The First Amendment of the United States Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Redress of grievances. Say what you will about the literary style of the late 18th century (some criticize it as overly-florid and prolix; then again some have said the same thing about my own style), but I like those words - they sound much more mellifluous than, say, “lobbying” or “bitching and complaining.”

When we petition the government for a redress of grievances, we approach any or all of the three branches with a list of the things that offend, malign or otherwise injure us (grievances) and request or demand (petition) that the government either do or cease doing (redress) that to which we subscribe or object.

It is a fundamental right of the governed, one dating to 13th century England, when the nobles corralled King John in a place  called Runnymeade and compelled him to affix his seal to what today is known as the Magna Carta.

These days - especially in the United States - drawn swords have been replaced with a constitution and a kingdom with a republic of laws. Much has changed in the course of eight centuries - but human nature has not: the desire for wealth, power and fame is just as strong a force of human nature as lust and love. It will never change and is nowhere more infectious than in the mind, heart and soul of liberals - particularly those liberals who presently infest both the White House and the halls of Congress.

The elections of 2006 and 2008 presented the Democrat Party with an unprecedented opportunity to enact an agenda it has been itching for decades to enact but prevented from doing so by Republican presidents or sizable majorities of Republicans in the House or Senate. In January of this year the Democrat Party found itself in complete control of both the White House and the Congress; led by the most ideologically left-wing President in this nation’s history, they immediately set out to nationalize as much of the private sector as they could, starting with the banks and soon thereafter the insurance companies and the automotive industry.

What they hadn’t counted on was the response of the American people to the radical nature of their agenda - thanks in large part to the alternate media, including talk radio, FOX News and the blogosphere. Had all of this happened twenty years ago, when the now discredited Mainstream Media monopolized the transmission and dissemination of news and information, they might have pulled it off. As it happens, the salad days of the legacy media are over. A growing majority of Americans no longer trust them since they collectively dove into tank for Barack Obama during the 2008 election and no longer rely upon them as a credible source of news and information. Hence the rise of the Tea Party movement and with it a growing backlash against the extremism of the Obama administration and its allies in Congress.

Neither Obama nor his Democrat allies in Congress ever counted on the size or determination of the opposition. April Tea Parties that were cavalierly dismissed in May eventually morphed into the Great 912 March on Washington, DC that could not be so easily dismissed, much less ignored. Couple that with plummeting poll numbers for Democrats in general and Obama in particular and it isn’t difficult to understand why they are pursuing their present course - especially if you are familiar with the agenda.

For Obama - a dedicated Alinskyite - it’s nothing more complicated than the Cloward-Piven Strategy: overwhelm the federal government with so many social programs and so much social spending that it eventually collapses, opening the door for the transformation of a free market republic into a socialist oligarchy. For the Democrats it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to entrench themselves in power for the foreseeable future. To accomplish this, they must enact several things:

1. Nationalize the health care industry;
2. Institute Cap & Trade to hamstring the energy industry and then eventually nationalize it;
3. Enact amnesty for up to 12 million illegal aliens, grant them citizenship and then register them as Democrat voters;
4. Ensure that the 2010 census results permit Congressional redistricting heavily in favor of Democrat candidates for office.

The backlash against various Representatives after the House passed the Cap & Trade bill this past summer was a just a taste what was to come. As the attention of the nation focused on the proposed health care reform, August witnessed a virtual uprising on the part of patriotic Americans in the form of town hall meetings and protest rallies, culminating in the Great March on September 12 - perhaps the single largest assemblage of citizens demanding a redress of grievances that has ever descended upon the nation’s capital.

Did the White House and Congress see and hear what transpired that day? They sure did and if any of them tell you otherwise, they are lying. Unfortunately, the Great March and subsequent marches that followed did nothing to weaken the resolve of Obama and the Democrats. If anything, it only served to strengthen their resolve. How could this be? Can they be that obtuse to the will of the people - especially when poll after poll of the whole nation reflects the principal objections of the Tea Party movement?

The answer, of course, is that they are anything but obtuse. They know perfectly well the curtain has been drawn aside and they have been revealed for the cynical, power hungry statists they really are. They know that increasing numbers of the American people actively oppose their agenda. They know how unpopular they are and they realize their unpopularity will only get worse as time goes by.

But they also know that they are still in power and will remain in power through January 20 of 2011. They hold a sizable majority in the House and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The President is even more radical than they are. Absent a massive recall movement or armed revolution, there is nothing - apart from division in their own ranks - capable of stopping them from enacting every item on their legislative agenda.

Hence Harry Reid’s full court press to ram ObamaCare through the Senate and secure passage of his bill before Christmas. Nevermind the fact that a majority of Americans oppose it. Nevermind that the details of the actual bill are being kept so secret that most Senators have no idea what’s in it. Nevermind that when Sen. Coburn invoked a legitimate procedural rule to have the proposed Sanders Amendment read out loud, Reid permitted a blatant violation of procedural rules to enable Sanders to withdraw the amendment before the clerk of the Senate finished reading it. Nevermind that Reid has engaged in threats and outright bribery to secure yes votes from so-called “Blue Dog” Democrats who claimed to be undecided. Reid is bound and determined to secure passage of the bill come hell or high water.

In the midst of all this, citizen patriots have been steadily bombarding Senators with a daily barrage of phone calls, letters and e-mails - just as they bombarded their Representatives earlier - and all of it to little or no effect.

But don’t they realize the mood of the American electorate has gone from ugly to positively hideous? Don’t they realize how many seats they will lose in both the House and the Senate next November? Has it not occurred to them that the Democrat Party will very likely lose control of Congress when the dust from the election settles and the smoke clears?

The answer is yes. But they don’t care - Obama certainly doesn’t, as he still has two years and ten months to go before the next Presidential election. Pelosi doesn’t care because she knows the idiots, lunatics and assorted freaks of nature who populate her district will re-elect her for life. Reid doesn’t care because he’s confident that he can swing another victory in Nevada regardless of what the polls show today. Others are not so sure, which is why we have seen so many Democrats announcing their retirement lately. In so doing, they have effectively declared that no amount of poking, prodding, cajoling or electoral threats will have any effect and those who employ these tactics will be wasting valuable time and effort.

It’s all very counter-intuitive and seemingly insane, but there is a strategic reason - just as there was a reason for the U.S. to land forces on Normandy Beach in 1944: invasion and conquest can be possible only if a beach head has been secured and fortified - even if it means sustaining horrific casualties. Indeed, in the course of the D-Day invasion the Allies sustained close to 10,000 casualties out of 140,000 who participated in the invasion - but it gained them the purchase of valuable real estate from which they were subsequently able to launch the attacks that eventually retook France and drove Germany to its knees.

The strategy for the Democrats is no different. The leadership understands that heavy political casualties will likely be sustained next November. It’s possible the Republicans can gain as many as ten seats in the Senate and as many as 45 seats in the House, shifting the balance of power in the lower chamber and erasing the Democrats’ filibuster proof majority in the upper chamber. But the damage will already have been done: the legislation to nationalize health care will be in place, Cap & Trade will have been made law and 12 million illegal aliens will have become Democrat voters. There will be nothing to stop the census bureau - now under the control of the White House - from cooking the numbers to the Democrats’ favor in terms of redistricting.

The Democrats fully expect to sustain heavy - but not fatal - losses in 2010 and while the Republicans may - MAY - secure a small majority in the House and achieve even numbers in the Senate, the Democrats know it won’t be enough to reverse anything the 111th Congress has done - especially because Obama has the power of the veto pen.

The only way for Republicans to undo the damage wrought by the 111th Congress would be for them to attain veto-proof majorities in both houses - something that doesn’t look even remotely possible at this time. Absent a veto-proof majority, the best the Republicans can do is engage in stalling tactics and procedural harassment until 2012. By then, ObamaCare will be firmly entrenched in the corridors of DC bureaucracy. Cap & Trade will become a fact of business life. Millions of illegals will have become registered Democrats, thanks in large part to the efforts of a fully funded ACORN.

As for 2012 and beyond…only God knows.