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Town hall crowd speaks out against health care, more
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| By: Mark J. Crawford, Editor |
October 03, 2009 |
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Starke was a final stop on a north Florida town hall tour in which Rep. Cliff Stearns met with constituents to discuss health care and the economy.
Though the Republican congressman may have faced some opposition elsewhere, one could say he was preaching to the choir in Starke if not for the fact that the vocal crowd did most of the preaching.
The crowd's statements at Saturday's town hall were full of indignation over attempts to pass a "socialist" health care bill and frustration over their perception that no one in the nation's capital seams to be listening them.
Stearns began with a presentation that included whittling down the number of uninsured Americans to a mere few million, saying many of the much higher number publicized are noncitizens, self-insured, temporarily uninsured or eligible for existing public programs they don't know about.
Stearns spoke positively of certain aspects of health care reform like preventing insurers from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions, but said the government didn't need to pass "an omnibus government health care program" for only a few million people. He was critical of aspects of reform that would penalize individuals and employers for not obtaining coverage.
He quickly turned the floor over to an audience eager to tell big government to stay out of their wallets and out of the health care business. When one speaker said he was concerned with the socialist direction the country was taking, the audience answered with a chorus of amens.
Another business owner worried he would be thrown in jail for not providing health coverage asked, "Once they turn around and mandate this health program, what's to stop other constitutional rights from being taken away in a very similar way?"
Stearns agreed large government spending initiatives represented a socialization of the country that would result in diminished freedom. The government is not sympathetic, he said, describing it as ravenous animal hungry for power.
"We're going to end up like the European Union," he said, which he said was high in unemployment and low in productivity because the populace relies too much on social programs.
Spending and new programs aside, one woman saw signs of socialism elsewhere.
"What are we going to stop all the Marxists in this country that are being promoted as czars?" she asked. Stearns joined her in complaining of the number of so-called czars and what he saw as a lack of accountability. The audience member said she wanted the czars put on a leash so Congress could "jerk their collars."
She said the old people of today are not ones to sit in rocking chairs like their predecessors.
"I'm 72. I'm still working 40 hours a week and I'm not about to let some communist come in my country and take my rights away from me," she proclaimed. "This is a different generation that they're dealing with now. We're not going to lay down and let them walk all over the top of us."
Another said, "We're from the 60s and 70s-we know how to protest."
At some point someone noted that most in the room were of advanced age (one audience member asking, "Where are the young people?).
One lady who said she had never spoken up for her rights before nevertheless managed to make an impression when she read a lengthy diatribe she had written that summarized much of what everyone else had been talking about, although she added it was Congress' failure to realistically deal with national issues had led to a breaking point.
"We want you to stop bailing out and taking over businesses and banks, newspapers and car makers, and let the American people run them. And if they fail, let them fail," she said. "Profits are not bad. CEOs and governments that steal them are."
She went on to address perceived threats to freedom and said the president was turning the U.S.A. into the "S.S.A." She told Stearns to get to work and to tell the president to stop apologizing for America. She received a standing ovation from much of the room, and said the people would be watching for lies from Washington.
Stearns' presentation also included notes on high rates of unemployment and negative growth. He said he is concerned with government bailouts, preferring to give businesses incentives to create jobs.
Other topics discussed with Stearns included veterans benefits, opposition to illegal immigration, cap and trade, the fate of Social Security, and support for the Fair Tax.
A local educator talked about the multiple funding cuts the public school system has faced. Stearns mentioned the stimulus package and she told him it was a joke.
"What little bit we got here in Bradford County was used to keep people from getting fired," she said. To add insult to injury, she said what is being taken from education is being sent to the prison system.
"What's more important-that we continue educating small minds that need to grow into future leaders or do we continue housing the criminals?" she asked.
Stearns agreed that if children aren't educated, the future leaders would turn into tomorrow's inmates.
Saturday's town hall wasn't all about being heard, however. Stearns also asked the audience to observe a moment of silence for slain airman Bryan Berky of Melrose who was killed in battle in Afghanistan two weeks before. Stearns said he never met Berky but has heard many good things about him, offering his condolences to the airman's family.
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©Bradford County Telegraph 2010
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