In Front of Blair House By Bill Miller On Thursday morning I rose at 2AM and drove a half hour to catch a bus at 4AM in Whippany, NJ.  The bus proceeded to Lodi, NJ where we picked up additional passengers, including former Bogota mayor Steve Lonegan, and headed to Washington, D.C.  Lonegan ran in the Republican primary against (R) Governor Christie, of New Jersey, and was my personal choice in that race. Steve is also in charge of the New Jersey chapter of Americans for Prosperity. The New Jersey chapter has emerged as one of the most vital and committed chapters; those of us who live in New Jersey dread what the progressives have done to New Jersey occurring on a national level. Small in numbers on this winter day, we all remember how much snow we got Thursday and Friday, we outnumbered the socialists still by at least twenty to one, and there were even more reporters then Obamite protestors. There was some shouting and a speech made at the site by Tim Phillips President of Americans for Prosperity.  Beyond the shouting I was privy to hearing quite a few logical arguments made on behalf of the Tea Party activists toward illogical pro-Obama care backers. I participated in one myself with a pro-care protestor who couldn’t argue against the Utah Point. Utah wants to cut the feds out of the Medicare loop in their state. They feel that the state could handle it better and at less cost without involving an unnecessary federal bureaucracy. She couldn’t give an answer why other states couldn’t do that or what Massachusetts did if they really want healthcare reform in their state. She also had no answer for the federal tax codes that allow businesses a health care tax deduction but not an individual, or where the extra medical personnel is to come from if the bill passes. Never mind an answer for cross state line purchasing of policies, tort reform, or forcing someone to buy a policy with coverage in it they do not desire. All she had left was, "I’m a humanist, and this is how I feel.” I applaud feelings, they are real, but policy governed only by feelings has always caused disasters, and had absolutely no comprehension of the constitution’s checks and balances. Next we walked a few blocks to the AFP Critical Care: Patients’ Summit Webcast, I was talking with Tim Phillips when we passed the historic Willard Hotel, where Julia Ward Howe awoke one night to write the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, creating a warm feeling in my breast before meeting more reporters and interviews prior to the AFP webcast. Milling around the lobby with more reporters and participates giving interviews and eating lunch, I listened to the passion of the participates and saw frowns on the faces of many of the press. I myself gave an interview with a young woman from Voice of America, about checks and balances, unalienable rights ( my personally favorite subject, ) on self determination and self actualization and about Res privata and how all that is going on with this healthcare debate is the antithesis, of those points that have made America so great. I told her that I’ve read constitutions from many other countries some are equally clever as ours, that what we have different from theirs is the spiritual center of our system of checks and balances. I saw her smile. Tim Phillips made his opening speech then began introducing his guests, among them was Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America, Colin Hanna of Let Freedom Ring, Jim Martin of 60 Plus Association, Steve Lonegan, Andrew Langer of the Institute for Liberty, former Oklahoma University Quarterback and former congressmen and Pastor the legendary JC Watts, and (R) congressmen John Shadegg (AZ), it was a formidable line up. The most feisty line went to Penny Lance whose organization has three million concerned mothers in it; she said with her cute southern drawl, "We are not only going to defeat this bill . . . were going to push it off a cliff and shoot it in the back!" One of the best laughs was for Jim Martin holding up an anagram bumper sticker with AARP, written out as Association Against Retired People. Lonegan, who I’ve much personal respect for stated a cold fact, ". . . Obama, Pelosi and Reed’s idea of bi-partisanship is for republicans to give up all the principles they believe in and sign the bill!" Hand down the best speech of the day was from Watts, no disrespect to congressmen Shadegg, who I personally admire, even Shadegg knew Watts was a hard act to follow. And he should know they were after all freshmen congressmen together. Watts talked about the "seduction of the crowd" and "grading your own test" and how Washington, wants to give itself a passing grade when it’s really flunking out. How when your outside Washington running for congress you see Washington politics as a "cesspool," and that after being elected many representatives view it more like a "Jacuzzi" and dive on in. He came to congress during the Contact with America, congress in 1995, they were talking about legislative term limits, and they still are talking about it, nothing more. He describes how he came to congress after seeing how the Great Society programs had harmed so many people’s lives that people got stuck on the dole, that there had to be a better way to handle those problems. So he was making a speech before the house, and a fellow congressman asked if he would yield some time, he did, only to hear this congressman talk about his lack of compassion. He said he promptly asked for his time back and stated the following, "You define compassion by how many people are on food stamps, AFDC and public housing. I define compassion as how few people are on food stamps, AFDC and public Housing." That is where the legislative agenda should put its efforts. After more homey logic and common sense that has always been his hallmark, Watts ended with a stirring finale that could have come from the founders themselves, "I don’t hate my government . . . I just Love my Freedom more!" Then we got a history lesson from Shadegg, about how the federal government has fouled up healthcare, caused costs to rise and want to do more damage to the system. And talk of logic, he used auto insurance as an example, how companies fight to prove their lower rates, and asked when you last saw an advertisement for health insurance telling you that they would cut the next company’s rate. The summit ended and we all returned to our respective states, satisfied that once again we did our part for the battle to restore balance to the government, to do as Jefferson said was a citizens first duty, "To help the government fight corruption!" You can watch a video of the event and speeches by going to the Americans for Prosperity national site at http://www.americansforprosperity.org./national-site