Amnesty Denied

June 29, 2007

 

Well, it was touch and go there for a time. The immigration bill appeared to be dead. Republicans senators then made a deal with Harry Reid, majority leader, to bring the dreaded bill back for one last chance. The president sent his minions up to Capitol Hill and began applying pressure, hoping to salvage a bill the American people didn't want.

 

Then it got nasty.

 

Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi was inundated with angry phone calls and e-mails and, in frustration; he lashed out at talk radio. He said we were “running the country,” and added that “something needs to be done about that.” Despite the idle threat, talkers across the country intensified the pressure, urging concerned citizens to let their wishes be known. They did so in such numbers that it overwhelmed the Capitol switchboard and whispers of bringing back the so-called Fairness Doctrine began echoing through the halls of Congress.

 

An early week cloture vote seemed to bode ill for proponents of law and order and opponents of amnesty. I suspected that many senators were merely moving the bill closer to the precipice in hopes they could push it over and be done with it. That theory turned out to be correct. Needing 60 votes to keep the bill alive, proponents of amnesty could only muster 46 and the bill, for all intents and purposes, was dead; at least for this session.

 

Looking back over the events of recent weeks, it turns out to be a classic lesson in civics. We elect our senators to represent us, not the big money interests that water the vote-thirsty candidates with cash. Just when it looked like they would turn their back on those who put them in office, the senators – at least, most of them – did the right thing. For that, they should be congratulated. Our representative republic worked just as it was designed. There was much heated debate but in the end they listened to the hoards of angry citizens who called, faxed and e-mailed.

 

I thought this just might bring those in congress who despise talk radio out of the woodwork but it very well may have the opposite effect. If they think the populace was angry over the push for amnesty, wait until they try to take away their voice.

 

You see, despite what Trent Lott said, talk radio is not running America. For once, the citizens of this great country are. Sure, they're getting a lot of their information from talk radio but no one is forcing them to get involved. We talk about literally thousands of issues over the course of a year and few evoke such passion and outrage. We in talk radio are the messengers, not the message. We simply provide information that many in congress don't want them to have. It's the last vestige of the town hall meeting. How many senators personally took calls over the last few weeks from their constituents? Frustrated, they called us instead. And we listened.

 

Lott and company should take a lesson from what just happened to them. I can guarantee countless lobbyists got a private audience with these senators but I would wager the national debt that very few of them bothered talking to the very people who voted them in. Instead of carving out large chunks of time to be wined and dined by special interests they should set aside four hours a day to talk to the people who put them in office. Maybe then they'll get a feel for what we hear every day. Maybe next time they won't be blindsided by reality.

 

They're progressives, alright. They're progressing just as fast as they can toward a socialist state. No wonder nobody wants to hear about that on their radio.