By Cliff Montgomery – Aug. 8th, 2009
Some recent town hall meetings on health care reform have been brought to a halt by a handful of ‘protesters’,who work hard to turn the discussions into something between a circus and a shouting match. They brazenlyshout down everyone who disagrees with them, all the while screaming “This is America!”–with absolutely nosense of irony.
Some have openly threatened members of Congress who talk about health care reform. Others hangcongresspeople in effigy, or surround lawmakers and spew forth numerous thuggish taunts.
One congressman has even received death threats–for no other reason than having a different opinion thanthe town hall thugs.
Is this America? No, it’s not. It’s not even close.
So what’s behind the openly fascist activities of the town hall thugs who have nothing to offer this country butignorance, screams and death threats?
No doubt one large influence is a number of well-connected right-wing interest groups, which help in puttingtogether the town hall gangs.
Top organizers “include two Astroturf (fake grass-roots) organizations: FreedomWorks, run by the formerHouse majority leader Dick Armey, and a new organization called Conservatives for Patients’ Rights,” statedNew York Times columnist Paul Krugman in a brilliant opinion piece printed yesterday.
The very names of the organizations reveal a typical neo-conservative conceit: Insert words like “freedom”,”liberty” and “rights” into the name of your organization, movement or legislation, even though you are workingto destroy freedom and liberties. One only needs to recall the so-called “PATRIOT” Act to see this sophistry atwork.
This fact becomes even more clear when a spotlight is focused on the organization calling itself “Conservativesfor Patients’ Rights.”
This group “is run by Rick Scott, the former head of Columbia/HCA, a for-profit hospital chain,” wrote Krugman.
“Mr. Scott was forced out of that job amid a fraud investigation,” Krugman continued.
“The company eventually pleaded guilty to charges of over-billing state and federal health plans, paying $1.7billion — yes, that’s ‘billion’ — in fines,” he added.
It’s also clear that some town hall blackshirts simply are reacting to the neo-conservatives’ massive fraud andmisrepresentation of Obama’s health care reform plan.
One town hall meeting moderated by Representative Gene Green (D-TX) provided an interesting insight intothe level of ignorance and confusion which is fueling much of this thuggery.
Someone at the meeting asked the more wild-eyed attendees if they “oppose any form of socialized orgovernment-run health care.” Almost all of them did.
Then Rep. Green countered by asking the attendees if any of them was on Medicare. Nearly half proudlyraised their hands.
Medicare of course is a government-run health care program. It is paid for with taxpayer dollars. It is run bygovernment officials. It has no death lists. Medicare officials do not kill old people. Medicare is not rationed. Noone gets between you and your doctor, or decides for you what medicines you shall or shall not purchase.
Individuals who do not understand that Medicare is a government-run health care program with a provenrecord of saving lives often are fighting health care reform out of ignorance, rather than out of seriousconcerns.
But Americans also have seen something far more ugly on display from these town hall thugs. What isunsettling–and what clearly separates them from honest objectors to health care reform–is the very personalcharacter of their most fear-laced attacks.
Many of the most vicious smears are reserved solely for President Barack Obama. The thugs openly accuseObama of being a fascist, a communist, a socialist, of being “evil,” and of planning mass murder. Many of theseattacks tellingly never even mention health care reform. The most vile charges are being directed solely at theman, with almost nothing said about his ideas.
President Bill Clinton attempted to create a similar health care program in the 90s. The tired, false cries of”socialism” were screamed then as well. Many of these same people also spewed a hatred of Clinton duringhis White House tenure.
But tellingly, no one at the time even thought of claiming that Bill Clinton was planning to kill grandmothers.The idea never even entered anyone’s mind. And no doubt, not even the current town hall thugs would havebelieved such self-evident foolishness.
But they can easily believe that a black man named Barack Hussein Obama is planning to kill their whitegrandmothers. Thus what the town hall shouters are ready to believe about Obama says much more aboutthem than they will ever admit.
Race-baiting is an ugly political strategy that has openly been employed in American politics for generations.And it’s a dirty shame that some individuals still see the world through the prism of the most despicable racialfears.
Is that America? No, it’s not the America of today. It’s not even close.
