Town Hall Meetings

This article compelled me to actually start a blog. It was more for my friends on facebook, who I imagine might be getting tired of my rantings on a social network site. So this way I can be a little less obtrusive and still vent some of this.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6787454.ece


All across America average Joes are coming out to talk to, ask questions of, and call out politicians that are peddling this health care bill; HR 3200. Town Hall Meetings (surprising I can't find any in Ohio)

But now that those supporting the president and the bill know that there is a large and growing fervor against this bill, they too are turning out for these town hall meetings. I'm not even going to address the reported intimidation tactics by those supporting the health care bill, or even the claims that those supporting the bill have been brought into meeting rooms before the others who want to speak against it in an effort to control the amount of people against the bill in the room.

I would love to see evidence of two things.

1) Where are all these people running around at town hall meetings wearing or flashing swastikas.

2) Where are all the big corporate America giants or insurance companies have come out against the health care bill or is drumming up fears. Where is the proof that these big companies and the GOP are bringing in people to attend these town hall meetings?

I'm certain that there are some companies in and health care that stand to loose the most through this bills passing, but the largest of companies would love to pass us all off onto the public option and the largest of insurance companies would love to see the small competition go under (as they will with the passage of this bill).

But here's a theme anyone who knows me might have heard before.

Just repeating something over and over again does not make it true.

I AM one of the "mob", although my representative is not holding a town hall meeting.

I am NOT being stoked by the insurance companies.

I have NOT received any calls from the GOP. (And if they did call I would tell them where to go)

I'm reading the bill and listening to the politicians, and the two don't match. The speed in which our congress is attempting to move is to me a show of fear that the public won't support this if they really look into it. The fact that they won't debate or even answer simple questions tells me that those bringing up fears of the results of this legislation have some merit.

But I must digress.

I saw this headline and I got a little scared.

Scared because it's been a long time since we've had real civil unrest. And we're overdue. Every thirty or so years we have real shifts in our political alignments. And unfortunately this also happens with violence and conflict. It is often escorted in with large military conflicts or recessions. We saw it in 1968 when large groups of minorities switched from Republican to Democrat, and southern whites went the other way. We saw it in 1932 when the country dropped the Republicans like a hot potato. That was accompanied by the Great Depression and massive labor unrest. 1896 saw the emergence of the Populist/Progressive movement.

Anyway, here we are looking on as people who generally don't have the time or energy to get off of their couch head out to confront their elected representatives and I fear that some fed up soul does something stupid and commits some form of violence.

I must say that listening to Pelosi, Reid, Romney, and all the other Statist government-centric crooks who steal and spend our money makes my blood boil from time to time.

But we also must be peaceful and grounded in logic and an expression of liberty and personal rights and choices. Should any of us, "the mob", be seen as the aggressors or starting physical altercations the hand of the federal government will come down so fast and so hard we won't wake up until all of our rights have been stripped.

I feel that we are headed toward a new political spectrum. And I fear that the current improvements in the economy is a smoke screen. And I hope that we can do it in a peaceful and enlightened way.

But that's another conversation for another day.



Remember, if you think any of this was "fishy" you can report me or any other person to the White House so that they can just... you know... keep track of all these tricky facts.