In the 60s our country underwent a radical change in values.  With the Vietnam War and the growth of the peace movement came a generation of youth set on achieving free love and balking at the standards of behavior held by their parents.  Drugs and sex became a form of expression and self-actualization.  Little did they realize the impact this would have on future generations.

The 70s disco era continued many of those freedoms and it was not until AIDS came to light in the 1980s and the consequences of drug use began to filter down to the children that America woke up to these dangers and began the campaign of “Just Say No.”  Sex education programs designed to delay sexual experimentation or to prevent disease as well as drug prevention programs like the one initiated by Nancy Reagan discouraged risky behavior in youth.

Risky behavior has consequences, and the only sure way to avoid those possible consequences is to JUST SAY NO. Children were taught responsibility and self esteem in order to give them the courage to stand up to pressure from others to give in to temptation facing them daily.  What would it be like to come under such peer pressure?  Well, you might be ridiculed, harassed, bullied and threatened.  Perhaps your character would even be called into question by the very ones leading you into danger.  Or maybe you would be bribed in order to coerce you into capitulating.

Sound familiar?  Is this not the very pressure coming upon our lawmakers to give in to this Administration’s agenda?  They are being threatened, coerced, bribed and misrepresented in order to get their vote.  And what is happening to the Republicans who resist the agenda?  They are being called “The Party of No.”  Thank God!

We teach our children to say “No” to any behavior that is deemed risky or dangerous.  Our Federal Government pays for programs in the schools to help them have the confidence to stand firm in their convictions.  And yet this same government sets the example of bullying and bribing in order to get their own way with the health care agenda.

The Republican Party has considered a government takeover of health care and rendered it a risky and dangerous escapade.  With looming debt and numerous examples in government of its inefficiency there is no evidence to believe that such a move could be anything but fatal — both to the body of the United States and ultimately those of its people.

I’ll go even further to say that the historic election of Scott Brown to the US Senate from the typically liberal state of Massachusetts was a referendum by the American people, many of whom participated through financial and volunteer support from across the country for a 41st Senator with the guts to JUST SAY NO.

Related article:  Party of ‘No’ …and Proud by Matt Spivey