Left, Right, or Wrong?

Archive for the ‘health care reform’ Category

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) was quick this past week to accuse the Democrats of ‘fanning the flames’ of voter discontent by blaming the GOP for recent threats against 10 House Democrats. The Democrats, on the other hand, have been complaining for a very long time (since the 2008 Presidential campaign) about GOP collusion with extremists that resulted in multiple threats to President (then candidate) Obama’s life.

Indeed, threats of violence to 10 house democrats and vandalism to multiple Democratic headquarters across the country seem related to dangerous rhetoric by the GOP.  Such rhetoric included Sarah Palin’s cross-hair map symbols targeting Democratic districts and telling her supporters to ‘reload’. House Minority Leader Boehner was quoted as calling someone a dead man and referred to the health care vote as ‘armageddon‘.  Not only that, but extremist threats made were not limited to law makers. In fact, threats directed at the 10 Democrats extended to their spouses, and even, their children.

Cantor’s outrage at the Democrat’s alleged politicization of the threats is disingenuous at best. House Republicans received one call and an alleged incident at Congressman Cantor’s campaign office – none of which was serious enough to warrant police protection.

Democrats, on the other hand, before and after the vote were spit on, called racial epitaphs, and harshly criticized for their sexual orientation. These incidents, coupled with the vandalism and threatening phone calls,  were serious enough to prompt the FBI to investigate and for Democrats to receive police protection.

Adding insult to injury, Democrats were beginning to see a more pronounced problem with their GOP colleagues both in the house itself and on the capitol lawn during the health care debate.  GOP law makers, live on C-SPAN, cheered on a disruptive tea party protester who was ejected from the gallery of the house during the health care debate, unfurled a ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ flag (now usurped by the Tea Party as their flag) to a jubilant crowd of Tea Party protesters outside, and participated in a plethora of Tea Party protests leading up to the health care vote, even sponsoring some of them with Fox News close behind.

But the crowning achievement of the GOP during the health care debate was when Abilene Congressman Randy Neugebauer interrupted Rep. Bart Stupak during debate on the house floor to call him a ‘baby killer’ for supporting the health care bill publicly (shown in this footage):

For all those tempted to say ‘both’ sides are at fault, both sides own some of the responsibility for outrageous and unprofessional behavior on the House floor or by Tea Party extremists, ask yourself this question: Have the Democrats spit on anyone? Have Democrats told their followers to ‘reload’ in reference to a renewed campaign against a bill? Have Democrats called the President a liar in national TV during a speech to a joint session of congress? Have the Democrats called anyone a ‘baby killer’?

All extremists that call for violent opposition to a democratic form of government or threaten the lives of people because they disagree with them are shameful and dangerous – plain and simple. There is no place for them in our society.

Any law maker, that fans the flames of discontent by cheering on extremist protesters that disturb a house vote, call for the physical replacement of a Democratic member of congress at a Tea Party rally, or side with Governors that threaten to secede from the Union, is an embarrassment and should be censured (at a minimum) or perhaps even prosecuted under federal law (at a maximum).

It is time for the GOP to calm the dangerous rhetoric of the past year. I’m sure they will continue to disagree with Democrats and that is fine. That disagreement in an open and public forum for all to see is what Democracy is all about. Dangerous rhetoric that prompts violence is not.

People have always rallied against the President and Congress regardless of whether Democrats were in power or Republicans were in power. However, with the unprecedented level of media attention (and at times actual support) of fringe elements – including the Tea Party – has a line been crossed?

It is of little surprise that Fox News, for instance, has leaned strongly to the right on all political issues, but their support of – and heavy media coverage of – the Tea Party may have crossed a line into a very dark area: sedition. It seems almost apocryphal to even think this, but the more time that goes by and the more the media – especially Fox News -  heavily covers this, the more it seems seditious. Members of the group itself have – at times – threatened the President’s life during the campaign and beyond prompting more than a single visit from the Secret Service to residents. But where does free speech end and sedition begin?

According to the Sedition Act of 1798, the following activity is criminal and considered sedition:

…inter alia, malicious writings which defamed, brought into contempt or disrepute, or excited the hatred of the people against the Government, the President, or the Congress, or which stirred people to sedition.

There has certainly been a gray area here for many years in regard to how you can interpret this vs. freedom of speech. However, in the last year, we have seen certain members (retired and active) of congress publicly support tea party discussions about overthrowing elements of their government and even Texas Governor Perry talked publicly and loudly about possibly seceding from the Union. Even Clarence Thomas’ wife formed her own (not legally registered, by the way) Tea Party.

Alone, these acts may not add up to sedition, but together, with support from members of congress, Fox News, and several state Governors, it seems to me that we are talking about sedition. The tea party itself has been unabashed about it’s intentions – even mentioning civil war and taking back their country. Combined with the violence at Tea Party rallys, threats to the President’s life, threats to physically replace members of congress – specifically by name – then there is no doubt: their acts and support of their acts in rallying civil war, violence, and overthrowing undesirable parts of the U.S. government is nothing less than sedition.

Watch this video for a quick sample of a very common Tea Party sentiment.

Representative Alan Grayson has done something really very interesting. He has side stepped Health Care Reform as they fight about a public option and introduce his own proposed bill called the Public Option Act. This 4-page bill is simple: allow all Americans to opt-in to Medicare if they want to! Simple, straight forward, and doable. I like it.

Read more about it here and sign up to tell congress to pass it!

Over the past several weeks, we have heard many things about the health care debate. Some people, including conservative media outlets, refer to the public option as single payer health care and to President Obama as a socialist. And to our collective shame, we have all heard about Rep. Joe Wilson’s now infamous ‘you lie’ blunder at the President’s joint session of congress. But the rhetoric does not stop there. The question is who is organzing these events and does the GOP support it?

The answer shouldn’t surprise anyone that remembers who helped torpedo health care in the 1990s. It seems that retired GOP pundit Dick Armey is back to his old tricks. Armey, a right-wing conservative, has been very busy lately. He helped organize the 9/12 march in Washington as well as the Tea Party and Town Hall disruptions.

However, as is often the case with people like Armey, when you research the facts you discover something surprising. Armey, the man who doesn’t want government health care for the rest of us, has spent most of his career receiving taxpayer subsidized, government health care. Armey’s health plan is the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan. In fact, just to add another swift kick to our collective butts, the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan is subsidized approximately 75% by us. That’s right, we pay for a government run health plan for retired GOP and current members of both the house and senate. That means when the GOP and blue dog Democrats oppose any type of government health care, they are really saying, the rules don’t apply for us. It’s ok for us to have a top-notch health care plan subsidized by taxpayers, but we’ll fight tooth and nail to keep you from getting a non-taxpayer subsidized plan that might hurt our insurance industry friends.

Bill Moyers did an excellent segment on this. Watch the video below and judge for yourself.