Healthcare townhall ☀
It was ugly. While the crowd was pretty evenly split in terms of support or non-support, but the shrillest portion was decidedly against it. Earlier today, I was urging people to get involved and attend the meetings themselves. I’ve revised my view. Don’t bother. It’s not worth it. There are people I respect who oppose healthcare reform for a variety of reasons—but they weren’t the group that showed up to scream at John Dingell.
It was actually the second meeting. So many people showed up that fire capacity in the room was exceeded. A number of the conservatives had elected to stay outside when people lined up, march in a circle, and chant, “Just say no!” Then, when the room filled to capacity when they were at the back of the line, they complained that “they aren’t letting Republicans in.” What they lacked in common sense, they made up for in decibels.
First they screamed at the AARP guy—even though AARP hadn’t taken a stance on the bill. But they yelled that they had been sold out, apparently because this guy was facilitating the townhall meeting.
Then they screamed at the uninsured women in a wheelchair. They didn’t even wait to see what she had to say.
Then they screamed at Dingell. Even though Dingell is an 80 year old guy—he’s one of the most powerful people in the country. Don’t pity him. And if you have a good reason to scream at him—go ahead. But they weren’t screaming at him for good reasons. They were screaming at him because, apparently, he “hadn’t read the bill.” I guess he just wrote it. Also, everything Dingell said about the bill was “a lie.” Does the bill mention euthenasia? “No.” STOP LYING TO US!
I took one thing away from this. Talking about healthcare reform with these people is futile. If you’ve read much that I’ve written, you know that I don’t say this lightly. Normally, I support dialog with anybody over anything—and I get excited over almost any kind of civic engagement. But this was miserable.
Forget dialog. Let’s go into bulldozer mode.
One of the problems with healthcare reform and the healthcare townhalls is that while a majority of Americans back reform, they’re not wildly enthusiastic about the watered down form that congressional compromise is encasing. The proposed legislation is a far cry from a just universal healthcare system many of us ideally envision, but we tepidly support it nevertheless, with trepidation that it won’t be a total kowtow to the insurance industry lords. On the opposing side is a highly motivated rabid faction that is completely deaf to any pro-reform healthcare argument or actually, any policy an Obama administration favors. It really doesn’t matter what the details are, what the facts are — presenting a case for reform, no matter how effectively the case is made, nor how sweetened the deal, would still result in vehement rejection. Consider, gauging by recent polling, a good chunk of this militant opposition base does not even acknowledge Obama as a rightful officeholder.
In the Age of the Interwebs, flash mobs can be cooked up quicker than you can say “giggity-giggity”. Politically active acolytes tuned to talk radio and right wing online loci pits, stewing in riled up rantings, ready to be uncorked at any manifestation of “liberal mental disorder” they so loathe.
Hopefully, in response to this nastiness, the Obama team will refrain from adopting the George W. Bush Potemkin stratagem of conducting townhalls — applying a banhammer to any critics or potential naysayers before they enter the premises. Eliminating attendees because they had a Democratic bumper sticker on the Volkswagen bumper or anti-war rhetoric pasted on their garb didn’t work out so well for the previous Republican regime during Bush’s campaign to privatize social security.
Dissenters should be welcomed and their concerns and complaints lodged, but obviously, civility should always prevail. Perhaps these events should be more structured, with a question and answer protocol enforced to to allow democratic participation but without the shouting and yelling over. If someone isn’t willing to listen, then they shouldn’t be afforded the privilege to speak over.
All of this underscores the unspectacular way the Obama administration (along with Democratic congressional leaders) have championed the cause. Obama’s frequent press meet and greets on the matter have not netted the same success experienced on the presidential campaign trail. Because Obama really isn’t in the best position to provide a selling pitch — rather, this function would be better perfomed by doctors (someone like Howard Dean), health care professionals, ex-insurance industry corporate insiders, patient advocates, media savvy nurses, etc.…
