“I told you so.” Those four words are so gratifying to say, yet somehow so terrible to hear. Every time I turn on the television and see the mess that this administration has made of our nation, I want to say them. Every time I meet someone who has had such contempt for the tea party over the past five year, I want to say them. The citizens of the United States have told Washington that: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Stimulus) and Keynesian economics would not save our economy and the hardest hurt would be the middle class: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was not a workable solution for our medical system woes, would negatively impact our economic recovery, and would result in extreme hardships throughout middle class America. Big government utilization of unelected regulatory agencies is harmful to our need for good energy solutions and economic recovery. No one listened, of course, and here we are. Yet, saying “I told you so” doesn’t have quite have the same ring now that our country is in such disrepair. Recently, a few things have happened that spoke to me. First, I heard Dr. Ben Carson speak to a room full of people who were most certainly to the left of him ideologically. I wondered what he’d say. “I told you so,” would’ve been on my lips. However, he took a different approach. I don’t think he used the terms conservative, left, liberal, or progressive. He simply jumped in and discussed the core of our problem: our government is not acting like the republic it was created to be. Dr. Carson received a standing ovation. Second, I was on a Citizens for Self-Governance conference call, when our president, Mark Meckler, encouraged us to give up condescension and instead be “happy warriors.” He said, “We either cower in the corner or stand firm and fight for liberty.” A co-worker followed up by saying, “Being a happy warrior for citizen- led governance is something that should be inclusive for all who believe in the Constitutional principles that have made America great.” Lastly, this morning, I was reading my daily devotional from Our Daily Bread, when I got a final message. Today’s meditation was called “The Silent Pen.” The author began by quoting James 3:18: “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” Then he told a tale about former president Harry Truman. Apparently President Truman had a rule: Any letters written in anger had to sit on his desk for 24 hours before they could be mailed. If at the end of that “cooling off” period, he still felt the same sentiments, he would send the letter. By the end of his life, Truman’s unmailed letters filled a large desk drawer. That’s when I decided to put “I told you so,” into that large desk drawer too. Now is not the time for name calling or lamenting that no one listened to us. Now is the time to unite as citizens and fight to make this nation great again.
