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Townhall SITREP...

By Dusty (AKA Attila of Argghhh!) on September 1, 2009 | | Comments (6)
I don't know how many of our regular readers have attended townhalls this season, but I thought I'd let you know how mine went...

I live in an upper mid-West town in Indiana; the Second District, to be exact, and my Congressman is a Democrat who unseated Chris Chocola two cycles ago. Joe Donnelly seems to be a nice-enough chap. He carries himself well, and doesn't give the impression he marches in lock-step with his party on all issues. At the "townhall" I attended, he trumpeted his bonafides as an independent...interesting, and telling, especially in light of the fact that many Americans are rising up in white-hot anger over the clumsy (thank God) way the Dems are trying to impose socialized medicine on the country.

But I digress...

The gathering was held outside his offices in downtown Logansport because the number of people who showed up exceeded the office space available indoors...over 100, if I remember correctly. Sounds like a pittance, but we're talking middle America, where people are slow to anger. That said, the planned venue (a local supermarket) was changed at their request after what was usually a 12-15 participant event became a 400+ one recently.

The overall resistance-to-support ratio vis-a-vis health care was about 5 to 1. Nevertheless, the next day's local paper quoted only one person...one of two people holding signs supporting Obama's attempt to redefine health care in this country. Odd, that. Not surprising, though.

After the event, we were accosted by what I considered a plant (based on his scripted question to Rep. Donnelly after several anti-ObamaCare questions to the Congressman)...ostensibly a postal worker...who just couldn't fathom why we were so opposed to The Messiah's vision for America. A quick note: I had asked for the mic and related our experience in Holland (horrid, as I have related in previous posts) and, according to my daughter, garnered the most applause during the meeting...a biased sampling, I will be the first to admit.

In any case, this guy wouldn't let my wife finish a sentence when she tried to describe to him what she had endured. He dismissed our experience as "just one case" and thus not legitimate as a counter-argument to ObamaCare. In short, he seemed to be asking, "Who you gonna believe, me, or your lying eyes?"

In any event, it was interesting and I think the Rep. got a further taste of the resistance to The Borg healthcare proposal.

Did it do much good? I dunno. But I will be following up with an email promise to the good Congressman to the effect that I will volunteer my time to oust him if he votes for this monstrosity. For what it's worth, I think it would help a lot if those of you reading this go here and, if you haven't lent your voice via this petition, do so.

I hope we win this thing. And, if we don't, I hope we take back the Congress ASAP so we can turn this ship away from the iceburg that is socialized health care as soon as possible. -Attila

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6 Comments

By Karen on September 1, 2009 11:30 PM
One of the things I am most worried about is that if this ridiculous legislation does pass, it may be impossible to reverse. I am so proud of my fellow countrymen for stepping up to the plate on this one and shouting from the rooftops that we are tired of being had.
 
By R Jewell on September 2, 2009 7:10 AM
I sure hope Rep Donnelly doesn't toe the party line on this, and I would imagine that he's smart enough not to bow to the pressure.

I've had the opportunity to sit down with him one on one a couple of times in DC, (even though he's not my Rep) and he's been a good man to have on the side of Veterans, particularly the recent GI Bill Legislation.

And........he's smart enough not to grab the biggest, best looking donut on the plate at breakfast.





 
By Argent on September 2, 2009 8:18 AM
Karen is right.  Once it's passed it will be difficult (not strictly impossible perhaps politically impossible) to reverse.

I don't have a dog in this fight.

Was anything covered besides healthcare or is that the whole point?
 
By Harvey on September 2, 2009 9:10 AM
Never say "impossible" in a country where a Constitutional Amendment was once reversed.
 
By Cricket on September 2, 2009 12:33 PM
We all have a dog in this fight; it is our taxes and our ability to choose and manage our healthcare, as well as the physicians who are going to be treating us.  I have Tri-Care, but that could change.  My children have coverage until age 23 if they are in college.  That is an excellent deal for us, considering the cost of healthcare per family if you are self-employed.  I would rather open up the market to competition instead of a mandate that we have to pay for and settle for substandard care.
 
By Cortillaen on September 3, 2009 12:39 AM
On the issue of the difficulties of terminating welfare programs, may I direct your attention to a quote from the all-too-distant-in-popular-memory past:
“We put those payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and their unemployment benefits. With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program”
President Franklin Roosevelt recalling why social security
was based on payroll contributions, 1941
While Roosevelt may have simply been cementing a political monument, he had the right idea for its longevity.  Once integrated into that gargantuan behemoth we call the tax code, removing any bill, much less one as virulently invasive as state-run healthcare (anyone else tired of the "public option" euphemism?), becomes such a daunting task even Sisyphus would prefer his own.  State-run health will share the persistence of Social Security and Medicare just as much as it will share their financial stability.