The Constitutional Alamo

In an infrequent and unpublicized appearance in the most conservative part of his district on September 26, Democrat Marshall claimed no love for Pelosi, promised no Medicare cuts, and lectured the crowd about a lack of civility.

by Michael Naragon

The congressman began the rare meeting with voters in his district by apologizing for being late.  He had taken a wrong turn in Jackson, GA, on his way to Covington.  Wrong turns by politicians in Washington are becoming a common occurrence, and no one in the primarily conservative crowd seemed to be surprised.

Marshall then admitted that his lack of direction may have come from the fact that, out of the 100 town hall meetings he granted over the last two years, only four have been done in Newton County, the conservative portion of his district.  That leaves 96 meetings delivered in Macon and areas south, where the Democrat’s crowds would be much more obliging.

Around 200 people attended the poorly publicized event, most of them receiving their notices of the meeting the previous afternoon in the mail.

Marshall took time early on to assure the crowd that he didn’t believe they were “right-wing extremists,” equating that sort of inflammatory name-calling to describing Leftists like Pelosi and Barack Obama “socialists.”

The problem is that, while the use of “right-wing extremist” is an obvious attempt by liberals, such as Marshall’s Majority Leader Pelosi, to portray Americans as terrorists, the use of the term “socialist” is perfectly legitimate.  If a politician favors government control of wealth in an attempt to redistribute the resources of the producers to the non-producers, that politician is, by socioeconomic definition, a socialist or Marxist.  There is no terrorist aspect to the socialist, unless you take into account the terror that creeps into the hearts of Americans everywhere when they realize that such people are controlling the workings of government.

Marshall then entered into the question-and-answer session of his meeting, and the health care legislation complaints began.  During the course of the event, Marshall admitted to not reading either HR 3200 or HR 3400, promised an elderly constiuent that Medicare benefits would not be cut in any way because of the health care reform bill, and explained that he voted for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House because, even though he claimed she was not his choice and he disagreed with her on many issues, he felt compelled to support her candidacy in order to protect his people.

“She had the votes,” Marshall explained, telling the crowd that, if he had not voted for the ultra-liberal Pelosi, his influence and ability to deliver pork barrel projects for his district would have been infringed upon.  He failed to mention that most of those projects would be delivered to his stronghold of Macon, miles away.

A former mayor of Macon, Marshall explained to the crowd that obesity and diabetes were the major reasons for the current health care crisis.  Since the president has linked the health care crisis to the current economic downturn, using the collective “logic” of Marshall and Obama, one could say that fat diabetics have destroyed the American economy.  Marshall himself claimed that health care would bankrupt the country within 20 years.  Several in the crowd corrected him, saying the country is bankrupt now.

Perhaps this idea could be seized upon and a new scapegoat targeted by an administration that has quadrupled the deficit and continues to print currency at record rates, devaluing the dollar on a daily basis and giving credence to those in the world who would like to move toward a world system.

The Democrat, who has been in office since 2003, was also asked about term limits.  Marshall responded that limiting terms of office was a bad idea, explaining that it takes several years for a new congressman to become acclimated to the Washington environment.  As one of those attending called out, “You mean it takes time for the special interests to get their hand in your pocket!”  Marshall did not respond to that.

Finally, Marshall was asked about the Fair Tax, a hot issue with Georgia conservatives.  The Democrat poo-poohed the idea, claiming that the fraud and corruption that would result from a national sales tax would make it impractical.  The next questioner from the crowd got a laugh when she told Marshall that, if he was really concerned about tax fraud, he had only to look at our current Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner.

In all, Marshall showed himself once again to be the typical Washington politician, playing to his current audience, promising what he could not guarantee, and purporting himself to be a surrogate father to a people who need none.