The Peregrin Falcon

Have you been to the Tag Agency lately? I have. This is what happened.

In my state, tags are required each year on the anniversary from when you first registered the vehicle. My renewals are in August. For this year, the tag renewals are completely new license plates for the vehicle, as the design has changed and the state has mandated the replacement of the old style. As usual, the agency requires three proofs of identity to give you the privilege of paying for the new year’s renewal. The special documents are a valid driver’s license, the proof of insurance from your car, and the renewal notice that was mailed to you with the price of the tag on it.

So, in order to be ahead of the game, I went to renew my tag with each piece of information needed two weeks before the deadline on my very brief lunch break. Arriving at the tag agency, I had all my ducks in a row and waited in line for the next agent. Since it is August, and I live in the South, the agency was experiencing the typical lack of air-conditioning and uncomfortably hot. Reaching the front desk, I handed over my info, expecting to get a request for payment and a new plate. However, that did not happen.

To their credit, the agents took an extra long time with the state’s computer system. The reason they had to take so long was that “the system says it can’t verify your insurance or locate your vin.” I replied, “Yes, but that information is on the notice the state mailed me, and on the official proof of insurance I am required by law to carry; both of which you have in your hand.” The agent politely smiled and explained to me that the state had just initiated a new program last year, where agents were entering in our data to the state’s database for later verification. This new program said it could not find my information, and the agent’s would not be able to override it without a letter from my insurance agency on their letter head with a specific legal phrase. Patiently, I asked “Why do I need a letter from my insurance; when the information you need on the insurance’s verification form it here already?” The employee’s behind the counter simply stated I could not be helped without this extra paperwork.

I thanked them for their ‘help’ and went outside to call my insurance agent. My agent said they were wrong and I needed to go to another tag agency. I wondered how that would help if the state’s database was the thing that was in error. She did not have an answer. I asked if she could fax the information on the appropriate letter head that the tag office needed. She said she would.

Five minutes later, a copy of my proof of insurance identical to the paper from my car came over the fax. Again, the tag office staff said, they needed a letter on the insurance company’s letter head stating that I had a “state compliant policy.” Again, I called my agent and she said that I would have to call the underwriting company directly to get such a letter. So, I called the underwriting company and made the same request; after ten more minutes of prompts and hold time. Another five minutes went by and another copy of the same insurance verification came over the wire; only straight from the underwriting company. For the fourth time, I was told this would not be enough for them to override the state’s incorrect database.

Finally, the clerk behind the desk, took my information and called my insurance agent directly and the underwriters. She gave them the same instructions I did, almost verbatim. Another ten minutes later, the proper fax came through. I was able to pay and get my new license plate. After nearly two hours, of re-verification of the same three pieces of information, one clerk pressed one button and the ‘system’ that was state run was overridden.

Now, this scenario involved only one government entity. Also, the tag agents are licensed by the state, but not employed by the state. Imagine if this were a urgent medical situation. Imagine if both ends of the problem were government owned; both the insurance, and the care-provider. Technology is great, but we still have to be able to deal with the human part of every interaction with the public. What happens when my “real-id” and my “healthcare id” are mistakenly mismatched? What happens when a law-abiding citizen is caught up in the State-run State-owned database and he or she is ‘not found in the system’? I had all of the pieces of data I could have with me. Two of which were created by the State. Yet, I was still not able to be served, so I could stay in compliance with a State law!

You may trust a overreaching, overbearing, overprotecting “father” state. You may say, “Hey, it’s better than nothing!” You may think, these problems are just isolated incidents, and the government would never be so cavalier about a person’s life. You may think all of this; but I certainly don’t. I also know that our Founders didn’t either. If you don’t believe me, read their words for yourself. Ask yourself, why would they leave the most powerful nation on Earth, and risk being hanged for treason if a all-powerful government was what they really wanted all along? Right now, for this moment, you are free. Don’t re-burden yourself with slavery to your government for the security they can’t guarantee.

Peregrin.

PS.
I just had to add this scan of my recent voter registration verification.
Can you spot the obvious error?
Are you sure you want the same people who printed this to help you will your health?

From Tulsa912Project.com
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I’m a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you’re willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?

Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I’m not a racist. This isn’t to be confused with legal immigration.

Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don’t you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!

Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don’t you start there.

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don’t trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why ‑‑ what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we’ll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band‑Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let’s have it. Let’s say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try ‑‑ please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.

Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.

Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let’s just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I’m busy. I’m busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don’t want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we’re morons.

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we’re so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn’t ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when hewill rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don’t care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.