What I saw at a recent "town hall" meeting of my long-time-serving congressman was the same display of anger and concern about government takeover of our lives. There was also a lot of agitation about how the Democrats and the president have ridiculed and spoken maliciously of Americans who disagree with whatever Obamacare is.
There were lots of boos, sometimes prolonged, but very few heckles. At times, the congressman combatively fell back on the tired old Democrat-Obama "blame Bush and Republicans" mantra. At times, too many times, it seemed to me he was not really there to listen, but simply to insist that the president and Congress do know best, not we who hire them.
In fact, early in that Monday-morning meeting -- which had to be moved outside of the building because the small room would not accommodate all who wanted to attend -- the congressman declared, "I've been in this business for 33 years." To wit, a late-20-ish-early-30-ish man behind me yelled back, "It's not a business, it's service."
Therein lies, I think, the growing compound fracture between Congress, the presidency and the rest of America: The two former do not understand that they serve us.
For what it's worth, too, most of the crowd seemed to reject the incredible and accelerated overreach we've seen with the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress. And more than a few Baby Boomers, or those just behind or just in front in age, with whom I chatted said they think there's coming a time when things may spill or may have to spill into the streets -- if the Congress does not honor what Americans are saying now.
Finally, in an exchange with the congressman, I mentioned that many of us are upset about how the president and Congress are attempting to ramrod healthcare "reform" through legislation. He immediately said that such attempts at reform weren't new, that it'd been started over 20 years ago, blah-blah-blah.
I countered that he knew, that we all knew, that had the House passed H.R. 3200 or whatever before the current August recess, he and I and the crowd would not be attending his "town hall." As I recall, he did not answer.
Nor did he respond when I suggested that there appears to be no government program, of any sort, about which Congress has ever overestimated the real costs.
Oh, yes, when queried about whether we could have the same healthcare option Congress has or if he would use what could be available to the hoi polloi, he flippantly avoided any answer by saying that everyone would have a choice.
Yes, we will: It'll be at the ballot boxes in 2010 and 2012.
This is a reprint from an article written from a man attending a West Virginia Town Hall!
