Such was my first exposure to how public health-care debates would shape up across this country starting in 2009. It had been years since I'd covered a story with the intention of writing about it, and I wasn't sure of what public response would be to President Obama's proposed health-care reforms. My own Congressman, Rick Larson (D-WA) was hosting informational meetings across his district, attracting edgy audiences---and drawing sometimes venomous responses for his trouble. I'd just lost my job after 33 years in the medical-insurance industry, and was anxious to hear what the Congressman was proposing. What I DIDN'T expect was a vicious response by what were clearly coordinated hecklers---no other word suffices.
I'd known this would be heavily attended by interest groups, some of them out to jab the Obama Administration as much as anything else. That didn't prepare me for the sight of watchful police at the ballpark's entrance---the venue had changed in mid-day from a public meeting-room to the local baseball stadium. Beside the wary officers stood an ambulance, and it occurred to me that an EMT crew's Stokes basket could be a handy restraining device if the need arose. Just as disturbing was the local Libertarian activist, displaying posters of The President sporting a photoshopped Hitler mustache. I looked inquiringly at one of the officers, who cocked an eyebrow, shrugged slightly, and said nothing out loud. But that eyebrow spoke volumes all by itself.
After the young vocalist finished with the Anthem, Congressman Larsen was introduced---and at that moment I noted cellphones and iPads flash into evidence all across the stands. We're used to personal media being used in public places these days; it took me a few seconds to recognize that bullet-points and 'attack' phraseology were being coordinated and passed around, clearly tailored to undermine the Congressman's presentation. It was alarmingly like being back in Weimar Germany, when those young men from the nascent National Socialist movement disrupted and terrorized their opposition's campaign rallies. (They probably weren't wearing the Brownshirt uniforms at the time---too easy to identify. THAT would come later.)
Just as disturbing as the nasty tactics was their effect on people who simply wanted information out of this 'informational' meeting. I especially recall an older couple---the husband clearly ex-military, wearing a flight jacket with insignia from NAS Whidbey---trying to make sense of Congressman Larson's explanations and comments in the face of hostile, accusatory barbs. The Congressman was displaying admirable fortitude in the face of such boorishness, but a good deal of the audience appeared confused, unsure what to believe and just who to trust. To the would-be insurgents this was all a sort of vulgar game, but it was outright cruelty to people concerned about changes to their health-care. Most especially the ill and the elderly, both of whom were in evidence that evening at that ballpark.
I stayed for as much of the meeting as I could, finally leaving to catch my transport home. It had been instructive, but in ways I'd never expected. We've gone quite awhile in this country without a political movement whose main aim was to prevent coherent public discussion; what I saw that evening was the same energy which has since found expression in the Tea Party, and in the most outrageous slanders against President Obama and anyone remotely associated with Progressive politics. AND this was just the opening round.
Just as disturbing as the nasty tactics was their effect on people who simply wanted information out of this 'informational' meeting. I especially recall an older couple---the husband clearly ex-military, wearing a flight jacket with insignia from NAS Whidbey---trying to make sense of Congressman Larson's explanations and comments in the face of hostile, accusatory barbs. The Congressman was displaying admirable fortitude in the face of such boorishness, but a good deal of the audience appeared confused, unsure what to believe and just who to trust. To the would-be insurgents this was all a sort of vulgar game, but it was outright cruelty to people concerned about changes to their health-care. Most especially the ill and the elderly, both of whom were in evidence that evening at that ballpark.
I stayed for as much of the meeting as I could, finally leaving to catch my transport home. It had been instructive, but in ways I'd never expected. We've gone quite awhile in this country without a political movement whose main aim was to prevent coherent public discussion; what I saw that evening was the same energy which has since found expression in the Tea Party, and in the most outrageous slanders against President Obama and anyone remotely associated with Progressive politics. AND this was just the opening round.
