Take a moment to watch this brief video clip.
It's some kind of union meeting. You can see more in the related videos column on the YouTube page. Here's the protest event outside a Marine recruiting station in Berkeley:
Now here's a speaking engagement that is rudely interrupted by two Code Pink protesters with a large banner who had no business walking up on stage, but watch how the speaker, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein diffuses the situation:
Think of these as prologue to the latest chapter in the health care debate. With the August recess upon us, groups of people, aided and abetted by lobbying organizations opposed to health care reform, are organizing to disrupt town hall meetings of Democratic members of Congress, and they are doing so in such a way that it is clear their intent is not to participate in a dialogue and a debate about health care (which is what town hall meetings are about), but rather to shut the meetings down or to render the occasion incapable of going forward so that it has to be ended because these protesters will not stop shouting. This game plan is likely to continue through the month as lawmakers go back home for recess and hold town-hall style meetings to push for health care overhaul. Whether it'll help or cause resentment remains to be seen since there's a difference between individual voters expressing their view and mob rule shouting canned slogans.
They are, in essence, as productive as the union meeting and as exasperatingly pointless as the Berkeley shouting matches.
In one well-reported example, Texas Democratic congressman Lloyd Doggett was forced to abandon his "neighborhood office hours" meeting when confronted with what the NY Times called a "boisterous crowd of about 150" who chanted "Just say no!" while carrying hand-made picket signs that made reference to "Socialized Health Care."
This past weekend, a band of protesters showed up at a town hall in Philadelphia with Sen. Arlen Specter and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius --now that's quite an opportunity to listen to and talk to members of your government. But that's not what happened in this video clip:
This is hardly what to expect from a town hall meeting. The town hall meeting continues a democratic tradition more than 2,500 years old. It arises out of the ancient Greek word, "ecclesia," meaning, "Those called out." You are called out to discuss and decide civic matters.
What this looks like are a bunch of people not at all interested in hearing what their representative have to say about anything --just like the people in Berkeley and at the union meeting. This is not about dissent and the right to redress grievances. These protesters in Texas and in Philadelphia already had their minds made up, which is not what normal, rational people do. If you don't like something, you hear what the other person has to say, and then you dispute it. Not before. And you do so with a civil tongue and within the bounds of propriety and good taste.
Civility is hardly on the minds of these protesters. These protesters have been instructed in a now widely-published memo to "Be Disruptive Early And Often," and when speaking to your representative, "Try To 'Rattle Him,' Not Have An Intelligent Debate."
Think about that for a minute. You've been told not to have an intelligent debate about a matter that affects the lives of every single American, and you're told to get into a shouting match. I imagine some of these participants had no trouble absorbing this advice, perhaps having taken their cues from Jerry Springer's shows or from some given evening when Bill O'Reilly wasn't on his best behavior. Yeah, that's the way to discuss the issues.
Several people who've investigated these incidents have linked them to conservative lobby groups that were behind the Tax Day tea parties --groups like Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works. They're providing these disrupters with the dates, times and places of these meetings as well as tactics they might use to disrupt the meetings.
We're supposed to believe these are grass roots organizations but they're actually products of far more sophisticated inside-the-Beltway methodologies, like the "conservative advocacy organization led by Dick Armey, the former House majority leader, and publishing magnate Steve Forbes, a fellow Republican. It's a fake grass-roots effort --what politicos call an AstroTurf campaign-- that provides a window into the sleight-of-hand ways of Washington."
And they're being openly supported by no less a personage than the House Minority Leader John Boehner who warns that "Rep. Doggett is not alone."
This is not democracy. This is thuggery. Tactics used by the anti-health care reform crowd, egged on by big players who stand to lose if health care delivery is reformed. The irony is two-fold. The big players, as you can tell, are behind the scenes. They don't get their hands dirty. That's what the pawns are for. That's who the protesters are at these town hall meetings. And if the mob succeeds, or more to the point, if the big players in the health care industrial complex succeed in maintaining something as close to the status quo as they can get, the losers won't just be supporters of health care reform, but the very pawns being puppeteered to protest against it because when the day comes that a health insurance company cancels someone's policy, or rejects an applicant for a pre-existing condition, or a hospital bill bankrupts them --and that day will surely come for some of these people-- they won't be getting an e-mail from Dick Armey or Big Pharma. They won't be getting instructions on how to fight the corporate monstrosity that is the health care industrial complex. No, they'll be hung out to dry. If you don't think so, just wait. The odds are pretty good you'll get your turn.
The other bizarre irony here is that the very people engaging in these thuggish tactics probably consider themselves Americans of the highest order --true Americans, devotees of the red, white and blue, devotees of our Constitution and our Bill of Rights and our Declaration of Independence. Their behavior is so anti-democratic and anti-American yet it's being done by people who consider themselves to be the quintessence of patriotic America. It's what you hear constantly from those potboilers on talk radio and talk television --you're a great American! They would be the first people in line to claim the right of free speech to justify their disruptive behavior, conveniently forgetting that the Supreme Court has observed that you may not yell fire in a crowded theatre if there is no fire.
In other words, there are limits to your right of free speech, particularly when your goal is to shut down the free speech of others. There are occasions when rights are in conflict and when they are, they must be resolved in favor of the greater common good. You cannot demand that your right to speak be respected while shutting down the right of others to be heard.
That is thuggery, perhaps even terrorism. It's been practiced in various places in the world at various times. For a short time it's successful. For a short time it does succeed at shutting down the public discussion --even in killing people.
But always, in the end, the brown shirts lost, as surely they must and as they will in this case.
So it should double the resolve of those who believe health care reform is important. Whether we quibble about the final shape of the table, and whether we have slight disagreements about what ought to be in the final proposals that pass Congress, we should recognize that the tactics being used here are against the best interests of the American people. We should recognize that the health insurance industry, the private, for-profit hospital industry, Big Pharma and other self-interested groups who have a lock on billions of dollars in profit will spend any amount of money it takes, will use any tactic, use any number of people, however despicable in light of our American tradition of Democracy and free speech, in order to kill any health care reform which threatens finally to derail their gravy train.
In class, we say "quiet children!" when someone is speaking. As adults, we do everything but. Yet, the difference between the shouters in the union meeting video or the protesters in Berkeley and the protesters at the town halls are profound. The former groups acted out intuitively, instinctively, unrehearsed. That was pernicious.
The protests at the congressional town hall meetings are calculated, planned, scripted. It is their intent to do harm, to make the August recess for Democratic members of Congress as uncomfortable as possible. That is insidious, because it also denies fellow citizens who want to hear representatives speak and who want to engage in discussion, dialogue, question and answer. That was precisely the tactic of brown shirters decades ago. By denying that access today, the protesters are behaving in a way that could well be described legally as unconstitutional, patriotically as un-American and morally as repugnant.
But this could be a good news-bad news situation. The bad news is that these thuggish protesters on the right are disrupting access between citizens and members of Congress who have called these town halls to communicate with their constituents.
However, the good news may be that these desperate tactics are an indication of how close the health insurance industry and other self-interested organizations think we are to genuine health care reform. Perhaps, if we're lucky, by the time the August recess is over, we'll have had our fill of this ugly behavior and perhaps enough rationale people will say "enough!" Perhaps the blindly intemperate will come to realize that they're doing more harm for their cause than good. Admittedly, that's a long shot.
Someone who posted a comment in response to the union meeting video above wrote:
The behavior exhibited in these videos is reprehensible. I am ashamed. I see nothing more than an uncivilized mob, there is no discussion, logical debate, or any quality that would classify the people both on the stage and especially on the floor as working body of representation. I am disgusted by the complete and utter lack of decorum, courtesy, or simple plain, human decency. God help the children under the care and guidance of these people.
Comments
But these are just normal Americans?
What did you write about these people?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuNXmy0e5fc&feature=player_embedded
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaTkGgE-hXA&feature=player_embedded
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRrHZGTdhKw&feature=player_embedded
Are these tactics solely the property of the leftists?
But then we had Obama saying this not very long ago.
""Argue With Neighbors, Get In Their Face"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCMDur9CDZ4
Happy, the Code Pink crew, silly as they are, aren't paid to do their disruption schtick. Nor do they call for the deaths of people they don't like: campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/08/05/member-of-veterans-group-gathering-of-eagles-told-dodd-to-kill-himself/
But I guess that for right-wingers like Happy Person, Dodd isn't a "real" veteran, so it's OK that he be told to kill himself, right?
Dodd? He is a CHEAT and a LIAR. He LIED about his sweetheart deal mortgages.
"Code Pink crew, silly as they are, aren't paid to do their disruption"
And where do they get their money to travel around then? How does Madea Benjamin make her living to pay her bills?
Provide any evidence these people are paid. Please!
It a LIE and you all know it.
The extremist, left wing, radical, DailyKos doesn't like the right wing?
Whooda thunk it?
DRH says: "The extremist, left wing, radical, DailyKos doesn't like the right wing?"
To their credit, they are always careful about sourcing their material which anyone can check for themselves. Knowing your history of comments on this site, it doesn't seem likely you got that far.
I strongly disagree with much of what is going on, however, you correctly have pointed out that this disruption of Town Hall Meetings is simply ridiculous. I must call you to task on one issue; the identifying of wingnuts like these clowns as "teabaggers" is wrong. I attend TEA Parties with some regularity, have been since Bush was in office and we protested his actions, and I have never witnessed behavior like that, and in fact when we organize, we are careful to remind all protestors to be civil, polite, and peaceable. The connection that DK made, (which I did read), is to a website that are not the same people. Even Hannity and his ilk tried to jump on the TEA Party wagon when the GOP got hammered. Understand this, we TEA Party-goers are against the GOP and their spending as well, we don't support the GOP, we oppose central planning and empire building of all kinds. The TEA Party Expressers were not there for our protests, they give us a bad name.
Murph
Murph says:
I strongly disagree with much of what is going on, however, you correctly have pointed out that this disruption of Town Hall Meetings is simply ridiculous. I must call you to task on one issue; the identifying of wingnuts like these clowns as "teabaggers" is wrong.
It's a fair point and speaks to a larger problem: Who speaks for the Republicans? There are many Republicans who share your sentiments but the bury their heads and let the uglier squeaky wheel elements become the face of the party, become the face of people like you. If the GOP is ever to fix itself, it must divorce itself from the intemperate extremism that claims to represent it.
Aw Brucie, using the DailyKos hate site as a source automatically places their source in question. With their history of leftist extremism there is very little reason to delve further. I've never been a big Kool Aid fan, but you go ahead and keep drinking, thanks.
As a conservative, I am ashamed of my former party. I switched to Independent. I do feel the party is being taken over by over the top right wing extremist.
You have got to be kidding! The people showing up for these town hall meetings have been listening to Obama talk about health care for the last 2 years. It's only been recently that they are finally discovering the truth about his health care plan. I've been reading it and it's full of all kinds of BS. This has nothing to do with who's behind the protest. It has everything to do with making your voices heard to those that are to represent you in Washington. Most people fill like there is nothing to discuss, we've heard all the BS, now you listen to us. Go read the bill.
DRH says: "Aw Brucie, using the DailyKos hate site as a source automatically places their source in question. With their history of leftist extremism there is very little reason to delve further. I've never been a big Kool Aid fan, but you go ahead and keep drinking, thanks."
The links posted by the DailyKos are to REPUBLICAN partisan websites. You need to stop drinking and start thinking. Goosesteppers like you are precisely what's wrong with the Republican Party.
Beth says: You have got to be kidding! The people showing up for these town hall meetings have been listening to Obama talk about health care for the last 2 years. It's only been recently that they are finally discovering the truth about his health care plan. I've been reading it and it's full of all kinds of BS."
Such as? I love how you're "reading it." "Go read the bill," you say. Which one? Do you even know how many are under consideration?
"This has nothing to do with who's behind the protest. It has everything to do with making your voices heard to those that are to represent you in Washington... we've heard all the BS, now you listen to us."
We'd listen if you behaved like adults. You can be heard without shouting and screaming and if you had something to say other than slogans. Here's your chance to share your ideas and your blowing it with uncivil behavior. No one takes that seriously but other intemperate people.
What's your plan?
I absolutely believe that the Republican party is paying poor people to "protest" universal health care. Why should we put it past them?
"Goosesteppers like you are precisely what's wrong with the Republican Party."
Says the leftist goosestepper himself. But since I am NOT a Republican, as you assume ...
Hilary .. of course they are, and the pie throwers who yell and scream and attack Conservative speakers at colleges are paid by the Democrat Party, and the CIA killed JFK, and Area 51 is home to the little green men that crashed at Roswell in 1947 ...
"The memo above also resembles the talking points being distributed by FreedomWorks ..."
Hey Bruce, why didn't you show us a copy of this 'widely circulated memo' from freedom works, instead of Bob MacGuffie's memo about a townhall meeting he attended in ... was it New Hampshire?
I mean before the post from thinkprogressive made him famous with liberal bulldogs, MacGuffie's blog was a pretty obscure backwater, with only about as many hits as you get.
By your reasoning we could take the stuff you write and declare you Mr Telepromter. (Look folks! I found the guy who writes the President's script. Bruce Maiman. Take a bow, Bruce. - I kid)
"Patients United, a front group maintained by Americans for Prosperity, is currently busing people all over the country for more protests against Democratic members." - I doubt this is true, but if it is, people have to care enough to mount a Bus to harange a Pol in another dist. Damned fine community organizing is what I call it.
About this,
campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/08/05/member-of-veterans-group-gathering-of-eagles-told-dodd-to-kill-himself/
Telling unsavory politicians who use their high office for the gathering of personal wealth and prestige are often derided in the most coarse language available.
Hanging pols in effigy is a time honored form of political discourse in America. Even George Washington had a helping of it.
Indeed every President from the beginning of the Republic has had a round.
Let me show ya.
"August 16, 1841
Tyler is burned in effigy outside White House
On this day in 1841, President John Tyler vetoes a second attempt by Congress to re-establish the Bank of the United States. In response, angry supporters of the bank gathered outside the White House and burned an effigy of Tyler. The protestors were comprised primarily of members of Tyler’s own political party..."
www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=50727
Link.
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