Democracy in Action - August 11, 2009
August/12/2009 "Polinomics"
Summary only available when permalinks are enabled.
In recent months I’ve written a few posts on my concerns about the rapid growth of big government and how I fear it will impact the private sector, especially small businesses . . . the segment of the economy that fuels the national growth engine but which, inexplicably, continues to wait on the sidelines, hoping to be called into the game.
So I was thrilled when I learned that Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter was bringing his Town Hall meeting to Lebanon, PA — my home county — only seven miles from my home and business. I had no idea what to expect, as Sen. Specter, who of late is one of the most controversial of all U.S. Senators. He’s the chap who was a Democrat when he was coming up through the Philadelphia political system; became a Republican when he sought state-wide office in a state that leans right on many issues; then, when the Republicans lost the Senate in 2008, he switched over to the Dems, giving them a fillabuster-proof super majority. When pressed as to his reason for the switch, he admitted that he knew he couldn’t win the 2010 Republican primary, and I think it was pretty clear that he expected the Dems to accept him into their leadership, which hasn’t happened. Now the 79-year old senator has a serious Democratic challenger, which is no surprise, when blogs as far to the left as the Huffington Post talk about his opportunism.
Specter’s popularity, or lack of it, was of no concern: I wanted to learn what I could about the Senate health care bill, which is still in committee. I care about health care reform: It is vital for the well-being of small business and for the lives of photographers and of all citizens, including members of my family who have pre-existing conditions. Several years back, I was really hopeful that we could get meaningful reform when the PPA Board of Directors lobbied our House and Senate members to support Association Health Care legislation. Unfortunately Sen. Specter’s office was too busy to grant me an appointment. That was when he was a Republican, and the Republicans were supporting their version of Association Health Care, which the House had already passed. Unfortunately some Senate Republicans (and most of the Dems) weren’t on board, because, as we learned, in many states, controlled by Republicans, the state insurance commissioner is second in power to the Governor. And these guys want to maintain their control over the companies they regulate and protect within their state boundaries. They know that if I can buy health insurance from a Wyoming company, I can get a better deal, but that’s bad for Pennsylvania companies. So, you see . . . there are bad guys on both sides of the aisle.
Anyway . . . I was hoping that I might hear something from Specter about the Senate bill that might give me hope. But more than anything I wanted to see how engaged my community was in support or opposition to the House Bill. I’m not in Pennsylvania much these days because of teaching, but I know this community to be filled with sober, common-sense people who help their neighbors and do not suffer fools gladly. They can be passionate, but they are not the types to question authority without reason. I know how frustrated I am, not to mention skeptical abut the media’s portrayal of dissenting citizens as being mob-like and unAmerican. I wanted to see for myself.
Monday night the local TV news showed a picture of the Community College room where the Town Hall would be held. I was disappointed to see how small it was, and I very nearly decided not to bother, figuring it would be a scripted event, and that I would end up out on the street with the protesters. Instead, Jim and I decided to show up early, and it paid off, as it turned out to be a first-come-first-served event. I believe there were somewhere between 200-250 who actually got into the room, but it was hard to tell how many were left to stand in the 90-degree day outside. I have read police estimates of 2,000, which seem about right. While Jim held my place in line, I made photographs of the entire line that stretched made in an 8 city-block square around the community college building.
Both outside and inside the meeting room, we recognized friends, acquaintances, and clients. There were farmers, business people, retirees, stay-at-home moms, veterans, and a surprising number of young people, many of whom were on vacation or had taken then morning off. In short, the crowd was pretty darn representative of my community.
My fear that the program might be scripted was unfounded. Somehow 30 people had received numbers, and they got to ask questions. I’d say that half the questioners were very nervous about speaking in public, but they did well in asking good, solid questions. Some prefaced their questions with statements of concern, and some, who had clearly read the House bill, just as I had, asked some of the most penetrating, pertinent questions, many of which the Senator deflected, saying that he didn’t know much about what the House was doing. Only one person out of the 30, urged support of passing the House’s version of reform. The local newspaper did a good of reporting the meeting, so if you are interested in reading about it, click here, and here. I do take issue with two statements: One report said the crowd was “largely hostile,” and I can’t agree with that; most speakers thanked the senator for taking time out to come to Lebanon, and the only boos came when he said he side-stepped issues or made some not-so-clever quips, such as “You know I don’t get paid extra for coming here,” That definitely was not well received. One questioner asked Specter if he would tell the President that she did not approve of the whitehouse.gov website “snitch-on-your-neighbor” request. He said that “no such thing exists,” which really stirred the crowd. The questioner asked him to go to the website and see for himself. When I got home, I emailed him the screen shot at the end of this article so that he would be better prepared next time.
My only other quibble with the local news reports concerns a statement saying that lots of opponents of health care reform were bussed in from other areas. A bus belonging to Americans for Prosperity did show up, but from what I could see they were there for a bus photo-op and to pass out “Hands Off My Health Care” fans, which were much appreciated by the folks standing in lines in the hot sun. There were, in fact, public-sector union members, including SEIU, from out of the area, who pretty much talked among themselves. I did overhear local people quietly exchanging viewpoints with them, and the side-walk debaters I saw remained respectful. I neither saw no heard about any shouting matches outdoors.
As far as the national media coverage, they definitely played for the hype. No surprise there. The incident that made it big in both print and cable media involved an angry man who claimed that Specter’s staff had told him he would be allowed to address his concerns, and he demanded to be heard. It clearly was a confrontation, but I sensed that the crowd wanted him to just sit down so that the questioning could proceed. The man reaching for him from behind, in my photo below, was an audience member, not security. Police moved in when Specter approached the man. He was not applauded when he let the room. But this was the BIG story on the news, and it made a great lead picture on the front page of the New York Times. At the time, I didn’t realize that the guy who very gently elbowed me out of the way was a photographer for the Times. He really was quite professional, and he got a great shot! I wish I could say the same about the news story: what a piece of journalistic garbage: You would think that we are a community full of savages living amongst the corn fields, who have been brainwashed by talk radio. The Times reporter stated that “It was the angriest people who got in line first.” That would be me. And Jim. He called our area a “largely Republican area.” Never mind that we elected Tim Holden, a Democrat, as our congressman. No wonder this once fine American institution is over a billion dollars in debt. What a shame!
I was really proud of my fellow citizens. It’s hard to sit on the sidelines when you believe that your government is turning a deaf ear to your concerns. It’s maddening to know that we stand on the verge of dismantling a health-care system that has served so many so well. Yes it is flawed, but these flaws can be addressed purposefully and successfully without scaring and burdening hard-working taxpayers who are doing their best to cope in a serious recession. The concerns of my community are neither petty nor self-serving. These people are neither hate-mongers nor racists. They are good, solid, hard-working Americans, and what I witnessed yesterday was a uniquely American event. I believe their passion and their conduct was both admirable and appropriate for the times. Here are some photos of the Town Hall by two of those “angry people who got up early.”
Two final points:
1. I take issue with all the signs and references to “Obamacare.” I believe it should be called “CongressCare” because they pass the bills, not President Obama; they write the ambiguous language that allows lower-level bureaucrats to fill in the blanks in ways that change our lives forever. In fact, after reading HR Bill 3200, and listening to Senator Specter, then coming home just in time to catch a live feed of the President’s Town Hall Meeting in New Hampshire (interesting that there was not a single nay-sayer in the the entire “Don’t Tread on Me” state), what I’m seeing is a complete disconnect between the two branches of government. I was fascinated by the President’s description of the health care bill he delivered to the adoring group in Portsmouth. I don’t blame them: The health care vision Mr. Obama described sounded like the health care system of my dreams. There’s only one problem: What he described bares no resemblance to the bill that the House has proposed. I frankly doubt if he’s read it. Sen. Specter said repeatedly “I don’t know what’s in the House Bill, and the Senate doesn’t have a bill for me to read.” And yet the President has expressed disappointment that he didn’t have a bill to sign before the congressional recess? As one Philadelphia Town Hall participant groused: “The President wants to reform one-sixth of our economy in three weeks, when it took the Obama family six months to decide what kind of dog was right for the family!”
2. Congress has not caught up with the president’s strategic move from “Health Care Reform” to “Health Insurance Reform.” They are just now getting the memo that now that polls show that the public actually likes it’s health care system, the only way they can keep the ball rolling is to attack insurance executives. So add them to the list of Big-Bad Capitalists. Just remember that photographers are capitalists too. At least we are for now.
Don’t you think it’s time to take a deep cleansing breath and count to 10? That’s my plan. At least for now.
And if you don’t like what I’ve written, here’s where you can turn me in :-).
So I was thrilled when I learned that Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter was bringing his Town Hall meeting to Lebanon, PA — my home county — only seven miles from my home and business. I had no idea what to expect, as Sen. Specter, who of late is one of the most controversial of all U.S. Senators. He’s the chap who was a Democrat when he was coming up through the Philadelphia political system; became a Republican when he sought state-wide office in a state that leans right on many issues; then, when the Republicans lost the Senate in 2008, he switched over to the Dems, giving them a fillabuster-proof super majority. When pressed as to his reason for the switch, he admitted that he knew he couldn’t win the 2010 Republican primary, and I think it was pretty clear that he expected the Dems to accept him into their leadership, which hasn’t happened. Now the 79-year old senator has a serious Democratic challenger, which is no surprise, when blogs as far to the left as the Huffington Post talk about his opportunism.
Specter’s popularity, or lack of it, was of no concern: I wanted to learn what I could about the Senate health care bill, which is still in committee. I care about health care reform: It is vital for the well-being of small business and for the lives of photographers and of all citizens, including members of my family who have pre-existing conditions. Several years back, I was really hopeful that we could get meaningful reform when the PPA Board of Directors lobbied our House and Senate members to support Association Health Care legislation. Unfortunately Sen. Specter’s office was too busy to grant me an appointment. That was when he was a Republican, and the Republicans were supporting their version of Association Health Care, which the House had already passed. Unfortunately some Senate Republicans (and most of the Dems) weren’t on board, because, as we learned, in many states, controlled by Republicans, the state insurance commissioner is second in power to the Governor. And these guys want to maintain their control over the companies they regulate and protect within their state boundaries. They know that if I can buy health insurance from a Wyoming company, I can get a better deal, but that’s bad for Pennsylvania companies. So, you see . . . there are bad guys on both sides of the aisle.
Anyway . . . I was hoping that I might hear something from Specter about the Senate bill that might give me hope. But more than anything I wanted to see how engaged my community was in support or opposition to the House Bill. I’m not in Pennsylvania much these days because of teaching, but I know this community to be filled with sober, common-sense people who help their neighbors and do not suffer fools gladly. They can be passionate, but they are not the types to question authority without reason. I know how frustrated I am, not to mention skeptical abut the media’s portrayal of dissenting citizens as being mob-like and unAmerican. I wanted to see for myself.
Monday night the local TV news showed a picture of the Community College room where the Town Hall would be held. I was disappointed to see how small it was, and I very nearly decided not to bother, figuring it would be a scripted event, and that I would end up out on the street with the protesters. Instead, Jim and I decided to show up early, and it paid off, as it turned out to be a first-come-first-served event. I believe there were somewhere between 200-250 who actually got into the room, but it was hard to tell how many were left to stand in the 90-degree day outside. I have read police estimates of 2,000, which seem about right. While Jim held my place in line, I made photographs of the entire line that stretched made in an 8 city-block square around the community college building.
Both outside and inside the meeting room, we recognized friends, acquaintances, and clients. There were farmers, business people, retirees, stay-at-home moms, veterans, and a surprising number of young people, many of whom were on vacation or had taken then morning off. In short, the crowd was pretty darn representative of my community.
My fear that the program might be scripted was unfounded. Somehow 30 people had received numbers, and they got to ask questions. I’d say that half the questioners were very nervous about speaking in public, but they did well in asking good, solid questions. Some prefaced their questions with statements of concern, and some, who had clearly read the House bill, just as I had, asked some of the most penetrating, pertinent questions, many of which the Senator deflected, saying that he didn’t know much about what the House was doing. Only one person out of the 30, urged support of passing the House’s version of reform. The local newspaper did a good of reporting the meeting, so if you are interested in reading about it, click here, and here. I do take issue with two statements: One report said the crowd was “largely hostile,” and I can’t agree with that; most speakers thanked the senator for taking time out to come to Lebanon, and the only boos came when he said he side-stepped issues or made some not-so-clever quips, such as “You know I don’t get paid extra for coming here,” That definitely was not well received. One questioner asked Specter if he would tell the President that she did not approve of the whitehouse.gov website “snitch-on-your-neighbor” request. He said that “no such thing exists,” which really stirred the crowd. The questioner asked him to go to the website and see for himself. When I got home, I emailed him the screen shot at the end of this article so that he would be better prepared next time.
My only other quibble with the local news reports concerns a statement saying that lots of opponents of health care reform were bussed in from other areas. A bus belonging to Americans for Prosperity did show up, but from what I could see they were there for a bus photo-op and to pass out “Hands Off My Health Care” fans, which were much appreciated by the folks standing in lines in the hot sun. There were, in fact, public-sector union members, including SEIU, from out of the area, who pretty much talked among themselves. I did overhear local people quietly exchanging viewpoints with them, and the side-walk debaters I saw remained respectful. I neither saw no heard about any shouting matches outdoors.
As far as the national media coverage, they definitely played for the hype. No surprise there. The incident that made it big in both print and cable media involved an angry man who claimed that Specter’s staff had told him he would be allowed to address his concerns, and he demanded to be heard. It clearly was a confrontation, but I sensed that the crowd wanted him to just sit down so that the questioning could proceed. The man reaching for him from behind, in my photo below, was an audience member, not security. Police moved in when Specter approached the man. He was not applauded when he let the room. But this was the BIG story on the news, and it made a great lead picture on the front page of the New York Times. At the time, I didn’t realize that the guy who very gently elbowed me out of the way was a photographer for the Times. He really was quite professional, and he got a great shot! I wish I could say the same about the news story: what a piece of journalistic garbage: You would think that we are a community full of savages living amongst the corn fields, who have been brainwashed by talk radio. The Times reporter stated that “It was the angriest people who got in line first.” That would be me. And Jim. He called our area a “largely Republican area.” Never mind that we elected Tim Holden, a Democrat, as our congressman. No wonder this once fine American institution is over a billion dollars in debt. What a shame!
I was really proud of my fellow citizens. It’s hard to sit on the sidelines when you believe that your government is turning a deaf ear to your concerns. It’s maddening to know that we stand on the verge of dismantling a health-care system that has served so many so well. Yes it is flawed, but these flaws can be addressed purposefully and successfully without scaring and burdening hard-working taxpayers who are doing their best to cope in a serious recession. The concerns of my community are neither petty nor self-serving. These people are neither hate-mongers nor racists. They are good, solid, hard-working Americans, and what I witnessed yesterday was a uniquely American event. I believe their passion and their conduct was both admirable and appropriate for the times. Here are some photos of the Town Hall by two of those “angry people who got up early.”
Two final points:
1. I take issue with all the signs and references to “Obamacare.” I believe it should be called “CongressCare” because they pass the bills, not President Obama; they write the ambiguous language that allows lower-level bureaucrats to fill in the blanks in ways that change our lives forever. In fact, after reading HR Bill 3200, and listening to Senator Specter, then coming home just in time to catch a live feed of the President’s Town Hall Meeting in New Hampshire (interesting that there was not a single nay-sayer in the the entire “Don’t Tread on Me” state), what I’m seeing is a complete disconnect between the two branches of government. I was fascinated by the President’s description of the health care bill he delivered to the adoring group in Portsmouth. I don’t blame them: The health care vision Mr. Obama described sounded like the health care system of my dreams. There’s only one problem: What he described bares no resemblance to the bill that the House has proposed. I frankly doubt if he’s read it. Sen. Specter said repeatedly “I don’t know what’s in the House Bill, and the Senate doesn’t have a bill for me to read.” And yet the President has expressed disappointment that he didn’t have a bill to sign before the congressional recess? As one Philadelphia Town Hall participant groused: “The President wants to reform one-sixth of our economy in three weeks, when it took the Obama family six months to decide what kind of dog was right for the family!”
2. Congress has not caught up with the president’s strategic move from “Health Care Reform” to “Health Insurance Reform.” They are just now getting the memo that now that polls show that the public actually likes it’s health care system, the only way they can keep the ball rolling is to attack insurance executives. So add them to the list of Big-Bad Capitalists. Just remember that photographers are capitalists too. At least we are for now.
Don’t you think it’s time to take a deep cleansing breath and count to 10? That’s my plan. At least for now.
And if you don’t like what I’ve written, here’s where you can turn me in :-).