Health Care or Lie-Driven Mobs?

"The 'shout 'em down, shut 'em down' thuggery being staged right now at town hall meetings about health care is again a source of conservative pride as corporate lobbying groups brag about their ability to turn out the mobs, to shut down the democratic process." -- Rachel Maddow

On Tuesday, I emailed you about the right-wing mobs that are showing up at congressional town hall meetings in order to disrupt the meetings, intimidate members of Congress and shout down any viewpoint that is not their own. Since then, even more has come out about the nature of this supposedly "grassroots" movement.

In truth, these mobs are anything but organic and do not represent any sort of real grassroots groundswell -- they are fueled by corporate lobbyists, aligned with insurance companies and right-wing interests.

A strategy memo which recently came to light, offering a guide on how to disrupt town halls, was from a web site sponsored by a group called Americans for Prosperity, headed by a former associate of Jack Abramoff, and FreedomWorks, a lobbying firm led by former Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey.1 And a group called Conservatives for Patients' Rights is publicly claiming credit for helping to organize town hall outbursts.2

A paid-for fraud

The operatives mentioned above, along with the right-wing media echo chamber, are spreading lies to ignite the anger of the right-wing base -- fear-mongering about "socialism," and outright lies about the health care reform bill itself, like:

* Employees of the "Government Healthcare Bureaucracy" will have access to ALL American financial and personal records;
* The government will set doctors' wages;
* The choice to purchase private health insurance will be eliminated;
* And one of the most extreme, that the government will control end-of-life decisions and encourage euthanasia and assisted suicide for the elderly.3

The "real anger" towards the administration's health care reform efforts that FOX News and other right-wing outlets have been reporting ad nauseam is nothing more than a manufactured and paid-for fraud. The anger is fueled by the Right's lies and only visible because of its organizing efforts paid for by corporate special interests opposed to real reform.

We've seen this sort of thing before. GOP operatives, many of them Capitol Hill staffers, flooded the state of Florida during the presidential election recount in 2000, forming phony "local" mobs to harass the people conducting the recount. This time, it's members of the Right's radical base who are the foot soldiers, but the public outrage is just as manufactured.

"Health Care, Not Mobs"

The town hall meetings that the mobs are hijacking are supposed to provide a platform for honest debate and constructive interaction between members of Congress and their constituents. If the representative or senator hosting a meeting cannot even speak in order to answer questions or is forced into an angry shouting match with unruly disrupters, democracy suffers and all the other attendees are denied access to their representative.

Progressives can't let themselves be out-organized on the health care issue and need to counter these lie-driven mobs. It's time for progressives to make their presence known and their voices heard. Tell your members of Congress not to be intimidated and to reject mob tactics.

Here's what you can do:

1. Email your congressional representatives if you have not already.

2. Follow up your email with a phone call (find contact information here).

3. Find a town hall event near you this recess and attend.

Attend a town hall meeting

The best way to silence the mob, so to speak, is to outnumber them. Show up. Bring people. And if members of the crowd begin disruptive outbursts and attempt to shout down the official hosting the meeting, help restore order with the chant, "Let him/her speak!"

The phrases, "Let Him/Her Speak" and "Health Care, Not Mobs" both make great chants and signs -- so get out those magic markers.

You can find lists of some town hall meetings on the web sites of Heath Care for America Now
http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=P37Sje4mGGhXIsn3lrh6Bg and the right-wing Tea Party Patriots http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=0Kgo60ytyFU8hC6-kxJzPQ (scroll down to the section "Groups and Events By State").

Thank you for helping to expose and counter the Right's attempts to derail and kill health care reform.

Sincerely,

Michael B. Keegan, President

P.S. Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina, after receiving a death threat over the health care reform bill, has opted not to hold town hall meetings this recess.4 We can't let this kind of intimidation go unchallenged. We must speak out, show up and defend the civil discourse which is so vital to a functional democracy.

Sources:

1. "Swiftboating Town Halls," The Progress Report, August 5, 2009.

2. "Anti-Reform Group Takes Credit For Helping Gin Up Town Hall Rallies," The Plum Line, August 4, 2009.

3. An email circulating around the internet, forwarded to us by a PFAW member (the lies in this email about ending Medicare, rationing health care and promoting euthanasia have been repeated by many in the right-wing media and even some elected officials).

4. "Dem Congressman's Office: His Life Has Been Threatened Over Health Care Bill," Talking Points Memo, August 5, 2009.


Just some of what we're seeing:
http://site.pfaw.org/images/content/pagebuilder/12961.bmp
Maryland Rep. Frank Kratovil was hanged in effigy outside his district office

http://site.pfaw.org/images/content/pagebuilder/12963.bmp
Comparing health care reform to Nazis

http://site.pfaw.org/images/content/pagebuilder/12964.bmp
A mob member outside a Rep. Lloyd Doggett town hall in Texas