Last week, President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress, a rare event for a president. Previous presidents have taken this extraordinary step in times of crisis for our country, such as Reagan at the height of the Cold War or George W. Bush following the attacks of 9/11.

Obama’s address was about his faltering health care proposals, which the American people have been strongly opposing in community gatherings and town hall meetings across the country. Obama himself has taken to prime-time television to promote his plans, and is back in campaign mode, trying to convince a wary public that we should trust the government to know what’s best for our health care.

The speech to Congress last week was highly partisan, angry and divisive. And it was disingenuous about several key elements of the bills currently pending before the House and Senate. We, the average people of America, have figured this out already, and we just don’t trust what we are being told. How fitting, then, that one of our representatives had the courage to tell the President that during the session.

Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted “You lie!” when Obama claimed that HR 3200 would prevent illegal aliens from receiving insured care under the government-run option. And Wilson is right.

HR 3200 includes language that prohibits illegals from receiving aid under the government-run health care option, but it also prevents anyone from verifying citizenship status before providing the benefits. It’s a bit like telling people to obey traffic laws and then preventing police officers from using radar detectors or even asking for driver’s licenses when a driver is stopped.

We can see through that, now that we have begun to digest what is in the 1,000-page bill. And Joe Wilson spoke up for all of us when he challenged the president. His only mistake, perhaps, was to shout it out during the speech, and for that he has apologized to the president.

The House yesterday voted to reprimand Wilson for his actions, and for his refusal to apologize to the House. Our representatives wasted our time on a political stunt when they should have been looking at the long list of problems with their health care proposals. What’s worse, our own representative in District 17 voted in favor of the reprimand. Even liberal Barney Frank of Massachusetts could not vote for the reprimand, instead voting “present.”

We are grateful for principled conservatives like Joe Wilson, and many of his colleagues in the House, who are working hard to fight this government expansion and power grab. Rob Curnock stands ready to join the fight in Washington for our conservative values.