Thread: The healthcare mob mentality

The healthcare mob mentality

The angry mobs at town hall meetings shouldn't be dismissed. Americans are concerned about the cost of healthcare reform
Comments 142

James Antle guardian.co.uk, Sunday 9 August 2009 18.00 BST

"Town halls gone wild." That's the phrase being used to describe the local public events at which members of Congress try to sell a Democratic national healthcare plan to their constituents. Instead they are facing raucous chants, noisy protesters and a whole lot of yelling.

Poor Lloyd Dogget, a Democratic congressman from Texas, was confronted with posters depicting him with devil horns, signs blaring "Dump Dogget" and vocal opponents of the healthcare bill shouting the Reagan-era anti-drug slogan "Just say no!"

The liberal outfit Think Progress says that these demonstrations are the product of angry rightwing mobs trying to "swift boat" the healthcare town hall meetings. The Politico reports of "congressmen fearful for their safety".

Even White House spokesman Robert Gibbs has waded into the controversy, arguing that the protests have been ginned up by wealthy special interests determined to kill healthcare reform. Dismissing them as the "Brooks Brothers Brigade," Gibbs sneered: "I hope people will take a jaundiced eye to what is clearly the AstroTurf nature of so-called grassroots lobbying."

One man's special interest is another man's ideological cause. Neither the healthcare protests nor the larger "tea party" movement behind them are 100% spontaneous, but few organised protests are. Many of these demonstrators have been egged on by radio talkshow hosts, coordinated through blogs and social networking technology and guided by national conservative or libertarian groups with money in the bank.

But the supporters of Democratic healthcare legislation aren't exactly mere peasants walking around aimlessly either. They boast the organisational muscle of an alphabet soup of labour unions, community activist groups and special interests – SEIU, AFSCME, Acorn, AARP – that certainly rival anything Americans for Prosperity or FreedomWorks can put together. They tout a $40m budget for their efforts to get a reform plan passed. Healthcare for America Now, which bills itself as one of its side's leading grassroots coordinators, is actually headquartered on K Street in Washington.

By the same token, some of the activists being highlighted as responsible for "manufacturing" popular outrage against the Democrats' approach to healthcare actually have few followers, little money and minimal national support. It is difficult to imagine them derailing Barack Obama's agenda, or anything else of consequence, all by their lonesome.

Yes, the shouting makes it difficult to have a meaningful healthcare discussion. It's equally true that if the proponents of reform had their way, the bill would have been passed through an expedited legislative process, signed by the president and the discussion would already be over.

Some of the rightwingers tearing up the town hall meetings are indisputably nuts, extremists and worse. But groups that are angry and out of power always attract such elements. During the previous administration, Republicans sang themselves to sleep with lullabies about the nuttiness, extremism and Bush-is-a-Nazi nastiness of antiwar protesters, totally oblivious to the fact that opposition to the Iraq war was becoming the majority position among the American people.

Polls are increasingly showing that Americans who may not share the tea party protesters' philosophical objections to a government-run healthcare programme are nevertheless concerned about the costs and the impact on their existing medical benefits. There is also greater intensity among the opposition: While a recent Rasmussen survey showed Americans divided on the Democratic plans – 47% for, 49% against – just 25% were strongly in favour while 41% said they were strongly opposed.

Voters who embrace the concept of universal healthcare in the abstract or even specific policies like the employer mandate often balk when presented information about the costs. Much of the debate is aimed at people holding this middle ground. And the AstroTurf versus grassroots argument over the town hall protesters is supposed to influence one group of moderates in particular: centrist Blue Dog Democrats in Congress.

The protesters are trying to persuade these Democrats that there are genuine political risks to voting for a liberal healthcare reform bill. Those decrying their "swift boat" tactics seek to convince fence-sitting Democrats that a "no" vote will put them on the side of "birthers", racists and shrieking rightwing lunatics.

In truth, Democrats who hail from conservative districts are taking a risk by voting for the legislation Obama prefers, since it currently entails tax increases, new deficit spending and abortion coverage, all clubs for their 2010 Republican challengers to wield against them. Yet moderate Democrats have been swayed by images of scary protesters before: many of them continued to support the Bush policy on Iraq rather than be associated with Michael Moore, Answer and Code Pink.

Nevertheless, millions of Americans to the right of Answer and Code Pink turned against the Iraq war as they grew concerned about its financial and human cost. Millions more to the left of the town hall crashers are concerned about the cost of a large new government programme at a time when Uncle Sam is broke. The question is when their voices will be heard amid the din.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... -hall-mobs

Not to give away my age but I got my packet from the AARP on throwing support for the Healthcare Plan. But, what gets me is,the papers call for "REFORM" NOT A TAKEOVER of the health system.

"Town halls gone wild." That's the phrase being used to describe the local public events at which members of Congress try to sell a Democratic national healthcare plan to their constituents. Instead they are facing raucous chants, noisy protesters and a whole lot of yelling

GEE! You think it may have something to do with people just HAD ENOUGH of the corruption and false promises (which SHOULD NEVER be made) and lack of protecting borders along with lack of listening to the AMERICAN CITIZEN and NOT GROUPS that represent ILLEGAL ALIENS!

DID I FORGET TAXES!TAXES!TAXES!