Social security town hall meeting in Redding CA

My mom went to a meeting, and this is what she wrote about it:

Congressman Wally Herger (R) has been holding a series of so-called town halls on privatizing social security around his district in far northern California. Wally, known for his extreme right-wing views, was easily reelected—he got 65% of the vote—in November. The district is pretty much controlled by NRA types and libertarians, although that is slowly changing as people move here from more progressive areas because housing is still considered affordable (only compared to San Francisco—don’t rush here).

At Wednesday’s town meeting in Redding, about 200 people showed up. Of these, I’d guess that 180 were very, very angry and very, very hostile to Mr. Herger. As our local paper, the Redding Searchlight, described it:

http://www.redding.com/redd/nw_local/article/0,2232,REDD_17533_3663887,00.html

“Heckling, catcalls and frequent interruptions greeted U.S. Rep. Wally Herger and a top Social Security official Wednesday as they tried to pitch President Bush's reforms for the nation's retirement plan.” That’s putting it mildly. After Herger and Deputy Commissioner of the Social Security Administration James Lockhart gave a misleading presentation about how privatizing would rescue social security for “our children and grandchildren,” the meeting descended into chaos, with people shouting at Herger about out the bias inherent in the presentation, charges of attempts to destroy social security, etc. The props he brought along—a huge jug filled with IOUs meant to represent the current state of social security, photos of two cute toddlers and a Marine in dress uniform next to an American flag meant to represent the next generation “for whom there will be nothing left”—didn’t sway the crowd at all. At a town hall Herger held in a nearby town, one astute guy asked “Where's the picture of mother and apple pie to sell this bull?"

Herger is used to being greeted in this district with hugs and grins and applause, so I imagine the response he’s been getting the last few days is quite a shock to him. If he can’t sell the republican scheme here, I suspect it’s dead.

And how on earth can Republican shills do this and expect people to believe them? Oh, wait, because people have believed all the previous lies this administration constantly spreads around. I guess Herger must be really surprised and wondering why folks are so TOUCHY about taking money out of social security to "save it".

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because the money comes from out of our wages," Linda Schreider of Anderson said later.

"Why don't we pay everyone $20 an hour," a flustered Herger shot back.

Yeah, why doesn't everyone deserve a living wage they can survive on? Good question.

Someone asked why they don't raise the cap on money taken out for SS, and Herger didn't really have a response.

Can't shut out the riffraff.