As We Divide Against Each Other

I’m all for dissent and challenging authority. So when I heard the buzz about these raucous crowds at town hall meetings on health care reform, I thought “good for them” even if I don’t agree with the dissent. I finally got a chance to see one of these town hall meetings. Sen. Specter held an open meeting in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and I watched the entire meeting on CSPAN.

I’m not a political fan of Sen. Specter, and from a distance his party-switch sure seemed opportunistic. I also understand (as I’m sure he does) that he chose this job and that means dealing with people, whether they like you or not. To make matters worse, the senator started the meeting off with some unhelpful words that displayed an insolent attitude, something like “I don’t get any extra pay for being here and I don’t have any requirement to be here.” Not a good way to endear yourself to your constituents. None of that, however, excuses being rude or mean to the man, and many at the meeting certainly were. But they were angry and we often do regretful things when we’re angry.

It’s that anger, though, that astonishes me. At times the expressed dissent was downright hateful. Unfortunately for everyone, most of the concerns expressed were based on misinformation or distortions and the questioners’ general sense of anger and distrust seemed to completely cloud their ability to reason (again, certainly a common human issue when we’re angry). A few good questions were raised, but the overall theme was definitely one of anger and resentment.

Before the question period could begin, a man rose and began shouting in anger. He was literally shaking he was so emotionally upset. Shouting just a few feet from Specter’s face, he accused Specter of trampling the constitution and that “One day God will stand before you and judge you and the rest of your damn cronies up on the Hill and then you will get your just desserts." I have to believe the man was sincere and I take him at his word, which means this man believes that God has taken a position on interpreting the US Constitution and to violate the Constitution is a sin! Beyond that this man’s anger is palpable and his desire for someone to “pay” for how he feels is very real.

The crowd cheered loudly for another man who believed part of the health care solution is to “round up the illegals and get them out of here.” It was heart-breaking to hear my fellow citizens cheering at the “rounding up” of men, women and children. An older gentleman expressed concern, in a respectful manner at least, that the Koran orders Muslims to kill non-Muslims. President Obama was accused several times of the auto bailout even though that was actually proposed by and signed into law by President Bush.

The loudest reaction from the crowd was for a woman who declared that the anger was about “the systematic dismantling of this country, we don’t want to turn into Russia!” It was not clear if she thought Obama was accomplishing the dismantling in the last 6 months or if she was unloading years of anger (though I believe the Republicans controlled all 3 branches of government for 6 or 7 of the last 10 years). This was a recurring theme and also one that astonishes me - whether or not someone or some idea is “American.” With no awareness of the irony, the crowd bristled at having been called un-American by some but then turned around and shouted angrily when Specter said “President Obama knows he’s an American.” The mere fact that Specter even had to say that is jaw-dropping; the crowd’s reaction is beyond belief.

In similar style, one dissenter was concerned that the proposed health care was “not American” and was “socialist” and then admitted he was currently unemployed and receiving unemployment benefits! I am glad for him and his family that the socialist program of unemployment is able to help him.

You might think I’m cherry-picking but I assure you I am not. The video record is available. The best-expressed concerns were about whether we can afford the proposed health care plans and questioning the financial sense of the cap-and-trade bill. The best question of the night was “why would the government buy an auto maker who makes cars no one wants?” But these few financial concerns were quite small compared to the charges of un-American, socialist, turning into China, etc.

Serious topics often come down to such buzzwords, sadly. Two buzz words even more loaded than those already mentioned are euthanasia and abortion. A woman said that according to the current House of Representatives’ health care bill, “Section 1233 of the proposed health care plan… What it says is, as a 74-year-old man, if you develop cancer, we're pretty much going to write you off because you're no longer a working citizen who will be paying taxes.” I read Section 1233 that she’s talking about and for her to say that flat-out amazes me. I believe someone told her what that section means, because it’s not at all as she stated. Section 1233 is a favorable provision for patients; it offers to pay for something that right now is needed but not a covered expense. That section offers to pay for (but does NOT require) a doctor to talk with a patient about a living will, advance care planning, durable power-of-attorney, the roles and duties of a health care proxy, and what all this stuff means. These things are incredibly important and far too many people are without them. I would abhor euthanasia and this Section 1233 does nothing to advance euthanasia. In fact, it looks to me like this would get more people making their OWN decisions. Absolutely incredible that something like this would be so blatantly distorted.

I am also highly in favor of reducing abortions and am sensitive to the concern about abortion funding. This issue is also being distorted, but it only came up once at Specter’s town hall. My caution regarding shouts of “I don’t want my money paying for someone’s abortion” is that we already do. If you pay taxes, our taxes help pay for abortions. If you pay insurance premiums to a private insurer, it is most likely that your premiums help pay for abortions. Depending on the medicines you buy, the doctors you see, the hospitals you pay - your money helps pay for abortions. That’s a stiff wall to climb, and it may be one you’re willing to pursue, but it bothers me when people get twisted around by this sensitive topic during a discussion of health care reform. If your goal is to stop any of your money from helping to pay for abortions, you have to head straight to amending the Constitution, not stop a health care reform that maintains the status quo.

I’ve gotten into more specifics about the dissent than I intended, but once I got started I thought it best to provide examples of the anger and resentment I saw. It’s difficult for me because, as I said, I respect dissent and challenging authority. And I believe these were sincere people, I know them, they are some of my friends and family. They are afraid and have been hurt and they are angry. When I’m feeling those things I get even more defensive and self-focused than I usually am, and anything that looks like it might take something from me (or did take something from me) is an easy target for my anger. My heart goes out to the people I saw on CSPAN and I wish for all of us a health care discussion that has as its central values that EVERY human being is Yahweh’s child and that protecting the health of each human being is a profoundly important personal and communal responsibility.