law.

In any event, the American sheeple have become self absorbed and too ignorant to care as their representative's act like brain dead zombies. Thank God twenty-two members of Congress voted against releasing the anti-constitutional gun bill from committee. Unfortunately, my congressman Thad Cochran of Mississippi wasn't among them. On constitutional issues he and my senator Trent Lott, get the annual "missing in action awards" for sticking their finger in the wind then hiding in their respective offices praying that no one will notice them until the next election.

A few good men and a woman have stood faithfully for maintaining constitutional safeguards on many Bill of Rights questions and they are: Barr, Paul, Chenoweth, Wamp, Hayworth, and Pombo. To these six in particular I am bestowing the first annual In Fly Over Country, Twenty-two Good Men, award for doing their jobs. There is no money involved, nor gold statuette, or piece of parchment paper with my signature and a gold seal; there is only one American's gratitude to those in government who do the right thing.

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