#34 - Angry Mobs

[Note: (1) It was reported yesterday that those who support the President’s Health Care Reform proposals are spending at least 3 times as much on media ads as are those opposed. So it is disingenuous of the President and his supporters to only focus on those opposed to the proposals. (2) The President fails to mention that one of the counter proposals to his drastic reforms is to address the great shortage of doctors in this country (and a cause for the rationing that does take place) by tort reform. The reform being proposed would penalize people who sue doctors frivolously and thus raising the malpractice insurance rates for all doctors and driving many of them out of practice or causing them to order unnecessary medical tests in order to protect themselves from lawsuits later. It should be noted that the President is himself a lawyer and that much of his political contributions come from trial lawyers. and (3) While it is encouraging to see the impact that those who have been showing up at town meetings as informed and alarmed citizens, it is disappointing that we are so far not seeing a significant number of younger, and especially college age citizens, also protesting the President's proposals. After all, THEY will be the ones who will be most harmed as THEY will feel the FULL consequences of these proposals more than today's seniors. ]

Protesting and Civil Discourse – Chuck Colson, August 11, 2009

The left-leaning media has, as far as I’m concerned, hit a new low. Case in point: August 7, Friday. Paul Krugman writes a column in the New York Times blasting angry protesters showing up at town hall meetings across the country. By a very twisted process of reasoning, Krugman ended up likening those who oppose the government overhaul of the health care system to racists. I can’t even find the right words for the outrage I feel. This is the kind of rhetoric that does nothing but inflame already heated passions and opinions. Now maybe Krugman is simply trying to do what other backers of the President’s health care plan are trying to do—silence the opposition. The Speaker of the House, in fact, has written that these protests are un-American. The White House has opened a tip line on its website so people can report so-called “misinformation” about health care reform efforts. And now Krugman sees racism behind the protests.

Have some of the protests gotten out of hand? Sure. Shouting down congressmen and senators is counterproductive and disrespectful. There’s no room for that kind of behavior in civilized, democratic debate. But while the media hyperventilates over shouting matches and ascribing nefarious motives to the protesters, I can tell them a thing or two about angry protesters. I remember very clearly being virtually barricaded in the White House during the Vietnam War, surrounded by 150,000 students. Now they were angry—and dangerous. They were turning buses over that we had stationed to try to keep them away from the White House fence. There were FBI reports that some had bombs in their possession. I myself nearly missed a gasoline can that had been ignited and thrown into the road. This was much more like a revolution in a banana republic than a protest. I recall that soldiers of the 82nd Airborne were stationed in the Executive Office Building basement, just in case. I couldn’t get home at night because we couldn’t get the car through the crowd. Most of us stayed in the White House that weekend.

I was always struck at the time, however, by the very sympathetic press coverage of the protesters. They were seen really as just idealistic young people working for peace against a very unpopular, mistaken war. I’m an expert in angry mobs. And at least what I’m seeing on television right now pales in comparison to the 1960s and ‘70s. Sure, some of the protesters are being uncivil and disruptive—which is wrong. As I said Monday on BreakPoint, there is plenty to protest when it comes to the proposed and so-called health care “reforms.” And if you speak out—and you should—you should do so respectfully and with civility. Don’t get angry or get into name calling. And let the other side say their piece. Free expression is essential to a free society. This is what distinguishes us from tyrannies. And people who have these deep convictions about the truth must be permitted to air them—the hysterical rants from the Upper East Side of New York or inside the Beltway notwithstanding.


Further Reading and Information
The Town Hall Mob Paul Krugman | New York Times | August 7, 2009
Apply Heat: Health Care Reform Chuck Colson | BreakPoint Commentary | August 10, 2009
Rejecting Apathy: The Church and American Civilization Chuck Colson | BreakPoint Commentary | August 7, 2009