Either people suddenly have taken a real strong desire to participate in the governmental process or something is amiss. If you are unaware of the recent legislation that was passed to address health concerns here in America this past weekend I’m sure you are certainly not unaware of the behavior of the people opposed to its passage. How refreshing to see someone else concerned enough to open their mouth in protest.
Being a veteran of on-site protesting I must admit, someone needs to teach a few of these protesters some manners. Sure our side has tossed an egg on occasion at someone we thought had just been criminally elected President, and I’ve blocked a few elevators in my day to keep a corporate CEO’nista or two from bypassing and eluding concerned citizens over dioxin spillage. But I’ve never used the “N” word for a congressman that was voting for what he thought was right. Nor heckled a President twenty feet away giving a state of the union speech.
One has to wonder what has gotten people so dag-gone upset that they would leave their homes and venture to Washington in such droves. Obviously states and federal government rights are still a big issue. Guess that civil war thing still has some pretty strong roots going. It probably also helps that a lot of the protesters against the health care bill are out of work, are close to getting Medicare (government run health care) and living on steady diets of conservative news oriented radio and TV.
It has got to be more than just, “come on honey, let’s spend a few hundred bucks of the money we don’t have to go tell them thar congress people what we think!” Perhaps a steady diet of fire and brimstone from the pulpit helps, but then again if your favorite TV station blurred real news instead of personal opinion masked as news then you might not have all the information you need to make a real decision.
Not long ago it was the liberal media’s turn to get blamed for inciting all us liberally minded book reading progressionists to protest the war. CNN and Fox became the powers they are today by complaining to the conservative side of the fence about how biased the NY Times and other supposedly liberal publications were at getting everyone upset. The fact that thousands marched in the street against the war was a mockery to American patriotism; not what people who love their country should be doing.
Now that the shoe is on the other foot, the conservative media is firing up and sending its followers to voice their opinions. Funny that the conservative side appears more radical than the war protesters ever did. Even Congressmen that should know better have been standing in balcony’s cheering the chanting kill the bill protesters on. Hey it’s America, you gotta love it.
May I offer one word of caution though for the newly involved in the political protest movement? You have your say and you move on. You visit the congressmen who are for and against you and you let them know how you feel. You have your demonstration and you wait for the ballot box to come along next time and you turn out the vote. You never take the law into your own hands. No one wins when you do that.
Yesterday Rush made some pretty disturbing statements that we had to get rid of these guys supporting the health care bill. And it didn’t sound to me or anyone who heard it that he meant voting them out. There have also been threats made against the President as reported in various media outlets. Come on, get real. Its legislation that can be changed, modified or let to run its own course, not bob wire fences around your Dr’s office. As for the media’s part in all of this, just remember the bank robber driving the getaway car is just as guilty as the one in the bank getting the money!!!
The Time Pieces 