By Erica Werner - Associated Press Writer
August 13, 2009
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Nancy Snyder says she kept quiet
when abortion was legalized and prayer in schools was eliminated.
Not this time.
"They did it for prayer, they did it for abortion, and
they're not going to do it for our health care," the 70-year-old
nurse from Philipsburg, Pa., said Wednesday as she and her
husband Robert, 74, a retired coal miner, waited in a long,
snaking line for Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter's town hall
meeting.
"We're not standing back this time," Snyder said.
Instead, the Snyders and many Americans like them are adding
their voices to a populist backlash evident in the taunts,
jeers and rants at lawmakers' health care forums around the
country in the past week and a half. The contentious sessions
highlight the difficulty for President Barack Obama and the
Democrats as they push for a comprehensive remaking of the
nation's health care system.
Many of those raising their voices and fists at the town halls
have never been politically active. Their frustration was born
earlier this year with government bailouts and big spending
bills, then found an outlet in the anti-tax Tea Parties in
April and has simmered in the punishing recession.
In some cases, it's been nurtured by talk radio and Glenn
Beck's 9-12 Project, which seeks to unify Americans around
nine values such as honesty, hope and sincerity and 12 principles,
including, "I work hard for what I have and I will share
it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable."
There is an element of organized opposition, just as on the
other side unions and Obama's political organization are trying
to turn out supporters to town halls and other events. The
insurance industry lobby, America's Health Insurance Plans,
is encouraging workers to attend town hall events to make their
views known. So is the group Conservatives for Patients' Rights.
Still another group, Americans for Prosperity, has two buses
emblazoned with the slogan "Hands off our Health Care!" that
are traveling around the country to rallies and town halls,
including Specter's. At the town halls, small groups of volunteers
circulate petitions opposing any legislation allowing greater
government involvement.
But it's not just about organization.
"I don't want someone else to select and say this is
what you can and can't have," Nancy Snyder said.
"Nobody told us to come," she added. "I float
my own boat."
The protesters have several concerns, but a unifying emotion
is distrust of the government and federal intrusion into individual
liberties or personal choices.
The emerging protest movement is almost the mirror image of
the grass-roots campaign that helped sweep Obama into office
by pulling in people who'd never been politically active. This
time Obama is seeing the other side of what can happen when
people are motivated, connect over the Internet and seemingly
reach a tipping point that turns them from onlookers into activists.
"You have awakened a sleeping giant," one woman
told Specter at a town hall meeting he held Tuesday in Lebanon,
Pa.
Protesters interviewed at Specter's town hall events in central
Pennsylvania this week were almost exclusively white, conservative
and working class. But they ranged in age and their concerns
went beyond health care to deficit spending, taxes, government
growth and other issues. Many contradicted claims from Democratic
leaders that their protest was manufactured by lobbyists or
that they represented an orchestrated opposition led by Republicans
or national conservative groups.
"I had it on my calendar before town halls became the
big thing," said Jennifer Moeny, 32, a stay-at-home mom
who attended Specter's town hall in State College on Wednesday. "I
just came to voice my opposition. ... They should be open and
honest instead of ramming it through."
For many opponents the health care overhaul amounts to the
final straw. After seeing Obama bail out banks and car dealers,
push a major energy bill and pass a $787 billion economic stimulus
package that hasn't driven down unemployment, overhauling the
$2.5 trillion U.S. health care system is a step too far.
"This is all being pushed way too fast. It's just being
rammed down our throat," said Bette Jackson, a retiree
from State College. "I agree we need health care reform,
but I don't want the government taking over."
Nick Sidorick, 38, who said he owns a sports bar in Clearfield,
Pa., drove an hour to attend his first town hall Wednesday
after staying up until 2 a.m. the night before making signs
to protest government intrusion. "I work 14 hours a day
and I can't get ahead because of what the government takes
from me."
"It's just exhaustion, I guess," Sidorick said of
his motivation to attend.
A USA Today/Gallup Poll released Wednesday found that most
Americans believe the protesters' sentiments are genuine, but
they disapprove of some of the disruptive tactics. A solid
majority say the efforts of activists to organize opposition
has been a factor in the events.
It's not clear whether they're winning hearts and minds. Thirty-six
percent of respondents said the protests haven't made any difference
in how they view the health care debate, while 34 percent said
they were more sympathetic toward the protesters' views and
21 percent were less sympathetic.
The national telephone poll of 1,000 adults was conducted
Tuesday with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4
percentage points.
- Associated Press Writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed
to this story.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed
without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes. BadConcress.com has no affiliation
whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is BadCongress.com
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.
|
