A Tactic As Old As the Hills

If the subject matter were not so serious, the recent tactics of the liberal Democrats regarding the rising outcry against their health care proposals would be laughable.  As you have no doubt heard, the Dems have declared that the uprising of conservatives at town hall meetings, to loudly and vocally object to the pending health care legislation, is a contrivance of the GOP, an "AstroTurf Movement" (i.e., an ersatz "grass roots" movement), and therefore not "real" opposition to their plan.

In response, let me make several points:

• Most, if not all, of the loud outbursts, at least in the first round of meetings, occurred when the Congress-person in question displayed a startling ignorance about the health care proposal, in many cases making it obvious that they had not read the legislation, much less a White House-generated "talking points" memo;
• Liberals need to realize that most Conservatives are not automatically GOP'ers.  Rather, most Conservatives I know, including myself, are not the least bit happy with the GOP, who not only plowed the ground to allow the Dems to have their present dominance of the Federal government, but are presently offering no viable alternatives, cementing their image as the party of "No." 
• In other words, the Conservative opposition to what is in reality another Liberal effort to exercise control over our lives while taxing us to pay for it is rooted in sound Conservative principles, not political partisanship.
• Liberal Democrats have produced not one single shred of evidence that the opposition is contrived.  "Evidence?  We don't need no stinkin' evidence."
• If there is any tactic that should be criticized in this whole process, it is the thuggery being employed by the White House and its operatives.  "Flagging" conservatives to a White House-sponsored database smacks of McCarthyism in its worst form.  Purposely screening attendees to Town Hall meetings to assure a sympathetic crowd.  Recruiting Democratic Union members to attend and intimidate opposition, such as the SEIU people in Missouri who beat up an African-American conservative who was passing out small Gadsden flags (coiled rattlesnake with motto "Don't Tread On Me").  SEIU members threatening to come to Conservatives' homes in telephone calls.  And so on.
• President Obama's direct threats are appalling.  He has told opposition that he will bring down the full weight of the White House Press Corps upon them.  This past weekend, he used a quote from "The Untouchables":  "They bring a knife, we bring a gun. It's the Chicago way."  It was a great line in the movie, in context, but in this context, it is a ham-handed threat which has no place in the political process.
• Now, of course, we see why President Obama was in such a hurry to pass this bill - to not allow his opponents the time to read and digest it.  Now that he has been told "No" to rushing the bill through, and Cap & Trade is on hold in the Senate, he is showing impatience and petulance over the first times he has not gotten his way.

Let me suggest to you what is really happening.  The great mass of moderates in America, joined with Conservatives, is frightened by what the Obama Administration has turned out to be.  I would not be surprised if thousands, of not millions of moderates who voted for Obama are now wondering, "what have I done?"  The GOP presently in office are toothless and devoid of any decent alternative proposals that might address the real healthcare issues that do exist, namely reducing the overall cost and inefficiencies of healthcare in this country.  So to whom do we turn? 

These citizens have realized that their best course is to exercise democracy in its purest form, as delivered from their own mouths.  They cannot trust their elected representatives to deliver the message, as illustrated most recently by Ben Chandler's sell-out of Kentucky's energy industry on Cap & Trade.  The elected officials running these town hall meetings are either ignorant of the content of the legislation, or are categorically unable to explain it, or are simply lying to the people to get the thing passed.  Who can blame citizens for being concerned, or downright angry?

The key here is blindingly simple.  Set aside the rhetoric and emotional appeals.  Set aside the thuggery.  Read the legislation, and as I said in this space last week, see if you can find practical solutions to the real problems.  They are simply not there.  This legislation does not solve problems, it makes new ones.  Big, scary new ones.  It needs to be stopped.

Comments

[WannabeAnglican]

A very excellent summary of the current situation!

[mark]

brave sir chandler he bravly fled and bravely ran