I was one of a small group of about 30 protesters who gathered at 7 AM to try to request a town hall with Mr. Chabot.
The event was taking place at the Harrison VFW. Word must have gotten out that protesters were planning on showing up as four police cars were there when we arrived. The police were friendly but the local Harrison vets greeted us angrily, insisting we could not be on their property. It was pretty obvious the vets at the VFW hosting the event were hardcore Republicans and had some very unflattering views of us.
Since we couldn’t be on their property, we decided to protest in the road despite heavy morning traffic. They also insisted we couldn’t park in their lot so we parked across the street where the police told us we could park, on the side of the road and at a water filling station where there was room not to block the water filling pump.
The folks from the Chamber of Commerce came out and offered us donuts. We refused politely, “Thank you. That’s very kind of you,” I said, “But we’d rather have health care.”
They then offered donuts to the police. One of the officers who was really funny and who we’d joked around with earlier said, “C’mon, you know we can’t do that in public. We’d be on every TV in the country.”
The police were really funny and didn’t take sides. We joked around with them a lot and had a couple of chances to mention that the Chamber wanted to break their union, too.
As we chanted and asked for a public forum, one of the VFW vets came out yelling, “People need to use that filling station. You better move that car or it’s gonna get towed.”
We asked our group and the car didn’t belong to anyone in our group. We had parked where we were told. When we told the vet this, he didn’t believe us. You could hear him as he stomped away, “This shows you what kind of people you are.”
We suggested to the police that they might want to check with the people inside. Sure enough, about five minutes later someone from inside ran out to move his car. It belonged to one of the reporters inside the building.
One of the things they thought about us was that we were all “big city” liberals come out to protest. “Anyone here from Harrison?” they asked several times.
Several folks were from Harrison. A couple ladies yelled back where they lived. I told them I lived in Cheviot right down the road because Cheviot is no different from Harrison. It’s just a little closer to the city.
We also had several folks who had managed to sign up early enough to get into the Chamber breakfast. They were all dressed nicely and had come to ask questions. Michele Young, Steve Chabot’s opponent in the last election was one of these folks. She talked and joked around with everyone.
This seemed to surprise the vets. They stalked off and grumbled in the parking lot.
Our small group continued to chant and ask for a town hall. One of the best moments of the protest was when one of the ladies came up with the idea to share who we were. So we passed the megaphone around.
One by one people talked about the job they had to get to after this early morning protest. We had teachers, a nurse, an insurance salesman, a retired veteran of our own, and a small business owner. Since Chabot chairs the House Committee on Small Business, my sign said, “Health care is great for small businesses.”
We also made sure several times to thank the vets over the megaphone for their service. Hell, I think vets are great. I wasn’t there to protest them. The Chamber wants to cut their healthcare and benefits, too.
The protest was about what was going on inside: A closed door meeting between our elected representative and the Chamber of Commerce. When the Chamber wants to talk, Steve’s right there with extended palms. But when we want to talk, it’s much much harder to get an audience. And even if we do, we’re more than likely to just hear platitudes rather than see any action.
We got great coverage in the Harrison Gazette, too. They quoted Samantha Powell, from Harrison, talking about the ACA:
I work in a community hospital (Dearborn County Hospital), and the hospital was in the hole millions of dollars before the expansion … mostly because of uncompensated care.
We also received favorable coverage in Cincinnati from WLWT.
Why is this important?
Because this is a microcosm of our country. Representatives often work for the Chamber first, us second. The media tells one group that another is the enemy. They take advantage of cultural differences to pit us against each other.
In reality, we’re neighbors and have pretty much the same concerns. One of the ways to win is to show them that we're neighbors, not enemies.
David Akadjian is the author of The Little Book of Revolution: A Distributive Strategy for Democracy (now available as an ebook).