If someone believes the anger and fear expressed at the town hall meetings across the United States is artificially manufactured, then they may not be aware that the sky is blue or the Earth is not flat.
Last week's town hall meeting in Mustang with U.S. Rep. Tom Cole brought about 200 people to Town Center, and while the meeting was orderly and respectful unlike others across the nation, the sense I got was that the adage “throw the bums out” is alive and well.
The question is though: Who are the bums?
Though Mustang residents are by nature a conservative lot and warmly greeted the Republican Cole, the undercurrent in the room was that both parties have walked away from the needs of the voters and now worry more about re-election and preserving their federal cash-cow salaries than meeting voters' needs.
Yes, there was one call for the impeachment of President Obama and another asked for Cole to do everything possible to derail Obama's health-care train, but even more told the congressman about their fears that lawmakers would cut Medicare — the single-payer federal health-care program for seniors — or would not give a needed cost-of-living increase to Social Security recipients.
There was true fear in the room. Not the fear of the “other” party getting too much sway in shaping government policy, but fear that people would see more dollars taken out of their pockets during this recession while the safety nets in place are being unraveled.
Over the last decade, federal lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been on a spending spree. Both parties now seem to embrace fiscal conservatism only when they are denied the checkbook by the American voters.
In the last 12 months, taxpayers have seen their dollars go to banks, insurance companies and investment firms who did not get themselves into a fiscal bind because of the reasons stated by state Rep. Sally Kern, but instead because of the sins of greed, gluttony and pride. Henry Paulson, President Bush's treasury secretary, shaped the bailout package, known as TARP — Trounbled Asset Relief Program — that saved the jobs, bonuses and beachfront homes of these Wall Street poker players.
I can't tell you if the TARP bailout was necessary to keep the U.S. financial system from collapsing — probably it was. But I think my lack of confidence is just the point — I like many voters, I am struggling to keep faith that government can do anything without becoming an episode of the “Three Stooges.”
That faith is further stretched by the trillion dollar stimulus package that was billed as a “must buy” for taxpayers to save the economy. Yes, needed infrastructure repairs are being made, but in a time of two ongoing wars, is repeatedly sliding the credit card the best choice?
Then came the bailouts of Chrysler and General Motors. Did these do any good or just stall the inevitable and leave taxpayers footing yet another bill?
The reality is we will never know if any of these measures saved us from some unimaginable catastrophe because we didn't roll the dice to find out. Unfortunately, we must now live with the debt, and borrowing a metaphor from Cole, the cost is like fish in a bucket — the longer we live with it, the worse it is going to smell.
Now, health care sits on the table. Yes, it seems to me some health-care reforms are needed including improved access, affordability, coverage for pre-existing conditions and on and on — common sense measures that both sides should be able to agree on.
Whatever reforms, if any, finally pass Congress, the goverment will still have one key problem — the credibility to sell it. Good ideas may die because lawmakers long ago abandoned their roles as statesmen. Far too many politicians make it a common practice to immerse themselves in hyperbole to try and scare us into silence while feathering their own political nests.
I do know that health-care shortcomings cannot be solved through flowery platitudes about how neighbors can pitch in or a charity will ride to the rescue like some 1950s cartoonesque Lone Ranger when a family has $100,000 in intensive care hospital bills and their savings is wiped out. Health care deserves serious discussion by thoughtful people. Americans deserve more than empty words, fear mongering or an “it will be OK” slap on the back. But we also must remember, nothing is free, and more government may not be the answer.
My thoughts after last week's town hall meeting are that politicians on both sides of the aisle need to remember who got them their gold-plated health insurance and fully funded retirement packages. It is time for them to earn back the voters' respect by finding solutions to the problems that face this country.
A fighter has to answer the bell, and the bell is ringing for Congress — you can see it in these town halls. It is time for them to pick themselves up off the mat. Congress needs to remember the old saying “throw the bums out” can be about a whole lot more than empty words.
Jones is general manager and editor of the Mustang News.