Now, the teabagger "movement" appears to be coming back for round two, this time "organized" around the debate on health care reform. Protesters have disrupted several "town hall" meetings organized by Democratic members of Congress, and as with some of the teabagger events, these health care protests have quickly taken on an aggressive, threatening, and in some instances, a downright ugly tone (note the protester with swastika-emblazoned sign). As to what bringing health care to the 50 million Americans who don't have it has to do with nazism, well, I'll have to leave that to the fertile imagination of readers.
And similarly with the teabaggers, this new round of conservative protests, ostensibly representing true grass roots organizing, appears to be partly spearheaded by several right wing front groups, including FreedomWorks, which is run by the former House majority leader, and newly minted global warming expert, Richard (Dick) Armey. The modus operandi of these "astro-turf" groups is to funnel conservative money into favorite right wing causes while attempting to give a veneer of grass roots respectability to the effort. In most cases the veneer turns out to be razor thin indeed.
Another unifying theme in these right wing efforts to turn back the clock is an almost unbelievable lack of substance combined with simple fabrication of facts and evidence. Put simply, these "protesters" seemingly don't have a clue about what they are actually protesting. In my previous post I discussed several classic examples of right wing dissembling on health care reform, but here is another recent example from none other than conservative darling and newly unemployed governor Sarah Palin. Remarking on her facebook page about the President's reform efforts, Palin had the following contribution to informed debate about health care;
"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."
This statement is simply despicable for its level of falsehood, idiocy and demagoguery. No one in the Administration, or anywhere else for that matter, has suggested that government bureaucrats would have anything to do with medical decisions. Indeed, the government funded Medicare program, a form of national health insurance, is amongst the most popular of government programs. There are no "death panels," arbitrating health care decisions for Medicare, only doctors. A similar circumstance exists in the national health programs of many other Nations, where only doctors are involved in patient's health care decisions. Ironically, the only place where putative "death panels" exist are in the boardrooms of private insurance companies, where corporate bureaucrats actually do make life and death decisions about health care.
No, the America that Sarah Palin apparently loves is the one where 50 million people have no easy access to health care and where people have to fight tooth and nail against corporate bureaucrats to get the care they need. The America that Sarah Palin loves is the one where almost 20,000 people die annually because of a lack of access to health care. Apparently, Sarah Palin has already passed judgment, and decided that these unfortunate souls do not have the requisite "level of productivity in society," to warrant her support. How ironic that Palin should talk about such evil when the truth is that the real evil is a for-profit health care system. Why is it that we never hear right wing mouthpieces talking about the real, documented "evils" of the present system?
Another revealing example of the tortured "logic" around some of the health care protests was provided by events at a town hall sponsored by Representative Gene Green (D-Tex). The assembled group of protesters indicated they were opposed to “... any form of socialized or government-run health care.” When subsequently asked by Representative Green how many of them were on Medicare a large fraction of hands shot up, apparently with no indication of the irony. As a friend explained it to me, "It's like they're living zombies. They are protesting the very teat they are suckling on!" If one expected more rational arguments from some Republicans in Congress then I am sorry to disappoint you. Their most recent contribution being the complete fabrication of an argument that reform would lead to euthanasia of the elderly. Talk about seeking the high ground.
So, since facts are so notably absent in any of these arguments, then what is the real basis for the opposition to health care reform, and more generally, apparently anything that President Obama has proposed? As with most things, the answers concern power and control. Privileged, wealthy, and reactionary interests--including corporate elites--see their power and position challenged and waning, and so they are fighting back with everything they can muster. The primary fuels for these right wing attacks are fear, ignorance and hate. And unfortunately, they feed upon the racism and xenophobia that is still present in America, despite right wing claims about a post-racial era.
An unfortunate and significant component in this ongoing assault on democracy is the almost complete demonization of rational thinking. Conservative talking heads, with significant corporate media support, have managed to create the now widespread cultural perception that to be smart, and indeed competent, is a bad thing, think "liberal elitist." This disturbing and dangerous state of affairs is described in Charles Pierce's recent book, "Idiot America." PZ Myers (pharyngula) has a nice review if you want to decide to give it a read. This situation is so dire that a major political party--do I need to identify it?--has essentially jettisoned the notion that it's politicians and representatives should be able to think rationally. As proof just consider that Party's recent candidate for the 2nd highest office in the land. Any Party that would work to elect a candidate with the lack of substance of a Sarah Palin does not deserve the support of rational voters. If this trend of the "dumbing down" of America is not reversed, the future will only be bleaker than the present.
1 comment:
One thing that saddens me is that the democratic purpose of town hall meetings, to inform citizens, is being lost. Instead, the venue is now being treated as a press event, a stage show, where mob-rule yelling and shouting are used to get one's side heard. The educational purpose is lost if meetings become confrontational shouting matches. Real concerned constituents won't bother to attend if they have to fight a large crowd to get inside, or if their questions and comments get shouted down by others.
Post a Comment