Mallory Pernell, Staff Writer
Ideology: Liberal | Writing From: Austin, Texas
Oh, the town hall meeting: how can you get more American than that? It is democracy in its purest form, bringing the public officials to the people for some old fashioned discussion.
“Tea-baggers”, or so they are called, love town hall meetings, because they feel that it brings them back to the days when America was founded, when America was new and rebellious. These feisty, Sarah Palin-esque conservatives love to compare their tax protests today to that of the Boston Tea Party, because they view the 1773 protest as America in its true form: full of rebellion, small government, small pox, and slavery.
Today, an important topic at many town hall meetings is healthcare. Many Congressmen have gone back to their respective districts to hold those beloved meetings, in order to hold question and answer sessions about the controversial topic. However, conservative “grassroots” campaigns have been encouraging opponents of Obama’s healthcare plan to destroy the long held tradition of public discussion. Conservative leaders are encouraging their fellow tea-baggers to yell throughout these meetings, to get the idea across that they are completely against “socialism”, or y’know, good health for all Americans. Tea-baggers claim they love democracy, yet disrupting town hall discussion isn’t democratic; in fact, it hinders democracy. Instead of multiple sides voicing their opinions, and constituents questioning their elected officials, only one, obnoxiously loud and disruptive side is heard. Elected officials end up getting barraged by loudmouth bullies who think that only their side is right.
Conservatives claim that these obnoxious and disruptive protests are justified, because it is imperative that elected leaders know that they are fed up with the “socialism” of the Obama presidency. To these conservatives I have this to say: Screaming out “we don’t want socialism” in the middle of a civilized meeting isn’t heroic; it’s something a five-year-old would do. Yelling at a congressman not only prevents a meeting from being able to perform its function of informing the official of what the people want, it also makes the official not want to come back. No official in his right mind would agree to a town hall style meeting if he is going to be overwhelmed by temper-tantrum-throwing adults.
One of the many conservative organizations that has taken a large role in the angry “grassroots” campaign is FreedomWorks, an activist group dedicated to lowering taxes. However, one of the leaders of FreedomWorks, its vice-president, Dick Armey, has also worked for a lobbying firm that has backed pharmaceutical and insurance companies. A “grassroots” campaign against healthcare reform that is run by someone who represents insurance and pharmaceutical groups? It’s almost too ironic to be true! All of these tea-baggers who think they are fighting against higher taxes are actually just pawns for a corporate battle.
Yes, people may say what they want, but if all anyone can hear is “Obama sucks!” because you think your view is more important than anyone else’s, nothing productive will be accomplished. Public officials still won’t really know what their constituents want, and the constituents won’t be able to hear what the officials have to say on the matter. So please, tea-baggers, next time you attend a town hall meeting leave your self-righteous attitude at the door and maybe we can settle this important healthcare debate in a truly democratic manner.
You don’t know what you are talking about. Try writing an unbiased article.
Joe, it seems that you don’t understand the point of this blog: to be “biased”. Being “biased” is not necessarily bad — but it is if you don’t admit it. Here at the Politicizer, we recognize that our articles are biased, because they’re opinion articles. That’s the point. By definition, an opinion piece is going to be biased. This isn’t the New York Times.
Just because the DNC says that “teabaggers” (as you and other liberals call them to discredit them, not as they call themselves) are being sent to the town halls by conservatives doesn’t mean it’s true.
In fact, most of the videos of the people screaming I’ve seen are Democrats, which is why conservatives are so happy to see and share them with others.
It’s a complete wonder to me how the DNC even thinks it can get away with blaming the GOP for the stalled healthcare plan.
Anyone with eyes and ears that has turned on a news channel in the past month knows that it’s moderate democrats doing the blocking – not the GOP.
Besides, when Obama/Pelosi try to ram health care overhaul through congress in five weeks one really has no other option but to stand up and shout.
That’s right Conor — free speech is awesome, just so long as no one else gets to say anything.
Alec,
That’s the vibe that I get as well. Neither “side” of this debate can claim a monopoly on truth or falsity, and stupidity and ignorance runs deep on all sides of the healthcare debate.
The suggestion that one side is “more” stupid than another is, at the very least, questionable.
What a crock of horse dung. I guess that if people want to differ in opinion then you should try and undermine their credibility by name calling ?
Ted Kennedy is my designated driver !
Noah-
How could you have possibly derived that I want to restrict free speech from what I said?
The only thing more productive than yelling over other people’s voices is likely insulting them and suggesting that they believe in slavery, smallpox, and Sarah Palin.
First yelling, now violence?:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/06/tampa-town-hall-on-health_n_253478.html
http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=111086&catid=8
To everyone who thinks this article is biased: you are correct, it is biased. I am writing from a liberal standpoint. But, as Noah said, it is supposed to be biased.
Kathleen- I thought the GOP liked Sarah Palin? And obviously Republicans aren’t big fans of smallpox and slavery. I was merely saying that the America that many people are trying to emulate and glorify today wasn’t exactly the the greatest time period ever.
Conor,
These so-called “protesters” are essentially preventing any legitimate discussion from occurring. Instead, they refuse to let anyone except those who agree with them to speak, refuse to engage in debate, and refuse to have a rational discussion about the healthcare crisis in this country.
Such behavior has been long-acknowledged by leading constitutional scholars as something called the “heckler’s veto” — recognized as something hostile to free speech and the First Amendment. The legal implications of the heckler’s veto obligate the government to protect the speaker against those who would silence him or her, something the Tea Baggers clearly intend to do.
Mallory, I read the article and there is nothing liberal about what you wrote. Your comments are geared toward common sense and a simple expectation of decency. There are a number of things wrong with ramming through this bloated health care monstrosity in the same spirit that the patriot act was forced on America, and one of those is that it spawns organized, calculated disruptions. Debate and compromise is dead in this country, and there is no bias to asking for its welcome return
Yeah, violence against conservatives:
http://ow.ly/jliD
Alec,
Though unfortunate, I hardly think that one instance of violence against a conservative is the equivalent of the chaos being caused and violence being used in a more systematic and nefarious way by the conservatives opposed to Obama’s healthcare plan.
Leave your self-righteous attitude at the door? Take your own advice, Mallory! This post rehashes the meme from HuffPo, and it’s a terribly illiberal argument. (Just as illiberal as the President saying “don’t do a lotta talking” to his opponents, or collecting an Internet database of anyone who questions his reform.)
I know the elder generations demonize the opposition, but I would hope for more from an “Internet Generation” blog that tries to bring together several voices across the political spectrum. As someone who first became politically aware during the time of dissent against the Iraq War, I am saddened to discover that so many people I once considered liberal would adopt stereotypes like these in order to marginalize rather than address dissent. How quickly are principles abandoned!
Dissent has never been a model of politeness and courtesy, whether you’re talking about the left or the right. You can read plenty of memos crafted to maximize disruption on BOTH sides, and you can find people seeking to ask legitimate questions on both sides. In neither case is it appropriate or intelligent to tag an entire movement.
Open your eyes. There are dozens of YouTube videos of people asking legitimate questions about health care.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVCdz2507u8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On3ieKJ710g
And other videos of violence being instigated by the other side of the debate (one has already been linked on this thread):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5IInBP9D_s
You would know this if you read Hot Air or Conservatives 4 Palin or Reason or any other high-quality conservative/libertarian blogs (just as conservatives seeking to be informed should read Huffington Post, Daily Kos etc.).
There is a difference between bias that reflects a refined ideological perspective, and bias that pushes a partisan line that a child could see through.
Finally, take a look at that deal Obama just broke with pharmaceutical companies to ban price negotiations and tell me that only one side involves “pawns for a corporate battle.”
Democrats reduce these protests to astroturfing at their peril. Yes, plenty of astroturfing is going on. But we should not suggest that there is no organic grassroots activity going on at these meetings just so we can FEEL like we have a monopoly on legit grassroots movements is unwise. That last thought isn’t in response to anything you wrote, Mallory, but you did examine astroturing a little bit and I just wanted to throw in my two cents on the matter.