©St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Tad Armstrong

Midterm elections were about voters choosing freedom, not any one piece of legislation.

As I write this piece, the results of Tuesday’s elections are not known. But, I will go out on a rock-hard foot-thick limb and conclude that the actual results support the notion that today is the day after Americans took a stand for freedom. I say “actual” loosely.

Some results will apparently never be “actual,” given that the National Voting Rights Act just might, believe it or not, prevent Arizona from requiring voters to prove citizenship at the time of registration and, therefore, some illegal votes will undoubtedly be counted.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews wonders “where the country has gone” that would cause Tea Partiers to “want it back.” He blames the outcome of these elections on the Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission case, a U.S. Supreme Court decision that had nothing to do with corporate disclosure requirements. Time and accurate reporting will tell us exactly how that case has affected this election. But, as I have said before, it is not the job of the Supreme Court to do what is “best” for America. It is their job to interpret the law in accordance with the Constitution. If a remedy is then required, let it be by amending the Constitution with the consent of the people, not by the overreaching power of five Justices of the Court.

Mr. Matthews fails to understand that this president’s failed policies and the contempt this Congress has for its own citizens, coupled with a true grass-roots American revolution of “citizens” who are indeed “united,” is the reason for yesterday’s correction at the polls. His condescending rhetoric that these poor unthinking people have been led down a primrose path by corporate greed is disgusting and divisive. It would be my preference that all of media acknowledge the integrity of this movement so that paths of compromise could begin to heal our nation. However, Mr. Matthews, since you don’t “get it,” I hope you continue speaking about them and to them as though they were children in need of your Beltway elitist parenting. That will only strengthen their resolve and grow their numbers.

In the main, these elections were not about any one piece of legislation – they were about freedom – and that is the reason why this movement is here to stay. It is the reason why those who have been elected by the efforts of conservatives must remember who put them there or they, too, will be replaced at the next opportunity.

So, if lessons have been learned, the next Congress should:

• Present President Obama with a bill to repeal Obamacare. A font size of 73 will make this one-sentence one-page bill large enough and short enough for all to read before voting. A true statesman in the oval office would take such an opportunity to start a debate on health care in the open for all to see, reach across the aisle and come up with a plan that actually has a chance of working.

• After the repeal bill is vetoed, do whatever you can to resist funding it until 2012 when you can then repeal it for good and adopt a plan that actually has a chance of working.

• Seal our southern border immediately. This president had such an opportunity to bring our nation together and participate in a bipartisan compromise to assimilate illegals presently in our country. But, stopping the invasion must be step number one and this he will not do because he is unwilling to share the new Latino votes with Republicans he describes as their “enemies.” How presidential!

• Stop the insane spending, shut down earmarks, extend the tax cuts to all and get out of the way so the private sector can accomplish what government has never been able to accomplish – real job creation.

• Before voting on any legislation, address its constitutionality. If it doesn’t pass the smell test, kill it – period. Recognize you are limited in what you can do and stop doing it.

• Amend the National Voting Rights Act to permit States to require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in national elections. For heaven’s sake, if you cannot prove you are a citizen, you should not get to vote.

Space is limited, so I will close with the best suggestion of all.

• Embrace the concept of “no” and don’t do anything else! Enough is enough.

Now, if that limb has turned out to be thinner than I thought and the elections were not as predicted, forget the suggestions – freedom will have died yesterday.