Civil disobedience run amok

A curious thing is happening in America today. The democratic, free election process has given us a new leader with an agenda supported by the majority. There was no court intervention in making the decision to elect this man. Promises for progressive policy initiatives, made during the campaign, are now being fulfilled, yet the other team is now crying foul. He said what he would do, and is now doing what he said. Whether you agree with the outcome or not, that equates to integrity.

It has become increasingly difficult to comprehend the American right-wing's vocal, mean-spirited and counter-productive wailing. They have chosen to become disenfranchised by continuing to throw their support behind representatives and issues not aligned with America's future needs and our common goals for the  betterment of society.

Obstructionism has become de rigueur for Republican politicians. Entertainment TV, posing as news, has whipped up fear and animosity to a state not seen in America since the times of the civil rights legislation battles and McCarthyism. After Harry Truman left office, referring to the influences of McCarthyism, he said "It is the rise to power of the demagogue who lives on untruth; it is the spreading of fear and the destruction of faith in every level of society.". and so the politics of fear continues in this latest ugly chapter.

Small groups of active and very vocal opponents, in this media-fueled frenzy, are starting to act out violently, spitting and shouting obscenities at elected officials, committing acts of vandalism and issuing death threats. Carrying guns to protest gatherings and targeting public official for election defeat by using cross hair symbols to identify their marks, are a couple of the scarier elements of the trending loss of civil discourse in our society.

This behavior, these displays, these angry, angry people want their country returned to them. The irony is that they are demolishing all that is cherished about America, and the things that make it great. It's not clear what they want it back from or where they want to take it to. Despite the fear, we are clearly not on a road to socialism, communism or fascism. Allowing the angry mob outlaws to bully their representatives undercuts the very process that they seek to preserve.

Rather than achieving a pendulum swing in the upcoming mid-term elections the screamers, the spitters and the vandals are likely to suffer increasing defeats as a deeply troubled electorate seeks to push their voices further into the fringe wilderness from where they came. Their best chance to enact desired changes, regressive or otherwise, would be to act civilly and to utilize the democratic process. Fat chance! 



 

Hope and "Some" Change Realized

President Obama pledged during the campaign that we would have health care reform during his first term in office. He has delivered. It's not a perfect piece of legislation, but it's a good deal better than the lack of reform we have been struggling with for decades.

Failed, last-ditch attempts by the opposition to instill more and more fear into the debate came across as desparate and pathetic. "Dangerous", "flawed" and "abortion" were the resonations within the ditto-head echo chamber. Republicans have weighed in over the past year with numerous critiques and ideas ranging from simple ammendments to a complete rewrite. The "ideas" that have been floated have been mere props. They had 8 years of government control and offered not one meaningful proposal to fix health care. The one thing they did manage to pass in '06, Medicare Part D, came in at three times over the budget projections, created the donut hole and has had to be fixed with this new legislation.

I spent far too much time watching CSPAN yesterday, but found that listening to our representives in their own unedited speech made for compelling TV. As I flipped between FOX, CNN and CSPAN the difference in coverage was remarkable. FOX was hating, CNN was fawning and CSPAN was just showing the debate unedited, sans spin, with all it's sausage-making gore and guts on display. It was a grand parade of posturing and gas-bagging. There was plenty of passion on display, but sadly there was also hour-upon-hour of pompous and precocious acting.

I'm still feeling rocked by the blatent lying of the opposition with respect to abortion language in the bill. Once again a "gentleman" from the right side of the aisle has shown his ass in public and shouted out some disparaging remarks. I mean really, how can they stand up there in front of God and everyone and lie. It's truly appalling. It's one thing to fume and roar on the talk shows or to get that 15-second sound bite with Gretta and Sean, but to act like a buffoon, on the job, is truly mind-bending.

Speculation about Obama's Waterloo can now be put to rest. There's still plenty of Monday morning quaterbacking going on, and it will take a while for the dust to settle, but the historic moment is behind us, the promise has been fulfilled and a pocket full of change has been delivered.

Money Changes Everything

It's easy to get a pretty basic understanding about what's going on in Washington by following the money. Pick an issue and do a bit of research on campaign contributions to your representative, or any representative for that matter, and you'll get a clear connection between the money and their legislative position. Health care is no exception.

The Washington Post published a chart today Who's In Play: House health-care vote, comparing the current lean of house members with their November 7th votes on health reform legislation.

I was interested to see the history, and current leaning, of the representatives from my home state of Georgia. Not surprisingly, positions were unchanged. The money tells the tale. According to data in The Washington Post chart, as of November 2009, health industry campaign contributions to Georgia representatives are in excess of $7.4 million. The no-voters, chiefly Republicans, have received in excess of $6.67 million, nearly four times as much as the the yes-voters who have received just over $1.76 million. Three Republican no-voters, Phil Gingrey, Tom Price and Nathan Deal have received $5.77 million combined.    

The one undecided vote at this time is Sanford Bishop of Georgia's 2nd Congressional District. Based on the following quote from his web site, I expect Bishop to vote yes this week.

“I remain hopeful that Congress can put partisanship aside and approve fiscally-responsible legislation that will lower health insurance premiums, prevent dropped coverage and denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, and make health care more accessible and affordable to all Americans. I hope that we can move forward on those items on which there is agreement, and continue working in the long term on items where we disagree.”

Bishop's district, a mainly agricultural region in the southwest corner of Georgia, has a  median income of $29,354, the lowest of any district in the state. Unemployment is at a staggering 11.4%, with 22.3% uninsured. The people of Bishop's district need affordable health care as much, if not more, than any other residents of the state of Georgia.

In contrast, the average median income of the districts represented by Gingrey, Price and Deal is over $51,000. Price's Cobb County residents enjoy a median income of nearly $72,000. Needless to say these higher-income, better-educated, adequately-insured citizens are tea-bagging the hell out of their representatives to oppose health care reform. They simply don't need the help as much as their neighbors to the south. However, they are voting against their own best interests. There but for the grace of God go I.

With all the money in play, opposition to more government programs is understandable, but opposing health care reform does not reform Washington or the broken system driven by obscene amounts of money paid by health insurance and big pharma lobbying firms.

Misguided anti-government rallies, cries of socialism and irrational fears are missing the point entirely. Our interests are being bought and sold by corporate America, and until fundamental changes are made with respect to campaign contributions the cycle will continue. The recent Supreme Court decision to strike down campaign finance reform has opened the flood gates to even more money being used to influence votes and to put corporate-friendly faces into office. Our representatives should be required to wear jumpsuits, like those worn by NASCAR drivers, with patches and embroidered logos of their corporate sponsors, at least then we'd have some semblance of "transparency", and be able to follow the money.

...and in case Representative Bishop is still undecided there is this.