In Health Care Battle Royal, It's the '300' v. the Obama/Media Hordes

King Leonidas punctuated his epic resistance to the Persian horde by responding to Xerxes’ demand that the Three Hundred Spartans surrender their weapons. Molon labe! … “Come and take them!” Our senators and representatives should respond in kind to President Obama’s demand for their votes on his epochal healthcare takeover.

For much of a year … longer that most would have predicted … a vastly outnumbered force of 218 Republican congressmen and senators – prodded, poked and arm-twisted by the most powerful grassroots movement of our generation and egged on my its cheerleaders in the Mainstream Media – has withstood the Xerxian onslaught that is Obamacare. And like Leonidas, Obamacare opponents know more is at stake than this single battle.

As important as the outcome is the manner in which this battle is waged. A courageous and principled stand against overwhelming odds historically evokes sympathy and support by an otherwise unengaged populace – witness Thermopylae, the Alamo, Rorke’s Drift, to name a few.

Do not misunderstand, I hope for victory in the health care battle and believe it can be achieved, but also like Leonidas, I am mindful that other battles loom, whether they be cap-and-trade, immigration reform, health care 2.0 (the “public option”) or the elections in 2010, 2012 and beyond. And how we fight matters.

Obama’s recent “summit” showed Republicans as learned and sincere, while revealing Democrats as often terse or arrogant (“I don’t count my time because I’m the President”). People may not understand every detail, but they do understand sincerity, and the old adage still remains true that if you can fake sincerity, you’ve got it made.

And Democrats are clearly faking sincerity. Just look at how they have collected their votes – Louisiana Purchases, Cornhusker Kickbacks, judicial appointments, late-night deals on Christmas Eve, of all days. Votes achieved without principle and without honor, as if assembling an army of mercenaries to fight against citizen-soldiers.

And this is my message to senators and representatives of either party when Obama/Reid/Pelosi demand your vote, offer you favors (read bribes), threaten you, cajole, wine-and-dine you … stand your ground! Better men and women have stood up against far worse in order to preserve the great liberty and freedoms our nation enjoys.

And if healthcare passes, recall the words of Leonidas, at least as imagined by the screenwriters of the hit movie, 300:

No retreat, no surrender; that is Spartan lore. And by Spartan lore we will stand and fight… A new age has begun. An age of freedom, and all will know, that 300 Spartans gave their last breath to defend it!