Those Town Halls — Ouch!

Several weeks ago, about 425 active and retired employees of The San Diego Union-Tribune were asked in an email newsletter they publish what they would do if they were dictator for a day. Naturally, most of the replies were humorous. Allow me to don the imperial crown for a moment.

I would tell the demonstrators disrupting town hall meetings with their elected representatives on the proposed health care reform legislation to shut the you-know-what up and stop acting like unruly Third World agitators. A grown-up needs to step in and take charge of these unruly events and restore a sense of civility.

Ain’t gonna happen. I’ll tell you why.

The debate has evolved into a confluence of diametrically opposed political and economic positions in regards to delivering our health care. It is the new mother of hot button issues surpassing all others including the most important one of all — jobs.

Its foundation is the simple premise that health care represents 16% of our nation’s gross national product and escalating at an alarming rate while delivering poorer results compared to other industrialized countries.

Most polls show people overwhelmingly favor heath care and insurance reform. The devil is in the details.

That’s the first problem. Congress before its summer recess drafted several bills with President Obama sitting on the sidelines offering only broad principles of what he wants, yet he is the guy ramrodding the legislation as part of his signature change agenda. As House and Senators return to their home districts this August to hold their traditional town hall meetings, they are forced to defend or deflate a bunch of proposals that no where near are close to become law. As a result, their minions are acting like dogs barking, jumping and snapping at imaginary buzzing flies.

The second problem is the Congressional Democrats. The liberals and moderates are divided over the basic Old Democratic platform for universal health care delivered by a single-payer or public option plan that would compete with the private insurance carriers. The wedge dividing the groups include TV ads by liberal interests such as MoveOn.Org targeted at several key “Blue Dog” Democrats.

Problem No. Three is opposition to all the reform plans offered by Democrats from the Republicans and their vocal and influential talk radio, television and websites. Lobby groups representing health industry moguls not only have donated big bucks to both Democrats and Republicans but have paid for smear campaigns urging people to attend the town hall meetings for the sole purpose of disruption and creating chaos.

American politics have always carried rowdy overtones. The difference in today’s world is television, the Internet, YouTube and Twitter. The constant repetition of showing film clips of unruly town hall events no matter how exaggerated eventually imbeds in the public awareness a belief that something is wrong. And the wrong in this case translates in favor of those who oppose health reforms.

Of all the arguments cited at the town hall meetings, only one resonates with an element of legitimate concern. That is the cost to implement the reforms at a time the federal budget is $1.3 trillion overdrawn and the Chinese holding the pink slip to our national debt.

Most of the other arguments are based on lies and fears fed by rabble rousers on both sides of the issue.

The Republicans certainly outflanked and outsmarted the Democrats in taking their propaganda battles to the town halls. An emergency meeting at the White House developed this strategy among the Democrats: “If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard.”

We don’t need another arsonist. We need a grown-up to take charge.

The New York Times offers this round-up on the shenanigans.