Town Hall Disruptions: A Lesson In Uncivilized Democracy

I know it’s been a few weeks since I’ve last blogged but I appreciate your patience in allowing me to take a few weeks off since the birth of my son to recover! He’s doing well but so much is happening right now in the country that I realized I needed to get back to blogging to make my opinions known. One of the things that really bother me has been the disruptions at the health care forums across the countries over the last few weeks. One of the more recent disruptions occurred not too far from my own backyard in Romulus, Michigan.

At that town hall, held by Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., disrupters got so raucous the police had to escort people out. The boos, jeers and shouts of "Shame on you!" at the events in a gym in mirror what other Democrats are encountering around the country. Although Dingell vowed to press on and not be deterred by such protestors, such town hells, as they are now being called, are gaining traction throughout the country.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to individuals expressing their discontent or opposition to a plan. What concerns me more is that the town halls are threatening to turn violent and they remind me of the angry McCain-Palin town halls during the 2008 election where the people expressed fear and concern about Pres. Obama being an Arab.

What all this shows me is that we have an angry group of people out there who are prone to a lynch mob type mentality. While these individuals are so concerned with expressing their right to free speech, they are preventing others who don’t share their view point from exercising their right to free speech. There is no reason why legislators should be receiving death threats for trying to pass health care reform. There is no reason why these town halls should not be a place where civilized Americans can agree to disagree and there can be intelligent discourse and disagreement about the issue.

My concern is that the hostility we’re witnessing at these town halls and across this country whether it be with the birthers or the disruptive people at town halls that as a country we’re headed for a collision course that promises to destroy us all. Maybe this is a bit of paranoia on my part but I see a country very divided not just over race but culture and ideology and until we can learn and truly understand that everyone has the right to be heard without fear or retribution, I don’t see how we are heading for anything but a collision course that threatens the very foundation of our society.