A Taste of the "Teabaggers"

In his short though eternally memorable speech that he gave in 1863 while dedicating the Gettysburg battlefield to the newly fallen dead there, Abraham Lincoln reminded everyone that the country was engaged in a great civil war that was testing whether this nation, or any nation likewise conceived in liberty, could long endure. And though it was the most violent, it was not the first nor was it the last time that the U.S. has been put to such a test.

Today another such test is in full swing, though a huge number of citizens would like to do their level best to sleep right through it. The same Dark Forces that in 1860 thought that it was absolutely necessary to dissolve that Union rather than give up the right to keep a huge group of human beings in the totally degrading, humiliating, and inhuman bonds of slavery, are now similarly fighting with all claws bared in the attempt to stop, for the third time in the last two decades, any serious reform in a health care system that is in the hands of corporations making huge profits from the illnesses of people and that is only fully available to those who can afford the insurance, thus leaving 50 million out in the medical cold.

This August recess for Congress has already started to be a "thrilling" time in the districts of those Democrats who are committed to the reforms being urged by the Obama Administration. Those Congress people are giving town hall meetings in their districts to allow full airings on the pros and cons of the proposed reforms. But the Dark Forces who are opposed to any changes in the health care system, driven on by representatives of the health care corporations, have set loose gangs of operatives who are enjoined to attend all those meetings around the country and to disrupt them in any way they can, short of outright assault and murder, so as to prevent any views from being given full voice in an orderly and courteous manner. The disruptors have been instructed to make these efforts look like genuine grassroots protests, though they will be nothing of the kind.

The districts of those Republicans and their hand servants, the so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats, will be spared this spectacle of seeing the democratic process thus defiled, because, unlike the Republicans, the Democratic Party won't be sending out hyena brigades to the districts of those with contrary views.

Depending on the localities and how throughgoing the "teabbaggers"are in following orders, the Congressional Democrats who are in favor of improving the U.S. health care system are experiencing their own "Profiles in Courage," as per the famous book by John F. Kennedy, and one of those will be Tom Perriello, the Representative of the area where I live, the 5th Congressional District of Virginia. He hasn't held that post long. In the just-concluded elections that also brought in B. Obama, Perriello defeated the conservative incumbent, a man named Virgil Goode, who now of course would fervently like to regain that seat.

The Crooks and Liars website has published what looks to be a fairly complete listing of all those town hall meetings with the times and places, and in what I guess amounts to an ordinary campaign swing for him, Perriello is helping himself to a full plate of such appearances all over his district. The closest one will be in the tiny county seat, Lovingston, just 14 miles from here, on the 20th, and, despite my antipathy and even outright fear of going anywhere, plus the fact that watching people show their behinds is far from my idea of fun and games, I am hoping that I will be able to see my way clear to making the drive. I am curious and indignant enough that I wouldn't mind seeing if the Repubathug shoutdowners will look like ordinary people, and if they do show and do their thing, I would like to see how the other Virginians at the meeting will react.

Also, just by being there, maybe my cool, steady gaze will have some effect on things. Ha-ha.

Virginians, at least in my mind, are known for being more civilized and courteous than are most other Americans. It is their reputation and my experience -- so far -- that they will keep on being courteous no matter what, even if they can hardly stand the sight of you. And that kind of civility is especially true in this county, which, moreover, is politically a big "blue" exception to all the "red" counties that surround it for at least a hundred miles in every direction. It contains an unusual number of tolerant native-borns who are committed to keeping everything as quiet as the beautiful woods of their ancestors, and mixed in with them are an unusual number of transplants, the "come-heres," who, however, unlike me, are vociferous if need be and will not stand still but instead might even take the lead in protecting that tranquility and civility that they treasure just as much as do the "been-heres," though just how they would do that in the face of rampagers -- if any -- isn't clear.

It will be interesting and important to see how this health care reform drama will unfold, nationally and locally. and I feel sorry for those who live in districts where they will not have the chance to observe and to experience the modern day equivalent of what A. Lincoln was talking about, first-hand.