Why We Whisper

Senator Jim Demint (R-SC) said that unwed pregnant women should not be schoolteachers, and the media accused him of intolerance. What the media did not reveal, however, were the constituents who whispered after the cameras disappeared.

“People would whisper ‘you’re right, we’re with you,’” said Sen. Demint. “They did not want to say that anything was wrong, because they know that’s hateful, wrong and politically incorrect. I notice how much people whisper.”

Sen. Demint more than noticed the whispers, and he wanted his constituents’ voices to be heard. He wrote a book for all Americans called Why We Whisper: Restoring Our Right to Say It’s Wrong.

Sen. Demint spoke about his book, which criticizes excessive government spending and government micro-management, to about 200 D.C. interns on Capitol Hill on June 21.

“What I’ve seen here on the side of Congress doesn’t give me a lot of hope. [The government] is focused on the next election, not the next generation,” said Sen. Demint.

Sen. Demint said America’s founding fathers focused on the next generation, and they supported limited federal involvement. “Our founders would be amazed at how much the federal government does today,” said Sen. Demint.

When America was founded, Americans did not need the federal government to create laws governing every aspect of their lives. This changed with the social unrest of the 1960s, according to Sen. Demint.

“Before the 1960s, the free society decided what was right and what was wrong … we knew that abortion and homosexuality were wrong,” said Sen. Demint. “[Then] the government came in and made laws and court rulings that switched that upside down.”

These “wrongs” which are not social norms, such as the rejection of the traditional family—a father, mother and children—have contributed to social decay and monetary costs. Unwed births cost 150 billion dollars per year, and drugs and drinking correlate to unwed births, according to Sen. Demint.

“You can’t create a successful society…where family life is deteriorated,” said Sen. Demint.

“As the culture declines and people become more dysfunctional they need more help from the government,” said Sen. Demint. “People respond when you start dumping the responsibility back on them. When you reward their [good] behavior, you get more of it.”

As Americans depend on the government more, they stop holding elected officials accountable for their actions, especially government spending. Sen. Demint referred to the 50 billion dollar Aids to Africa Bill that Congress just passed. He said Congress would have passed the bill if it were 100 billion dollars.

“Last week in the Senate, we approved the biggest foreign aid bill in our history; it’s waste and corruption that we’ve never seen before,” said Sen. Demint. “Instead of telling people the truth that we need to cut back spending, we’re spending like no tomorrow.”

“If we keep spending, the value of the dollar is going to keep dropping. We export 700 billion dollars to buy foreign oil,” said Sen. Demint. “As the value of the dollar drops, the more those dollars come home, and the more that value drops.”

Sen. Demint said it’s up to Americans to use their weapons—voices and words—to maintain their Constitutional rights. “As long as America is calling on the federal government to do more, we’re losing a little bit of freedom,” said Sen. Demint.

Sen. Demint argued that freedom is only free if Americans fight for their freedoms.

“It’s going to take Americans to stand up and fight like they’ve never fought before,” said Sen. Demint. “This country is about freedom, it’s about character, and religiously-informed values.”

Sen. Demint said that even during times of economic trouble, war and division, a few people can make a noticeable difference.

“You have to believe, be committed, be informed and be willing to speak out,” said Sen. Demint. “I’m convinced that a few people who are enthusiastic, who have the right ideas, can get many people to follow them…”

Melinda Zosh is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.