That Struck A Nerve

Wow, That Struck A Nerve

It’s often interesting to me what strikes a nerve with people who tend to lean to the far left.

It shows how differently we see the world and solutions to our current problems.

In a post last night, I did some nerve damage to some of those who read my content.

I claimed, rightly so, that those of us in the middle and to the right of center are actually the counter-culture.

We pay a price for speaking out against vaccines, COVID, wokeness, abortion, and many other important issues of our time.

The left-leaners use virtue signalling as a way of controlling the conversation, or at least they used to, until our voices got louder. 

After claiming the counterculture label, the fangs from a few on the left came out.

I guess they still see themselves as the oppressed, fighting for what they believe is right.

But the far left is anything but counter to culture.

They’ve created this culture that is falling apart. 

Long ago, the far left was the counterculture.

They were against cultural norms.

They had bumper stickers on their Volvos that read, “kill your TV, don’t trust big pharma, don’t trust the government, and don’t trust the media.”

Now, people who truly believe those things are considered extreme right (counterculture), and many on the left seem to buy in completely. 

I recently posted a blog about Oregon being fed up.

I was talking about the tidal wave of support those fighting the gas tax are creating. 

Democrats and Republicans and thousands of others don’t care about party politics; they are just tired of being taken advantage of by current Democrat policies in Oregon, and came out in support of repealing the gas tax. 

This hit a nerve with a newspaper writer in Eastern Oregon, Tammy Malgesini. 

Now that folks on the left have seen the success of signature gatherers, the battle to discredit the move is well underway.

“It’s not that bad, it’s not that much money,” seems to be the battle cry.

So in her article, she does what the left does so well: to try to control culture, she nitpicks and twists my words, not missing the point but trying to change it to boost her position. 

She writes: 

“This is not about Democrats or Republicans, this is about our financial future! Please, don’t confuse the two,” Carol Greene wrote on Nov. 19 when sharing a post by Rick Dancer, who lost a bid in November 2008 as the Republican candidate for Oregon secretary of state.  A Hillsboro native and longtime journalist/TV news anchor, Dancer’s post was titled, “The Oregon Deep State is Shaking.” Although he has resided in Montana for several years, Dancer obviously still follows Oregon politics and freely shares his opinion, saying the objective of this referendum effort is “to stop the Democrats and their leader, Tina Kotek, from implementing the 4.3 billion dollar tax increase.”  Sounds pretty political to me. Dancer slams Democrats and party leaders in his more than 500-word diatribe, including providing advice to those signing/collecting signatures for the petition.  “The state is against this and wants to find reasons to invalidate your signature,” he wrote.

This repeal effort is not a Democrat or Republican issue.

But the gas tax is partisan.

Very different topics that are twisted together, on purpose, to try to discredit what’s really happening here. 

Not a single Republican in the Oregon legislature voted for the 4.3 billion dollar tax.

It was the Democrat party and its leader Kotek, responsible for the tax.

They claim it’s not much.

To many of us, the dollar amount isn’t that much.

But again, they miss the point.

It’s not as much about the amount as it is the final straw for many Oregonians.

A tax here, an increase there, a user fee, and new charges to use a paddleboard for goodness’ sake. 

It never ends.

I would venture to bet, the amazing response to the petition drive is less about the gas tax and more about “The People” saying, “Enough already.”

The Democrats in the legislature know that.

So rather than admit they were wrong as they ignored democracy, and instead shove one more thing down the throats of voters, they will come after all of us who expose the lies. 

The cultural machine is just starting to gain momentum.

The counter culture needs to fight back.

This is not so much about the tax as it is about maintaining control of the message.

It’s clear, Oregonians (all parties) are back in control.

But the battle is just starting to heat up.

Who will control Oregon?

Republicans, Democrats? I hope not.

I vote for the people.

And so should you.