In the novel ‘The Scarlet Letter' by Nathaniel Hawthorne, set in 17th century Boston, a young woman named Hester Prynne was forced to wear a scarlet ‘A' because she was found to have committed adultery

The scarlet letter was intended as a public badge of shame.

In America at this moment, there is a new letter of shame. It is blue, and it is a (D), as in Democrat.

Obamacare was passed using bribery, bullying, vote buying, threats and intimidation. It was passed over the overwhelming objections of the American people. Millions of phone calls, emails, and faxes, along with thousands of protests at town halls and congressional offices across the country were ignored.

Even worse, they are now celebrating the humiliating defeat of the American people with high fives, back slapping, and cheers. They are vicious when we oppose them by calling us names like mobs and Nazis and they are completely graceless in victory.

By a 2 to 1 margin, polls revealed that Americans opposed the bill and by about the same margin, people do not believe its promises of lower deficits, lower healthcare costs, more effective healthcare for all of us, and more choice.

We have not been fooled by the false promises.

Every Democrat who voted for this (all Democrat senators and 219 congressman in the House) should have this blue (D) hung around their necks in upcoming elections. I will go a step further; even those who didn't vote for it should have it hung around their necks as well. After all, they are in the party of hard core leftists; and does anyone doubt that had their votes been needed, they would not have succumbed to the pressures and bribery?

My own two senators in Virginia (Mark Warner and Jim Webb) are cases in point. Warner is a bona fide liberal but I had never considered him a leftist; Webb has often been considered as a moderate, or even leaning right on some issues. Both of them voted time and time again to keep this awful thing alive.

I wrote to both of them to express my opposition and received letters in response that were full of the typical clap trap; "...the healthcare system is broken, damaging our ability to compete, threatens to bankrupt our country, blah, blah, blah..."

Whatever may be wrong with healthcare in America today stems mostly from too much state and federal regulation, not too little, and this dog isn't the cure.

No excuses, gentlemen; you now own it. You have surrendered yourselves to Obama and the leftists. You have ignored the people of Virginia and the people of America.

Along with Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Bart Stupak and all the others who helped get this thing enacted, you have betrayed your oath of office to "...protect and defend the Constitution of the United Sates against all enemies foreign and domestic..." Instead of defending the constitution you have violated it, even perverted it for political power.

Two of Virginia's most revered patriots, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, would be appalled.

There may be an opportunity here. For decades, Democrats have labeled Republicans the party of no.

I am not a campaign strategist, but if I were, in every election from here on out, I would advise my client to label his or her Democrat opponent as representing the Party of Shame, with a big blue (D) on their chest, and showing them joined at the hip with Obama, Reid, and Pelosi.

I would also extend this strategy to every Democrat at the state and local level, right down to Supervisor of Water Services.

After all, if you are a Democrat politician, you are now a member of the Party of Shame.