INFORMALLY OPINING
By N.A. Pierson,
IV Leader Staff Columnist, Sept. 3, 2009
To the regular, normal person on the street, it seems quite rude and inconsiderate to hold a meeting where you are supposed to listen to the concerns of the people and then whip out your cell phone and start talking as a cancer survivor asks you a question.
But politicians aren’t normal. Enter Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who did just that during a health care town hall meeting in Houston, to the chagrin of her constituents.
A normal person might also be flummoxed when the Speaker of the House decries as un-American those who stand in opposition to the government’s trillion-dollar plan to reform health care.
Witnessing this, you could be forgiven for turning off the cable news gabfests, flipping on “10 Things I Hate About You,” and gorging yourself on a bowl of popcorn the size of Neptune.
But don’t do it. Somewhere deep inside all this political theater, there are many things that really, truly matter to all of us regarding this debate.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that 42 percent of Americans believe that the Presidential/Congressional health care plan (okay, there is no actual definitive plan; it’s more like a big cauldron of idea” stewing around in the juices of Nancy Pelosi’s narcissism) is a bad idea compared to only 36 percent who think it is a good idea.
In addition, 40 percent of Americans deem Obama’s health care plan “will result in the quality of your health care getting worse” compared to 24 percent who believe the quality of their health care will improve.
And 47 percent of Americans oppose “creating a public health care plan administered by the federal government” compared to only 43 percent who support it.
Wow. It looks like the American people are pretty divided about health care. Maybe we shouldn’t ram through Congress another unread trillion-dollar bill that completely reshapes an extremely significant portion of the American economy.
However, this is the administration that has repeatedly ignored softening public opinion in order to carry out the activist agenda of the President and Democrats in Congress. What’s a few trillion dollars among friends, anyway? We can always print more. Right?
A lady who compared President Obama to Hitler confronted Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) at a town hall and likened the government’s reform plan to a Nazi policy.
The Congressman responded by saying that “having a conversation with [the woman] would be like arguing with a dining room table.” True enough. The woman was a LaRouche supporter, belonging to a radically left-wing organization that prides itself on conspiracy theories and other rigmarole.
If only more serious town hall questions were not given the same treatment.
Most of the people who are protesting against government-run health care are not wackos, yet they are treated that way by senators such as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who called protesters evil-mongerers and
Congressmen like John Dingell (D-Mich.), who compared the townhallers to Klansmen fighting against civil rights.
In contrast, as shown in poll after poll, regular, ordinary people are extremely serious about health care, and they don’t want to mortgage their futures on a cockamamie scheme that may not work.
If only the administration and Congress would be equally serious as the regular, ordinary people they expect to govern over.
But, then again, politicians aren’t normal.