Oh Democracy

"America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You've gotta want it bad, 'cause it's going to put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.""
(The American President)

Boy howdy did I learned this lesson firsthand today. Before I go any further with my story, I need to acknowledge the genius of Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the movie "The American President", including the speech above. He was also the creator and lead writer on the NBC show "The West Wing" for its first 4 seasons. He clearly understands democracy and America and if he were ever to run for office I would support him 100%.

Ok, back to story. I went to a health care town hall meeting in Waverly today that was being conducted by the U.S. House of Representatives Congressman from the 1st District of Iowa (into which my hometown falls). The room was already packed and seats filled when I arrived (40 minutes early) and I ended up standing the entire time in the back and to the side. The Congressman arrived relatively on time, which was shocking to me since I knew he had done another forum in Parkersburg 2 hours earlier.

Before the Congressman arrived, one of his District Directors explained to all of those in attendance how the event would go, greatly detailing how the question and answer segment would take place. Basically, he was reiterating the rules of civility and respect, i.e. don't talk over one another, keep your questions short and concise, don't try to engage the Congressman in debate, give everyone the chance to ask their question and get an answer, and so forth.

The Congressman arrived and began the town hall meeting with a short(ish) Power Point presentation. He was strategically dressed as the common man in khakis and a polo and used his uninterrupted presentation time to give the highlights of the House's health care reform bill, as well as acknowledge a few myths that are floating around. Then he opened it up to questions.

There were two aides roaming the room with microphones, and the District Director was up front serving as the MC. It was his job to keep things moving along and to switch between the sides of the room where the questions were coming from. A few feet from where I was standing was a Waverly police officer, assigned to crowd control and protection duties.

The very first person to be handed the microphone was an older gentleman, probably mid-seventies, who was wearing a Navy veteran cap. The second he opened his mouth it became obvious he was there not to get information, but because he is angry. He is angry with his country and with his government. He is angry with spending and with any system in which the government has a role. He is angry that he feels he has been betrayed by and can no longer trust his government. He is just angry.

His rant lasted perhaps just over one minute, during which time he grew increasingly loud and forceful. I do not remember the exact words he spoke, but do know most of the statements he made were prefaced with, "How the hell..." or "We can't trust the damn government...". He said he believes health care reform will be the straw that breaks the camel's back and that, "the streets will run red with blood before everything is said and done."

It was this final sentiment that caused the room to erupt into cheers and applause, caused the police officer to step forward so everyone had a clear view of him, and caused the reporters present to simultaneously try to take notes and photograph the Congressman's reaction. It was also this final sentiment that caused the Congressman to step forward into the anger.

The Congressman began his response by thanking the man for his naval service. He also thanked him for sharing his beliefs so passionately. The Congressman then began to truly respond, first by expressing his concern at the streets running red with blood comment, and then his concern with the man's anger. He explained his position clearly and the beliefs that led him to his position not just on health care reform, but on the role of government in general. It was quite a display of diplomacy that seemed to be lost not only on the angry man, but on the room in general, because the rest of the meeting went roughly the same way as the first "question". In general, the Congressman did not dodge questions but instead gave diplomatic answers. In some cases, he called out a few people on their "facts", flat out telling at least two people today that they were just plain wrong. I appreciated that from the Congressman. He seemed willing to accept that not everyone would believe as he does, but he was not willing to accept beliefs based on untruths. I figure that is a pretty fair way of looking at things.

For the most part it seemed the attendees at the town hall meeting were not there to gather information and ask questions, but to voice opinions based largely on the incomplete or biased tidbits that could be garnered from Fox News or ideological websites. While I cannot say I was wholly surprised by the general mood of the crowd, I did find myself more saddened than I expected. It was hard to listen to those that got a chance to speak; I felt myself wanting to ask them to reach beyond their comfort zone and to accept that America is in a time of intense, difficult, dramatic change. I wanted to ask everyone there to practice advanced citizenship, rather than the sound-byte repetition I was hearing.

I did not get a chance to ask my questions to the Congressman directly, but I did as the District Director requested and turned in my questions, with my contact information, for someone in the Congressman's office to respond to. That being said, I did talk to the Congressman after the meeting.

I waited around until everyone had left, chatting with the District Director a bit while the Congressman finished a television interview, then stopped the Congressman as he was getting ready to head out the door. I told him I had a very short question that was completely unrelated to health care. He looked a bit wary but encouraged me to continue. I looked him straight in the eyes and asked, "Are you hiring?"

Holy cow was he not expecting that question. While he stuttered a bit I gave a rundown of my education and interests, after which he congratulated me on my degree and told me I could send a resume to his district office. I told him there was no need for me to send it, since I had copies with me. I ended up handing out several copies of my resume to different officials within his administration and will be following up with a few of them very soon.

I talked a bit more with the District Director and then headed home. All in all, not a bad afternoon's work.

I'm totally impressed with myself that I hit up a Congressman for a job. Either I have no tact, or I'm braver than I think. Maybe it's a bit of both.

Love!

~g