I went to a townhall meeting with Tim Bishop tonight in New York.
You may have heard of him because at a previous townhall he was mobbed
by a bunch of anti-reform people and the video went viral.
I got there too late to get inside so I stayed outside and watched what was
going on outside.
At several points I got into discussions with people who were anti-reform.
It was pretty interesting though unfortunately I don't think anybody
was really convincing anybody else of anything.
The meeting was scheduled for 6:30pm at Brookhaven town hall. They moved the venue
next door to East Sachem High school (cap. 950 - I think).
I got there around 5:45 but they were already full to capacity so I loitered outside with a crowd of about 100-300 people (I'm not good at estimating crowd sizes).
The anti-reform people apparently decided to stay outside rather than go inside and talk to him - I guess they thought they would get more airtime. I asked somebody who said the crowd inside was about 80%+ pro-reform. Outside the crowd
was almost evenly matched at first but many of the pro-reform people left after a
while.
I stayed till about 9:30pm.
I got into several discussions including one with someone who wanted to quote to me
Copernicus' opinions on fiscal policy (specifically on debasement of currency). That was eye-opening to me because I had never heard of Copernicus outside of astronomical concerns. However, I came home and checked with Wikipedia and indeed Copernicus had some valued opinions on the value of money...
So at least I learned something...
Others tried to tell me that the Austrian school of economics was the model to follow. Sadly I had not heard of this school. I came home and googled it. The second paragraph of the site I found says that this school values:
The Late Scholastics were advocates of property rights and the freedom to contract and trade. They celebrated the contribution of business to society, while doggedly opposing taxes, price controls, and regulations that inhibited enterprise. As moral theologians, they urged governments to obey ethical strictures against theft and murder. And they lived up to Ludwig von Mises's rule: the first job of an economist is to tell governments what they cannot do.
Too bad I didn't know that. I could have said to them, "Hey we just tried 8 years of that - are you happy now?"
Don't have much to add except that I tried to talk to individuals rather than talk at crowds. Specifically I tried to pin people down about what they objected to and why they were happy with the system the way it is now. I tried to be civil and so did they. I shook hands with several people and tried always to end on a civil note.
I did my share of shouting, "Healthcare for all". Someone tried to start up, "What are you afraid of" But my heart wasn't really in that.
I tried to maneuver around to stand next to pro-reform people - especially when someone seemed beset - I highly recommend that - its quite a boost having a friendly face at your side.
The pro-reform people and I uniformly wondererd where was these people's humanity? They seemed either to be saying they did not trust government to leave them alone or that they really did not want other people to have health care or they just did not want to pay taxes.
Some of the claims:
- H3200 has a provision to force open your savings account so the government can look in it.
- They will check your taxes to make sure you are paying.
- If you stay with private insurance and your copay changes, you will be forced into the public option.
I don't think I convinced anybody but at least I hope I made a good case for civility.
The 'dregs' that remained at the end certainly did not seem too civil and I made sure to walk an elderly woman to her car at the end to be sure she left safely.
I'd do it again but I'd like to have seen more supporters out there. Please go if you get a chance - it really makes a difference.
I also signed up for a personal followup meeting to be sure I got a chance to talk to my congressman directly - I recommend that too.
UPDATE: pollbuster in the comments below gives a good account of what went on inside.
UPDATE II: LImike also gives a good account of the goings on inside.
There's a youtube video as well (sorry, embedding is not my thing)...