Town Hall Meetings

[MacUser]

It has been amazing watching the Town Hall meetings unfold concerning the looming Heath care reforms.

Do you think even after all this.. it's still going to pass?
Do you believe all these people are plants or passionate individuals?

Interesting watching it unfold...

[Pastor Gary]

It has been amazing watching the Town Hall meetings unfold concerning the looming Heath care reforms.

Do you think even after all this.. it's still going to pass?

In some form or the other, yes. Obama and Pelosi have decided that this is "the hill they choose to die on" to use a military cliche, and they have invested all their political capital in this issue. They can not afford to lose this one.

Do you believe all these people are plants or passionate individuals?

Mostly passionate individuals, being a bit stirred up by conservative media. I am sure there are some people planted among the crowds on both sides of the issue by heavily-vested interests, but the large majority are people who are scared. They see the America they have known and loved for 50 or 60 years being radically altered in a matter of months and you hear it in their cries of "We want our country back!"

Now, having said that: I generally don't trust government. (Scariest words ever heard: "Hi, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.") ANY government. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I know there are some serious gaps and problems with the health care industry, yet I am against the kind of sweeping changes being suggested by the current bill. In fairness, we have to say that some of the fears being stirred up are based upon exaggeration, speculation and not what the legislation actually says.

[dolfan]

PG, I agree. My distrust of government borders on paranoia, but that doesn't mean it isn't right. Yet, there are problems in our health care system. Fragmentation, duplication, litigation, you name it. The federal government is simply not able to manage it, and is Constitutionally incompetent from doing so. It is not the role of the federal government to manage, control or regulate health care or how it is financed. Yet, it happens and look at the mess that it is.

Medicare is rife with inefficiencies and is such a burden to physicians that more and more of them simply refuse to accept Medicare patients. Take Medicaid and that number increases exponentially. People on AllKids (Alabama's sort of Medicaid for poor small children) here would love to have their kids on private insurance. The Federal Government response is to make all of our care as bad as that.

The argument, I think, is lost altogether if we debate on what the government may do more effectively. I think we need to argue what government ought to be doing at all. That's the position of strength in the long run.

We'll see.....

[MacUser]

In some form or the other, yes. Obama and Pelosi have decided that this is "the hill they choose to die on" to use a military cliche, and they have invested all their political capital in this issue. They can not afford to lose this one.

Sadly I do think you are right. They are attempting now to demonize the opposition as being "Just those [fill in your negative group name here]". The problem is that none of this is sticking.

Mostly passionate individuals, being a bit stirred up by conservative media. .... They see the America they have known and loved for 50 or 60 years being radically altered in a matter of months and you hear it in their cries of "We want our country back!"

I agree on passionate individuals. It's undeniable. Concerning "Conservative Media" is this really wrong? Could this just not be considered balanced media as it relates to the spin we are getting from our current Administration?

•••••

Example: AARP Supports Obamas Plan: WRONG.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch ... oment.html

“We have the AARP on board because they know this is a good deal for our seniors,” the president said.

At another point he said: “Well, first of all, another myth that we've been hearing about is this notion that somehow we're going to be cutting your Medicare benefits. We are not. AARP would not be endorsing a bill if it was undermining Medicare, okay?”

The problem?
The AARP hasn't endorsed any plan yet.

•••••••••

Also it's more than changing times... it's common sense. Anytime you have a high pressure sales pitch.. extreme push to make happen... you need to just say... "Whoa Nellie.. why is this so important today?" This thing is being rammed down our throats so fast that our representatives are clueless themselves. Just look at some of the reactions when verbage is read directly from it. If you remember correctly they attempted to vote on this a few weeks back without even so much as any public feedback.

In fairness, we have to say that some of the fears being stirred up are based upon exaggeration, speculation and not what the legislation actually says.

Sure and Obama is "having a senior moment" himself when he is misrepresenting the truth as it relates to this also. You can be nice to him and say he "forgot" or was "misunderstood"... but he is basically lying to SELL his plan.

Typically it's not the customers fault when he/she fails to not purchase a poor product. And if it results into name calling from the salesperson to the client when the push isn't accepted.. you immediately know the deal is a bad one without getting any deeper into the details.

[rjjunior]

It is not the role of the federal government to manage, control or regulate health care or how it is financed.

You know they always use the interstate commerce clause for justification.

What gets my goad the most is Obama's attempts at sounding like a pragmatist, rather than an idealist. It is obvious he favors a single-payer government system, though he bold-facedly denies this. His reasoning isn't based on the fact that its a bad idea, but because "we're not ready for it."

He knows full well that the government "option" will eventually become THE option as insurance companies fail to compete, businesses lay off millions due to the mandate, etc, etc.

Do you think even after all this.. it's still going to pass?

I still think it will pass in some form, albeit watered down so as to allow the bluedog Senators to squeak by in re-election somehow.

[Mike Vande]

Call it paranoia if you will, but I have a feeling the new round of Town Hall meetings Obama is calling for will be, shall we say, packed with shills that say favorable things about the refom bill?

I don't know if you guys caught it, but Camille Paglia, the radical lesbian feminist and left-wing political columnist has come out against the reform bill. When left-wingers like her start screaming about something Obama and Pelosi are up to, you know gotta there is something very wrong going on...

[MacUser]

Is Obama's Public Option cracking? Does Obama have the votes?

Are the American people learning something pivotal here? Get involved and let the political class know whom they work for?

Fantastic possibilities.

NEXT: We need term limits. Eject them all.

[dolfan]

NEXT: We need term limits. Eject them all.

Right on! Do the American people have what it takes to sustain the fury about overbloated government and self-dealing corrupt ol' boys and ol' gals? Do enough people have any concept of liberty in the classic sense, in the Jeffersonian sense?

Do we have enough Thomas Paines out there who would go to the mat to make THIS the undergirding principle of dealing with the mess we now have:

Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. (Common Sense, 1776)

We can, but would we ever "eject them all"? I pray for such a day when we will do it by democratic process.