Never Shall The Two Meet
I spent some time yesterday observing both health care rallies at the Statehouse. Nothing happened that I didn’t expect. The anti-Obama health care crowd gathered on the Capital’s south side, the pro-Obama health care crowd was on the east side of the building.
There were more anti-Obamacare people (about 500-600 by my last count) versus the 150 or so pro-Obamacare supporters, who had better visibility to passing traffic.
As I worked my way back and forth between both crowds I would hear individuals take shots at the other group. One person in one group would call the other socialists and communists. One person in the other group would opponents racists and ignorant.
And we wonder why the government is dysfunctional.
While I support citizens who express their opinions, the rallies were classic examples of people not speaking to each other and problems not getting solved. There was a lot of yelling and name calling, but no dialogue and no discussion. The sad part is, they’re all in the same boat. It didn’t look to me like anyone in the was independently wealthy so if they lost their job they’d be out of luck with no health insurance. In addition, it would probably take only only real medical emergency to send that same person into the poor house. And I’ll bet you a cigar and a martini they’re all paying higher premiums for health care.
It would have been nice if the 600-700 or so people who rallied on both sides of the issue actually got together and had a thoughtful, civil conversation about health care reform. They might actually find that despite all the shouting, they’re a lot more conjoined at the hip than they think.
