Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The town hall meeting is ingrained in the history of New England from its earliest colonial days. While in decline, the town hall meeting is still the form of government in use today in a number of small towns in New England. History of Town Meeting: Origins of Small Town Government and Direct Democracy
The first recorded gathering of voters in America took place in Dorchester, MA in 1633. According to the Dorchester Athenaeum online, a Town Meeting Square tablet commemorates the approximate location of the meeting house, which was also used as a school. The gist of this historic first was that the townsmen, by vote, agreed to meet at regular intervals to see to the "good and well ordering of the affayres of the Plantation." Soon after, the greater Boston area had begun adopting the process.
Every school child in America is taught about the town hall meetings of New England as being the cradle of the development of democratic principles of government in America. It is our shared history and defines who we are as Americans. It is to be revered, honored and respected.
One of my favorite artists/illustrators is Norman Rockwell. His Four Freedoms paintings were inspired by a speech given before the United States Congress on January 6, 1941 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In that famous and stirring speech, Roosevelt enumerated four basic freedoms to which every person was entitled. The first was freedom of speech.
For inspiration for Freedom of Speech, Rockwell recalled a recent town hall meeting in Arlington, Vermont where he lived at that time. He remembered how his neighbor, Arlington resident Jim Edgerton, had stood up during the meeting and aired an unpopular opinion. Instead of objecting to his remarks, his fellow citizens honored Edgerton's right to speak his piece.
Rockwell decided that their respect for Edgerton's unpopular viewpoint perfectly illustrated Roosevelt's idea of Freedom of Speech. Freedom of Speech by Norman Rockwell inside The Saturday Evening Post 2/20/1943
The central figure stands above the rest. He is dressed in working clothes that have a slightly rough quality. He has a determined look on his face. In his pocket is a rolled up program for the meeting.
All eyes are on the speaker.
Seated around him are his neighbors. All are holding the same program. The men whose clothes we can see are all dressed in suits. We assume they are businessmen.
Mild disagreement crosses the face of the man on his right. He is smiling upside down. His program is clenched in his hand.
Yet no one interrupts the speaker.
Rockwell aptly captures the essential character of free speech with this painting.
No protestors in colorful tee-shirts waving crude signs and rudely shouting down any speaker in an effort to threaten and intimidate others to deny them their First Amendment right of free speech in a civil forum.
America's long tradition of town hall meetings is now under attack from GOP agitators at recent town hall meetings. They are agitators sponsored by corporate lobbyists and right-wing political action committees, and their hooliganism is encouraged by both the right-wing media and the Republican Party. It is un-American and shameful behavior in this country. The parties responsible for this should be held accountable by Americans who still revere, honor and respect our time-honored democratic traditions.
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Just a follow-up on this. I thought you might find this video of Nancy Pelosi rather interesting, given her recent comments.
http://www.breitbart.tv/06-flashback-pelosi-tells-anti-war-protesters-im-a-fan-of-disruptors/
In the not too distant future, America will have to come to grips with a problem unlike the republic has ever encountered before; the Social Security system will be bankrupt, and millions of baby boomers who have had their paychecked dunned since the Kennedy administration will be left bust. Don’t, as many have, mischaracterize Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme.” In fact, Carlo Ponzi had to use charm and guile to convince investors to invest in his doomed financial scam. The government uses brute force to get its citizens to invest in a system that is not only soon to go belly up, but will trigger inter-generational warfare that will pit young versus old and rich versus poor. Tell me then how well government programs run……
Cathy is somewhat correct. The Federal Government has enumerated powers. There are only about 15 things they are Constitutionally allowed to do. Essentially, they are only supposed to have the power to collect taxes (in order to pay for the rest), borrow money, mint and regulate paper/coin money, provide armies and navies (and maintain them), establish immigration rules, and deliver the mail.
That’s it. Anything else they do is theoretically exceeding their Constitutional Powers. Now, the SCOTUS has basically said that everything under the sun passes through interstate commerce, and can therefore be regulated, thus basically neutering Section I Article 8.
Seriously? Not even Libertarians believe such nonsense (with apologies to Thane).
All that government is supposed to do is “Protect the People from enemies foreign and domestic” and maintain transportation. Other than that “the people should be FREE”
Free speech works BOTH ways.
David Sirota addressed this in his most recent column, “The Me-First, Forget-Everyone-Else Crowd” http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20090807/COLUMNS/908069960/
I know I should be mortified by the lobbyist-organized mobs of angry Brooks Brothers mannequins who are now making headlines by shutting down congressional town hall meetings. I know I should be despondent during this, the Khaki Pants Offensive in the Great American Health Care and Tax War. And yet, I’m euphorically repeating one word over and over again with a big grin on my face.
Finally.
Finally, there’s no pretense. Finally, the Me-First, Forget-Everyone-Else Crowd’s ugliest traits are there for all to behold.
The group’s core gripe is summarized in a letter I received that denounces a proposed surtax on the wealthy and corporations to pay for universal health care:
“Until recently, my family was in the top 3 percent of wage earners,” the affluent businessperson fumed in response to my July column on taxes. “We are in the group that pays close to 60 percent of this nation’s taxes … Think for a second how you would feel if you built a business and contributed more than your share to this country only to be treated like a pariah.”
This sob story about the persecuted rich fuels today’s “Tea Parties” — and I’m sure you’ve heard some version of it in your community.
I’m also fairly certain that when many of you run into the Me-First, Forget-Everyone-Else Crowd, you don’t feel like confronting the faux outrage. But on the off chance you do muster the masochistic impulse to engage, here’s a guide to navigating the conversation:
What They Will Scream: We can’t raise business taxes, because American businesses already pay excessively high taxes!
What You Should Say: Here’s the smallest violin in the world playing for the businesses. The Government Accountability Office reports that most U.S. corporations pay zero federal income tax. Additionally, as even the Bush Treasury Department admitted, America’s effective corporate tax rate is the third lowest in the industrialized world.
What They Will Scream: But the rich still “pay close to 60 percent of this nation’s taxes!”
What You Should Say: Such statistics refer only to the federal income tax. When considering all of “this nation’s taxes” including payroll, state and local levies, the top 5 percent pay just 38.5 percent of the taxes.
What They Will Scream: But 38.5 percent is disproportionately high! See? You’ve proved that the rich “contribute more than their share” of taxes!
What You Should Say: Actually, they are paying almost exactly “their share.” According to the data, the wealthiest 5 percent of America pays 38.5 percent of the total taxes precisely because they make just about that share — a whopping 36.5 percent! — of total national income. Asking these folks to pay slightly more in taxes — and still less than they did during the go-go 1990s — is hardly extreme.
Stripped of facts, your conversation partner will soon turn to unscientific terrain, claiming it is immoral to “steal” and “redistribute” income via taxes. Of course, he will be specifically railing on “stealing” for stuff like health care, which he insists gets “redistributed” only to the undeserving and the “lazy” (a classic codeword for “minorities”). But he will also say it’s OK that government sent trillions of dollars to Wall Streeters.
And that’s when you should stop wasting your breath.
What you’ve discovered is that the Me-First, Forget-Everyone-Else Crowd isn’t interested in fairness, empiricism or morality.
With 22,000 of their fellow countrymen dying annually for lack of health insurance and with Warren Buffett paying a lower effective tax rate than his secretary, the Me-First, Forget-Everyone-Else Crowd is merely using the argot of fairness, empiricism and morality to hide its real motive: selfish greed.
No argument, however rational, is going to cure these narcissists of that grotesque disease.
The above post proves that we should never elect anyone who hates government to any government post; think Jon Kyl.
Me, I don’t think government is inherently bad.
P.S. Why don’t these anti-government people post on redstate where they could have a lovefest?
No More Government in our lives. Our Forefathers and the Bible believing people do NOT teach us to live off of the Gov. Period !!! This is like the devils way of making people weak and more dependant on others. Rather than go out and work harder for a future and be productive in life and be able to help others that are really in need. Many (infact MORE people are hard working people everyday of life ) than the few % that should not even be here in the US, or those who are healthy and just sit doing Nothing !!. WHY should we pay for their laziness !!! If you quit giving everything for FREE, speaking of the Gov Plans. Then people will become more productive and HAVE to go out and WORK. As far as the elderly, God Bless Them. They have worked hard all their lives, and deserve to be looked after. Wake Up America , or we will be Gov. Owned and you will lose yourselves to this Pure Evil Health Plan that Obama is trying to pass. And this includes Cash for Clunkers. If you do not have a job, their is no way to buy a car and get in debt. Next will be the ObamaCare HealthCare Clunker Plan. I have an Idea. Let the White House, Polosi,Biden try this New Health Stuff first along with their families, And then come back in 10 yrs and let us know how it worked. And all the people who are lazy, go to the White House Steps and live their. Oh boy, I would love to see this happen.
Coincidence? I think not. Paul Krugman reads BfA! Check out http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/opinion/07krugman.html?ref=opinion
The Town Hall Mob
There’s a famous Norman Rockwell painting titled “Freedom of Speech,” depicting an idealized American town meeting. The painting, part of a series illustrating F.D.R.’s “Four Freedoms,” shows an ordinary citizen expressing an unpopular opinion. His neighbors obviously don’t like what he’s saying, but they’re letting him speak his mind.
Wow! Check out these pictures from the Town Halls. The mob is getting scary.
http://thedanashow.wordpress.com/2009/08/06/meet-the-mob/
Patrick,
I am signed up on that site. I am a small business owner. I have never participated in anything political other than voting.
Please explain to me how that makes me a plant.
Is it because I disagree with you? Is it because I wish to voice my opinion? Is it because I wish to confront my representatives on their lies? Is it because my representatives don’t even bother reading the laws they pass?
What about me caring about the future of my country makes me a plant?
Where the plants are coming from:
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=3718
What they should do at these meetings is when someone seeks to disrupt, yell over, or out shout, they should stop the meeting and ask those in attendance if they want the disrupters removed by voting with a show of hands. Since the disruptive element, whether conservative or liberal, is typically in the minority, than the majority would rule. And if those in attendance do not vote to have them removed, then it is the will of the people.
Tantrum Politics
By Madeleine Begun Kane
If reform can’t be fought using facts,
Simply give civil discourse the ax.
Block discussion with mobs
Packed with morons like Dobbs.
That’s the path of Republican hacks.
http://www.madkane.com/madness/2009/08/06/tantrum-politics/
The old saying that “when you assume you make an ass out of you and me” applies here, well at least to you GOP Spartan.
I have never been a supporter of disruptive protests by any organization, left or right. I find these tactics mostly self-serving, entirely ineffective, and often counter-productive.
I learned early in life that if you want to have a say in making policy you have to be on the inside at the table where decisions are made, not on the outside looking in shouting aimlessly into the wind.
Your lack of respect and reverence for American democratic traditions is telling.
You’ll probably notice on my ‘blog that I was encouraging people to participate in the meetings, but…
…you do realize that it was the far left that brought the demonstration into the range of socially acceptable tactics, do you not? I may prefer it otherwise, but “that’s one doodle that can’t be un-done, home skillet.”
I can’t believe these reps that are being disrupted have not made sure that they have a few Union members on hand to mop out these loud mouthed weasels. Just think how things might have been if Al Gore would have had a set of balls and called the local hall during that recount disruption by those paid republican staffers. They have big mouths but will run like the sissies they are when confronted by a little Liberal muscle. We cannot count on the law to get rid of them like they do the Code Pinkers.
GOP Spartan, you are wrong! There may be some who applauded when Code Pink persons shouted slurs. It begs the question to point out to you that the level of discourtesy never reached what is occurring now with the disrupters. I would also remind you that they were summarily removed and prevented from continuing their behavior. At George Bush rallies, the people permitted to attend were limited to only people who agreed with him. I would remind you of the mother of a slain Iraqi vet in N.J. who came to a rally wearing a tea shirt with a message opposing the war and she was put in jail!!!
Myself, I’d suggest the police monitor these rallies and summarily remove anyone behaving in a disorderly fashion. Just promptly escort them out the door. People who like to shout down those who represent a position with which the do not agree have a perfect right to express disagreement. They have no right to behave like hooligans and prevent others from talking and I don’t care which side of the argument the hooligans are on – that is not freedom of speech – on the contrary it is an effort to seriously limit freedom of speech!
It is interesting to see the reactions when the shoe is on the other foot.
When Code Pink showed up in their pink shirts and shouted slurs at Republicans not a peep.
You guys love to dish it out but you seem to have a problem with taking a dose of your own medicine (no pun intended).
It is good to see this getting under your skin and the squirming that is going on in the White House.
Keep it up, America is watching and waking up.