AUSTIN - Representative Debbie Riddle (R- District 150) has issued the following opinion/editorial statement regarding the Senate's overnight cloture vote:

"Early this morning, I watched in absolute horror as the U.S. Senate betrayed my grandchildren's future for 30 pieces of silver.

The Senate vote that ended the health care debate and paved the way for final passage of the bill was made possible by sweetheart deals, carve-outs, and kickbacks aimed at bribing the few Senators who had held out against the oppression of the majority and stood up for the rights of the 61 percent of Americans who said they did not want this plan to pass. As a result of the votes purchased with those bribes, a trillion dollars worth of socialism is now certain to be passed by Congress before Christmas.

In 1945, my father risked his life on the shores of Iwo Jima as he fought for the preservation of the American Dream in the face of one of the greatest threats to liberty the world has ever seen. A little more than a half-century later, our country's own elected officials have invaded our personal liberties in ways my father's generation could never have imagined.

For the first time in our nation's history, if this bill passes, US Citizens will be required to purchase health care or they will be fined as if they are criminals. And it will all be paid for by an array of new taxes that sends a clear message to our children as they look towards their own futures: success and independence will be punished.  

In place of those values will be an emphasis on entitlements and the redistribution of wealth. They've taken over our system of banking. They've taken over our automobile industry. Now, there is little standing in their way from taking over every decision you make for your own personal health. Despite the fact that the Tenth and Fourteenth amendments explicitly prohibit the government from ever taking such actions, we are on the verge of being more completely under the control of the federal government than we have ever been.

I am now more fearful of the US Congress than I am of a foreign terrorist. The worst thing a terrorist can do is take my life. But Congress is eliminating my freedom and my grandchildren's future. These freedoms are going to be stolen from us not by an invading foreign power or by the fear imposed by a terrorist organization, but rather by the communist attitudes of 60 percent of the Senate in direct opposition to the will of 60 percent of Americans.

The only good news is that its not over yet. The bill must still survive hostile conference committee negotiations and subsequent approval by both houses. This means there is still time to bring Congress to its senses by alerting them to your outrage with your phone calls, letters, and e-mails.

But don't stop with your Congressional representatives. Call your state legislators and make sure they know that you oppose our country's crash course with unbridled socialism. Call your city council. Call your state board of education member. Call your friends and family in other districts and even other states and inspire them to make their voices heard in Washington. We have to fight if we are going to take back our country, community, and our kids. It is every bit the fight my father faced at Iwo Jima, and the stakes are every bit as high.

Ronald Reagan said that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. Don't let this generation be the one that proves him right. Get involved in this fight while you still have the right to do so. At the rate the Constitution is currently being eroded, who knows how long that right will survive."