George Washington, the father of our country was considered a dangerous extremist and a harbinger of malicious attitudes that challenged the status quo and American power brokers beholden to the British government. Other founding fathers of our nation were also placed in that same angry boiling pot of dangerous anarchy.
So you have to pardon those supporters of New Gingrich for not being intimidated by the naysayers who had anointed Mitt Romney by liberal political pundits and party leaders their status quo choice.
Many in the GOP power circles had already prepared Romney a seat at the general election debate table with President Obama. Yet, something happened on the way to the nomination that gummed up the works a bit. It is called voters angry and tired of being angry and tired. After all, was it not up to the voter to determine who should represent them? Well, sometimes the obvious creates a voter eruption.
Voters did not listen to those political pundits who labeled Newt a verbal extremist because he dared speak the truth and used history as a guide as political currency, while Romney relied on his wealth and the assurances of party leaders.
Well sometimes it comes to a point when American democracy just has to show its face. The voters took hold and told the self anointed party and pundit mouthpieces that it is not extreme to select a person who speaks the language of mainstream America. They reminded these blinded-sided political deal makers that it is indeed they, not the deal makers that still pull the election levers for their leaders.
Sounds extreme?
Let’s take a short but brisk walk down memory lane and take a quick look at those dangerous extremists that were the founding fathers that history slackers always seem to be so dismissive of Newt for always harkening back to. After all Newt was an exceptional history professor before he even set foot in the nation‘s capitol. And yes again, it is Dr. Newt Gingrich, who first received his Ph.D. from Tulane University before going on to West Georgia College to teach history.
Many non-historians may not remember their history lessons concerning the Stamp Act, Sugar Act or the Tea Act. Each one was increasingly odorous to the American colonists, because they represented an increasing burden being unfairly and unjustly placed upon the American Colonists. And with the adoption of each nefarious action, the British government claimed it was in the “best interests of the colonists,” because after all, who would know better than the British government.
Well, those doggone right-wing extremists known in the day as the Sons of Liberty thought differently. Over time, they recruited leaders and common folk who were simply good and tired of being led by their nose by American colonial leaders who were out of touch and a British government that was overreaching.
So there they went, the Sons of Liberty and soon the Committees of Correspondence that joined in, doing that extremist thing, called standing up for personal freedoms and calling for the removal of the government that embraced the status quo.
Well, fast forward to South Carolina’s primary victory this past weekend, where former speaker Dr. Newt Gingrich out maneuvered a well-heeled establishment machine that was out of touch with the voters. Or as former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum put it, “Newt kicked butt!”
So there we have it, a history professor, who was a former U.S. Speaker of the House, and now is a current U.S. Presidential candidate doing exactly the same thing that our nation’s founding fathers Samuel Addams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington did. He is using the lessons of history as a tool to help guide and inform Americans of the dangerous course we are on.
Is that extremism, well consider President George Washington’s words, “If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind, reason is of no use; the freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
South Carolina voters decided that extremist history in the defense of liberty offered by a man of vision who actually has a proven track record of a balanced budget, welfare reform among other notable achievements was worth voting for.
You make the decision Florida voters, whether the status quo is worth it!
