*By Julie Barrett, Founder, Conservative Ladies of Washington
I was talking to my husband the other day about another insane bill that passed through the Washington legislature along partisan lines. As I watch these bills that are getting passed on the daily, it’s hard for me to understand who a person with any common sense can think these are good ideas. I wonder, “are these people just stupid?” But they’re not, not in the slightest…in fact, they are far smarter than we give them credit.
It’s easy to look at what’s going on in our government at every level and think: “these people have no common sense and they certainly don’t seem very bright.” Based on the laws they are passing, it sure seems common sense has left the building. Very little of what the left is doing makes much sense if you’re applying reason and logic.
But that’s not what it’s about. It’s not about reason and logic. It’s about an agenda. That agenda is about power and control. For us to think that these people simply lack common sense or intellect, is ignorant and foolish. What they are doing is strategic. It is very well planned and orchestrated at a high level.
When we see things like emails from healthcare providers informing us that our 13 year olds will have sole access to their medical records and that they will be kept private and confidential seems ludicrous and wakes us up. You may have received such an email last week and been shocked. But this is not new, these healthcare providers are just playing catch up with laws that were enacted some time ago. But we’ve been “sleeping.” We pass a lot of this legislation off as foolish and stupid, but we cannot afford to continue sticking our heads in the sand.
For decades…okay, hundreds of years…the left has been strategizing and implementing their plans for government control of healthcare, education, business and family. They chip away at this plan little by little and it makes it less obvious to people like us conservatives who just want limited government and to be left alone to raise our families, go to church and build our businesses. And today we’re so close to losing many of the freedoms we hold so dear.
In a state like Washington, I admit, it feels really hopeless. And it very well may be. Washington has been Democrat run since the 1930’s and at this point, it seems to be a futile effort for many reasons we won’t delve into today (*ahem, counting ballots*). Most days it feels like a waste of time and energy to even bother trying to voice our position to our elected officials here in Washington, but we have to do it just so we are on record as being opposed to what the Democrats are trying to do. At least then they can’t say, “well, you never said anything.”
When I write to legislators or comment on bills, I usually feel like there’s no point. I know what the outcome will be. I do it because I have been silent long enough. I do not believe that we are in the minority, and there is nothing admirable about being the “silent majority.” Look where that has gotten us. If President Trump taught us anything, I hope that it is to stop being silent and start using our voices to speak up for what we believe in.
Over the last few weeks my family has lived a nightmare that has happened has a result of leftist policy-making in Washington. It became very real…and very terrifying…just how dangerous these policies and laws truly are for families and citizens. It renewed my commitment to raising my voice, speaking out to the lawmakers against their terrible legislation that hurts families, children and hard working people. We must wake up and start paying attention. EVEN IF we don’t get the result we want…EVEN IF we know the effort is futile…we’ve got to go on record as saying “NO, not on my watch.” For the majority of us, that’s about the extent of our influence but it still matters and it is still important. As someone who was never into politics until recent years and ignored all of this stuff myself, I take responsibility for my part in allowing this to happen. Maybe that’s you, too. It’s okay. Now we know better and we must do better. Let’s be committed to putting our voice on record, even if it won’t affect the outcome.
