I love European sports cars, American motorcycles, cigarette boats, 98 mph fastballs over the plate, the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of fame inductee movie, the ticker on the trading floor, and Florida afternoon thunderstorms.  All these things represent the quintessential American fast lane lifestyle.  They do what they need to do and they do it fast.  Americans love to experience life in fifth gear.  It’s how we are raised and what we need to do simply to get through most days with any productivity whatsoever in our demanding workplaces and modern culture.  Americans love drive thru fast food, microwave meals, self service ATM’s, email service on a hand held device, and all other things that are quick and convenient.   

But, Saturday, Americans by the millions marched to their Capital buildings and to local tea parties from coast to coast to protest their democratic rights being taken away without their consent.  Quiet types who have never protested in their lives felt compelled to join the ranks to express their disgust with the Obama agenda.  President Obama’s recent prime time healthcare speech was the tipping point that shoved Americans from complacency to activism.  These protestors are not racist, they are patriotic.  And, it is their love of this United States of America that made them sacrifice prime hours of their weekend to send a message to both sides of the aisle in Washington.  After 9-11, Americans gave up some liberties supposedly for the sake of national security and some undefined, greater societal good.  They got duped.  Our email and phones were tapped just because someday we might be considered a terrorist.  And, while 1984 has come and gone, Big Brother is alive and well in Washington.  Americans’ eyes are wide open now as they have watched more decision-making power and civil liberties being robbed from them every day that Washington DC churns.  And, now, it’s by the Obama administration.  He wants to reserve the right to “take over” the internet.  We have bailed out Wall Street.  We hold empty promises for Main Street.  Small businesses are failing at unprecedented rates.  We bought our neighbors’ homes from bank balance sheets.  We just finished buying our neighbors’ junk cars at $4,500 each and putting them behind the wheels of something smaller and more fuel efficient that we, hard working, taxpaying citizens can’t afford for our own households.  We are paying higher homeowners’ association fees and property taxes to compensate for fallen revenues from the greed and theft of the fraudulent real estate boom that was perpetrated on us.  And, now Washington is planning for us to buy energy efficient appliances for some select portion of our population without even taking the energy hogs that are being replaced out of service.  One year after the failure of Lehman Brothers, we are still tolerating Washington’s failure to enact meaningful legislation to reign in Wall Street’s gambling, betting, and self-compensation practices, more politely referred to as “lending and investing.”  Did you really buy into that “too big to fail” doctrine?  Are you sure that the vaccines that you are fast-tracking that will generate billions for the pharmaceutical industry won’t do more harm than good with squalene as an adjuvant and thimerosal (mercury) as a preservative?  What planet is Washington D.C. living on?  Who are they there to serve other than special interest groups any more?  Why are we fast-tracking everything?  Where have all the non-partisan leaders with vision of this country gone? 

The first part of the message delivered Saturday by the American protestors is that they were tired of the extreme right from the Bush administration, so the majority of them voted for and elected President Obama.  They disdained Fascism and wanted to be more involved in their own government.  So, they voted for change.  The second part of the message is that they hate socialism with equal passion and won’t tolerate their democratic process being superseded, usurped, cut out, circumvented, or otherwise manipulated any more.  America is finally waking up and looking for Centrist balance.  We are starving for politicians who answer that call.     

When civilized, respectful, patriotic Americans finally get off their laurels to protest, you know that something is just not right in Washington.  Americans don’t want their love of drive thru services to extend to our nation’s capital.  We want legislative process that involves open hearings, public input, C-Span,  all members of Congress and the Senate, both the Right and the Left.  Americans want to be heard and not ignored.  This proposed band-aid to a septic situation that is our current healthcare and insurance process is priced way to high and will not be effective and should be put on the back burner until it can be approached in a more comprehensive, practical manner.  Job creation is quintessential currently, yet being ignored.  We elect officials to go to Washington to represent us, you know, the “We the People,” thing.  And, while we all loved and respected the late Senator Ted Kennedy, rushing through healthcare “reform” in his name in a drive thru fashion, would be no honor to associate with his legacy.  The only way to get rid of this partisan bickering is to elect Centrist officials who can hold hands across the aisle and begin to make legislation and run this country on a platform of common sense and fiscal responsibility again as our forefathers wished and our parents taught us.   And, yes, get rid of the lobbyists.  Access to government should be available to American people without hiring a professional to open those doors for you and grease the right palms with campaign contributions.  Americans are calling for the healthcare debate and all democratic processes to take place in the public domain and not behind closed doors crafted by a few Senators who run a Finance Committee.  Americans are screaming that a healthcare solution will not be found in the drive thru lane, nor will it be good for us if it is done in this manner.  After all, drive thru food causes all kinds of negative health consequences and this current pending legislation will be no different.  Moreover, Americans do not sanction healthcare legislation, nor any more O-bomb-us plans that circumvent Congress, the Senate, public hearings, or any other part of the democratic process. 

Kimberly Wilcox is currenty freelance writing about financial politics, as well as Healthcare policy, specifically, Chemical Injury and its medical & lifestyle consequences.  She is a lifestyle coach to others with chemical injury, chronic fatigue, autism, Gulf War Syndrome & Fibromyalgia, as well as to professional athletes desiring peak performance without use of illegal PED's.  She is an expert on Green Living and her new book will soon be published about the Green Life that she has been forced to live for the last decade.