Town meeting on health care in NC

I just got back from a town meeting put on by one of my local representatives here in NC, or at least I got close to it.  The event was held at a large auditorium on one of the local college campuses, but filled up well before the scheduled start time.  My two friends and I, though we were disappointed at first, soon decided that the best part might have been the theater of democracy going in the crowd outside.  Yes, so many people turned up that those of us who couldn’t get into the event became part of a sizeable and spirited crowd that gathered around outside, on the lawn, on the sidewalks.  It was inspiring to see so many people turn out, people who obviously cared about this issue and wanted to be part of a conversation about it.  Watching the news or reading the paper, you’d think everyone had given up, was cynical, didn’t care…but people do want to be involved, informed, engaged.

And it certainly was democracy in action.  People from all walks of life miling about and sorting into what eventually became two camps…those for some kind of health care reform to cover people who fall through the cracks or have been shut out of the current system, and those who seemed to be  against any kind of change, threatening socialism and the end of world as we know it.  The former clearly outnumbered the latter. 

Funny too how the two groups seemed to portray the two Americas, as least through my bleeding heart liberal lens.  The anti-reformers were almost all middle-aged white men, heavy on the paunch, dressed in business wear and carrying Blackberries or in jeans and flag/patriotic T-shirts proclaiming gun rights and states rights (really!).  The pro-reformers were much more diverse in age, gender, race/ethnicity, dress, and though most of us didn’t agree on what should be done or how, we did want to do SOMETHING, which I feel is a first step.

Even though I didn’t get to attend the actual event, I’m glad I went and got to see peaceful assembly and democracy in action.  I talked with lots of interesting folks, signed a few petitions, and came away feeling a lot better about the fact that people DO care and do want a say, want to problem solve, roll up the sleeves, and tackle the hard issues that affect so many people’s lives.  Democrats and Republicans, I hope you are listening…