Which are you: A concerned citizen, expressing your opinion and participating in the political process, or a paid operative of a high-powered, big-buck lobbying group? Grassroots, or “Astroturf?”

 

We all know that Astroturf is the artificial grass-like carpet used in many professional sports stadiums. The new usage of the term is mostly coming from America’s left-wing thinkers and describes what they perceive as “phony” activism. Apparently unable to fathom that anyone could legitimately disagree with their ideas, they’ve entered a deep state of denial. Media pundits, President Obama and his allies are asserting that the people who’ve showed up to question the wisdom of the current health care reform bill at town hall meetings around the nation aren’t real. Their expressed apprehension or even outrage is a fabrication of the insurance industry, they say. Despite not being paid for it, my Dad (a self-employed remodeling contractor) went to one. He was angry. He’s real, believe me.

 

Several members of congress are now reconsidering holding any more town hall meetings because of the “angry mobs” that “disrupt the proceedings.” Those supposedly fabricated groups of angry or concerned people are their constituents and some members of Congress don’t want to hear from them.

 

Representative Colin Peterson (D – MN – 7^th District) has evidently recently conceded that he will conduct a town hall meeting on health care reform, but his attitude about it is made clear by his previous statement, “Twenty-five percent of my people believe the Pentagon and Rumsfeld were responsible for taking the twin towers down. That’s why I don’t do town meetings.”

 

The contempt for his own constituents is breathtaking. Even if it were true that 25% of the 7^th congressional district is made up of so-called 9/11 truthers, Petersen has a responsibility to hear them out and represent his district’s populace. To date, Peterson hasn’t announced his town hall plans.

 

I can't speak to the organizational efforts surrounding all of the town hall meetings that have taken place across the country on health care reform, but I am familiar with the circumstances around Representative Keith Ellison's (D – MN – 5^th District) meeting on August 1^st. I’m one of Ellison’s constituents in the 5^th district. I’m on his email list, yet I received no notice of the town hall meeting. Just one day before the meeting, it was quietly announced on the congressman's website.

 

By happenstance, Minnesota Majority noticed the event being posted and quickly informed 5^th CD constituents via email of the event. It seems quite obvious that the congressman didn't want his actual constituents to show up and voice concerns. Rather, he would have had a staged event stacked with supporters who likely knew about the event well before it became (barely) public knowledge. What was that about “Astroturf,” again?

 

Word of Ellison’s unheralded town hall meeting spread fast via phone calls, emails, facebook and Twitter and people showed up because they care about the possible outcome of a massive health care reform package that's being positively rushed through congress, as if it has to be done before anyone notices what's happening.

 

It seems that at least in a small measure, all sides were heard in the 5^th CD and the civil exercise of democracy prevailed over what was obviously intended to be nothing but a staged, one-sided show. Representative Ellison refused to answer any of his constituents’ questions about the health care bill, though. Who does he work for, again?

 

Truly, for a US representative to question the sincerity of his or her constituents when they rearranged plans and took time out of their busy lives to ask questions or voice their opinions on a profoundly important issue is a hard slap in the face. It’s generally not considered a good strategy for a congressman seeking reelection to slap his voters around.