Calvert County and its surrounding counties have endured a lot in the past 28 years from Steny Hoyer in exchange for his skill in procuring prodigious amounts of pork for his district. We've looked the other way as he's voted against our values so we could get a taste of the pork being ladled by the federal government to the tune of billions of dollars. As we've given him a pass and his elections have become coronations, he's become increasingly arrogant, but we've continued to grit our teeth because he brings home the bacon.

If Jeff Flake of Arizona, with his 97 percent lifetime rating from the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, is a taxpayer hero for his refusal to request earmarks for his district, then Hoyer, with his dismal 11 percent lifetime rating from the same organization, is...well, not.

I have to grudgingly give him credit, though - he's managed to go about his business without a lot of controversy. He was always the smooth-talking, smooth-operating man behind the scenes, building up power and favors in Washington DC that eventually led him to the lofty position of House Majority Leader. Yes, he was always above the fray - until now.

I don't know what happened to him - maybe it was the beatdown administered to him at the Utica, NY town hall meeting that went viral on YouTube. Maybe President Obama had him over to the White House for kool-aid. Maybe he's finally warming up to Nancy Pelosi. I just can't imagine what motivated him to team up with Ms. Pelosi in a USA Today editorial declaring, "'Un-American' attacks can't derail health care debate."

While they tried to limit their insult to those who in their opinion were "drowning out opposing views," the damage was done. The Speaker of the House and the House Majority Leader derided as "simply un-American" the hundreds of millions of citizens unconvinced this rushed health care bill that the Congressional Budget Office says will neither reduce costs nor expand coverage is the answer.

To the Republicans and conservatives of Calvert County, I ask this question: how does that pork taste when forced to wash it down with a tall glass of condescension labeled "un-American?" To you veterans who, like me, dedicated your very life in service to this country, do you think this career politician is qualified to call you "un-American" because you don't buy what he's selling on health care?

What about all you folks who are happy with your health insurance coverage (70 percent of Americans according to a recent Gallup Poll) and would rather see them focus on care for those who aren't covered and otherwise leave you alone? Is that an "un-American" position to take? Are you going to once again hold your nose and vote for this man in 2010, grateful for the scraps he throws your way while he brings you and the rest of the nation to the brink of bankruptcy with unsustainable social experiments costing trillions of dollars?

I implore you to be discerning in your decision when Hoyer comes before you once again for re-election. If his declaration of whole segments of our nation and our county as "simply un-American" doesn't move you to expel him from office with all deliberate speed, then nothing will. 

What has our nation come to when its leaders decry opposition to government intervention in our lives, particularly the intimate and private realm of our personal health, as "un-American?" The men who founded this great nation would be stunned by the notion of statism as an American concept. They designed a system of government that dispersed power and implemented checks and balances to ensure the people remained sovereign and government stayed within its boundaries of protection and enforcement.

George Washington correctly described government when he declared, "Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force; like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action."

In his words, we find the real definition of Americanism; the defense of individual liberty against the "irresponsible action" of a "dangerous servant" in the federal government. Indeed, it is the imposition of an encroaching government and the usurpation of individual rights as promoted by Hoyer and Pelosi that is "simply un-American."