Wrangler Dani

Writer, editor, wife, adoptive mama and cowgirl living in beautiful Central Oregon.

“You lie!”

So, if you don’t know yet, I write “Current Events” blogs for a little news site called “EverydayChristian“. I wrote this, but another blogger beat me to the same topic. However, I worked too hard on it to let it go to waste, so here you go:

By now, I’m sure everyone has heard audio or read about Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., who hollered “You lie!”at the President during his speech on health care reform.

It sounds like something that would happen in the House of Commons, where loud-mouth behavior and interruptions are business-as-usual. But in America, such behavior is disrespectful to the office of public servant and to the constituents who trust Representatives to “represent” our interests, not merely heckle from the sidelines, and reduce intelligent debate to school-yard name-calling.

I’m saddened that our politics have disintegrated to this level. Wilson himself said in a written statement: “This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill.. ..While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”

OK. So he understands that his behavior was inappropriate, and has received a fairly substantial backlash from both sides of the political aisle. But why was he so upset? It is fair to assume that someone who has no record of being indiscreet might have gotten unruly out of honest frustration with dishonest policy?

It seems that while President Obama’s statements regarding illegal aliens may be true on the surface, with a bit of background it appears that they are deceiving. The Congressional Research Service agrees with this assessment ( full report found here). For example, with regard to health care exchanges, the CRS found: “H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitizens—whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently—participating in the Exchange.”

Just as with the subsidized abortion debate, not writing legislation against insuring illegal aliens is a back-door way of including them in America’s ever-rising costs. CRS also found that Section 246, which could prevent illegal aliens from participating in the government (public) option, would be: “hard to enforce.”

The Examiner points out that: “Section 246 (page 143) of the bill expressly prohibits illegal aliens from receiving government-run healthcare, the bill does not include a specific requirement that a person prove his or her citizenship in order to obtain affordability credits, which means that illegal aliens could obtain coverage.” Hard to enforce, indeed.

On top of the absence of good legislation to work through the illegal immigration problem, there are many voices who fear that a complete amnesty bill will follow shortly after Health Care Reform, should it pass.  NewsMax.com: “[Obama’s] remedy, seemingly, would be to document all immigrants by way of a comprehensive pathway to citizenship bill, quick on the heels of a universal healthcare bill. By waving the amnesty wand, he would resolve all questions regarding the eligibility of illegal aliens, thus transforming perhaps 30 million persons of all ages into U.S. citizens eligible for healthcare at taxpayer expense.”

It’s natural to feel a bit peeved at such glaring omissions. Perhaps we can sympathize with Representative Wilson’s rash remarks, and we wish that our President would have been more forthcoming in his speech. But we, as Christians, are called to a higher standard. We have to find ways to speak the truth without heckling or name-calling. Whatever Wilson believes, he hurt his cause by speaking his mind in an inappropriate way. We need to take a lesson from his mistakes, and keep our angry hollerings to ourselves.

I guess the Lord knows that we people have a problem with speaking the truth without anger, which is why we have this wisdom in Ephesians 4:25-27: “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ‘In your anger do not sin’ Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.”

3 comments found

  1. The shout ‘You lie!’…..was about much more than a ‘lack of civility.’ Rep. Wilson has been in the political trenches for many years. He well recognizes…and himself practices political rhetoric…within the stretched boundaries of ‘perspective’. His outburst is a symptom of the growing FEAR experienced by many Christian Conservatives resulting from propaganda perpetuated from ‘evil’ sources….the Destroyer. He destroys with fear, hate, mistrust, disrepect, and public dissention. How sad. One remark, ‘You lie!’…is another step in the degeneration of the values once held by our national leaders. And that’s okay. As God taught King Nebuchadnezzar, “God rules in the kingdom of men.’ We have seen much degeneration in the world. And will will continue to see it until the Return of the Prince of Peace. No biggie! ‘Count it all joy.’ ‘Let not your heart be troubled.’

  2. The incident that occurred in Congress by Rep. Joe Wilson R-NC, illustrates the consequences of a blurring line between illegal immigration and health care. Our politicians have been alerted to the angry voices of the American people. For once they have disregarded the business campaign contributors and all the cloaked gifts given for services rendered by special interest lobbyists. Millions of US citizens are enraged with the status quo buying favors from our representatives that has led to our wilting economy. Today speaking on behalf of Washington committees on health care, the lawmaking emphasized that illegal aliens cannot access the new health reform package, that any person applying will be checked through government databases.

    E-Verify might be implemented for this very issue, that it has shown in the majority of cases remarkable successes in remove illegal alien workers from the working environment. E-Verify can solve this problem and bring sanity back to immigration enforcement. E-VERIFICATION OF EACH AND EVERY AMERICAN WORKER MUST BE MADE PERMANENT? NOT JUST VOLUNTARY POLICY, BUT AS A FULL FORCE OF OPERATION CARRYING STRICT PENALTIES. This operation will work under federal policies? But what about state laws? California as an example is a Sanctuary state for millions of illegal immigrants and their families? Other border states are also occupied by large proportions of unlawful populations of foreign nationals?

    This last year has culminated in huge financial losses in California caused by millions of low income illegal aliens, which has created a third world community within the United States. There must be federal measures to bring under control, massive spending benefits for people who have no right from benefiting from those who come here legally or were born here. How can any public health care option work at a state level, when states like California ignore federal law, regarding financial refuge to indigent people? Our own people remain homeless and in many cases without hope, when legislators have prioritized, health care, education an overloaded jail system and easy welfare money for illegal immigrants?

    The once golden state has been using taxpayer money, to support illegal aliens, when the same expenditures should have been adopted for a collapsing infrastructure. Highways, schools, tunnels, bridges and dams in a dangerous state of disrepair? Our legislators in many cases have been seduced by lobbyists and should be banned from any contact with our politicians. This will never happen, but something must be done? Millions have been spent on derailing the health care reform currently and in the past, as has immigration enforcement. Rescinding 287(g) federal training for local police enforcement of immigration laws, the NO MATCH LETTER and the cutting back on ICE raids on obnoxious businesses using foreign workers.

    The order to crush E-verify was given to Sen.Harry Reid, Speaker Pelosi, Janet Napolitano, but narrowly survived in the Senate chambers. Both political parties are equally to blame for not enforcing the 1986 Immigration Control & Reform Act that was inundated with fraud and a desire to weaken the laws. Now they want to rescind that law, offering yet another reform package that will never function? Let’s not kid ourselves! Huge veiled forces are at work to import as much cheap labor as possible with no restraints, lowering wages and an unconscionable burden on taxpayers.

    DON’T LET THE POWERS IN WASHINGTON WHITEWASH THE FACTS! DEMAND THE ORIGINAL DESIGNED FENCE AND THE FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF E-VERIFY, 287 (g), THE SAVE ACT AND AS WRITTEN, THE 1986 SIMPSON/MAZZOLI BILL AND AMEND THEM IF NEED BE? NO MORE IMMIGRATION REFORM? DO THE JOB THEY WERE VOTED FOR? CALL YOUR POLITICIANS AT 202-224-3121 AND DEMAND THESE LAWS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE? MORE ANSWERS FOUND AT NUMBERSUSA & JUDICIAL WATCH.

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