As I write this, Arlen Specter is artfully answering questions from a group at a Town Hall meeting in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. There is no angry mob, a man is pointing out he was not paid to be there, and there appears to be about a dozen people there to support Mr. Specter's cause. He was just questioned by an active member of the Republican party who helped Specter get elected as to why he switched to the Democratic party without asking permission. I love it. Mr. Specter keeps trying to steer the questioning back to health care. I suppose he had his answers prepared for health care, presuming that was the main subject on most of the attendees' minds. There has been only one emotional outpouring from a woman who reiterated many citizens' feelings, beginning to get upset at one point. Not to dismiss the impassioned nature of any of the questions, for sure.
I like the wide range of question topics proposed by the people attending the meeting. They are talking about everything from the government acquisition of General Motors to whether or not Mr. Specter has read the Quran and is able to understand the need to keep Guantanamo Bay open. It has really kept things interesting. I have been Tweeting about it throughout the broadcast. I really have to give Mr. Specter due credit. He seems to know more about the bill than any other politician I have heard talk about it. This old guy did not stay alive in the shark tank of Washington, DC without being a tough old bird, I suppose. I have to say he appears to be listening, mostly, and he gives some good answers. Sometimes he is quite dismissive with some questions, but the "angry mob" isn't lynching him yet. They are having to keep switching out microphone so they can change the batteries.
I am watching American citizens act out the very essence of the American spirit. I don't think apple pie and baseball hold a candle to town hall meetings with government representatives when it comes to "Americana". It is impossible to imagine legal, safe meetings such as this happening in any country on earth. It is for this reason, besides many others, that I am so proud to be an American. I love this country, and respect it with a reverence trailing only my love of God, and my love of my family and mankind. I, being a crier, shed tears many times a week while partaking in my obsessive viewing of the news.
Mr. Specter was generally pretty respectful of his constituents. I believe this is because these people are not showing out, or screaming or acting like an "angry mob". I wish all the people who are expressing the feelings and concerns at these meetings would realize they only discredit their cause when they scream and shout. The wild posturing and shouting over the speakers is exactly what the 'other side' wants them to do, to dismantle their own credibility. If the questioners would remain calm and express their views in a controlled manner, it would be one less point for the pro-reform cause to be able to use against those opposed to the bill.
There are, as always, those who will use any opportunity to raise a ruckus about something, anything. Yet they do not know, or maybe just don't care, that they are doing a disfavor to those who are truly impassioned about the cause to save the freedoms for hard-working Americans. I think our representatives should remember they can tell themselves and the country anything they want to, but the truth is the truth. There are many, many people who do not want this health care reform bill to pass. There have been enough people now making their case for this bill to be scrapped completely that it should give pause to these men and women who will be looking to keep their jobs next year.
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