As Democrats fan out across the country to hold town hall meetings on health care, a small group of loud and angry "teabag" protesters have been shouting over speakers, disrupting proceedings, and grabbing the headlines. In response, some Democratic strategists have called for the town hall organizers to open meetings with emotional testimonies from people as a strategy for heading off the teabag protesters.
It is sound advice, but switching gears will not work for Democrats in the town halls for a simple reason: they have already decided that the way to win the health care debate and pass a reform bill is to make sure the debate stays as far from emotional arguments as possible.
Despite the Democratic communications strategy, the media victory of the teabag protesters is the clearest sign so far that the health care reform will not be won by quietly unrolling logical arguments about reducing costs by nudging all consumers to a more regulated market. Victory in the health care debate will go to the side that leverages core American symbols to spark the passions of the people.
The question remains as to whether the Democrats leading these August recess health care town halls would even be capable of suddenly switching gears to a more emotional narrative? The problem is that these same Democratic Party leaders are the people who long-ago decided that passing a health care bill depends 101 percent on making anodyne arguments that persuade people who (1) already have health care, (2) are too self-interested to want reform to help others, and (3) only care about reducing their monthly expenses. That means the organizers of the town halls see these meetings more like open enrollment information sessions than historic battles in the push for reform.
In other words, it is the Senate, Congressional, and White House Democratic Party communication teams that have created the ideal, quiet conditions for a half-dozen fever-pitched teabaggers to shout "tyranny!" and disrupt the hushed sessions.
If, by contrast, the Democrats leading these sessions had gone into them with more passion, the political stage available to the teabag protesters would have been radically diminished, if not eliminated altogether. Beyond just inviting people to kick off the town halls with a story of how their families have suffered as a result of the health insurance industry, Democrats could have followed communications strategy where the overall goal was to control the emotional symbolism of the town halls -- wherein everyone who attended would be so shouting mad and teary-eyed in favor of reform that there would be no silent vacuum that could have been filled by protesters.
Because the Democrats treated the town halls as information sessions rather than symbolic stages, they left the emotional terrain wide open for a few voices to exploit, which is exactly what the teabaggers have done.
Rather than arguing for better financial practice or sound health care policy, the teabag protesters are treating the town halls themselves as opportunities to control the national debate on the meaning of American life. Thus, while a vast majority of Americans, for example, want a new public option to replace their current health insurance, those same Americans do not see or hear that story being passionately argued in the media.
It is astounding that, even with control of the Congress and the Executive branch, Democrats still do not understand the symbolism implicit in these health care town halls, whereas a ragtag bunch of teabag protesters does get it.
So what should the Democrats do?
For starters, they need to splash some cold water on their faces and wake up to the fact that people do not go to town halls to get information. When was the last time you or anyone else you know decided to buy health insurance based on a live one-hour presentation given by an elected official? Numbers and details about health care coverage are better presented in pamphlets, on web sites, and via phone in systems that allow people to pursue answers to the specific questions they have.
Second, Democrats need to see the town halls as symbolic arenas to be dominated, not mere meeting locations to attend. To dominate a symbolic arena, Democrats need to literally fill the proceeding with the most compelling reasons for reform that exist: ending injustice, averting personal bankruptcy, eliminating the paralyzing fear of illness, preventing systemic financial collapse, ending the personal and economic humiliation of living with chronic illness in America. Never before in the history of political debate have there been more passionate arguments to be made and more people willing to step up and make them than for the health care debate.
Third, Democrats need to bridge the gap between the town hall meetings and the media. They cannot stage effective town halls and then sit back and hope that the media finds it interesting enough in the dog days of August to cover them instead of covering power outages or lost kittens. Every elected Democrat in Washington, DC, has an office full of talented staffers with experience mobilizing the media to cover their bosses. These staffers need to be enlisted to put the town halls on the front pages and in the lead position of every broadcast from now until September.
Fourth, Democrats need to enlist and energize the grassroots of their party. After the election, the Obama campaign left one of the greatest legacies in political history: hundreds of thousands of Americans centrally organized via the internet and willing to turn out to push for real change. These people need to be mobilized with the same passionate arguments that got them to turn out to walk door-to-door in cold weather to elect a President. They will not respond with arguments about lowering the general costs of coverage and forcing insurance companies to live up to their responsibilities. By contrast, this grassroots will respond to arguments about a historic moment to end health insurance injustice, to fight health care inequality, and to put the United States on the road to a healthier, stronger future after decades of wandering in the wilderness.
Fifth, a real public option (not some phony baloney "co-op") must be put front and center of the debate by leading Democrats including the President. Without the public option at the center of the debate, the very people who would be the most passionate voices in the health care discussion are hamstrung. They cannot argue passionately for what they believe if the moral core of the debate has been stripped away. This means letting people speak passionately about "single-payer" systems or "medicare plus" or whatever language they feel best describes a real public option.
Lastly, the President needs to cut his vacation down to size so he can climb back on the bully pulpit as only he can. Nothing would speak louder to the urgency and passion of this debate than President Obama telling the country that he is willing to spend less time frolicking on Martha's Vineyard with his family because he believes so strongly in the need for health care reform. This would also mean no more "this isn't about me...I have good health care coverage" comments from the President. He needs to tell everyone -- each and every day -- that this is the fight of his life. That he cannot sleep at night because of the urgent need for health care reform. And he cannot stop saying that until every single media outlet in the world is either echoing his concern or fighting him tooth and n
If the Democrats put aside their anodyne approach and restart the health care debate with a level of passion worthy of the issue, neither the teabaggers nor any other protest group will have much peace and quiet to disrupt.
Health care is a passionate topic. If the Democrats lead the public in an intense debate that matches the emotions of the subject matter, by September they should have the political backing to pass the real reform that 70 percent of the public wants anyhow.
(cross posted from Frameshop)
Follow Jeffrey Feldman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JeffreyFeldman
What a ridiculous, ignorant statement. And no competent "framer" uses a word like "anodyne".
Repetitive useless tests, overprescription of drugs and medical procedures that do more harm than good are driving up costs.
But the issue is too complex for the ignorant public to grasp.
And yet the solutions are simple. Just have what other countries have in the way of a healthcare system.
Costs would then go down and quality up.
At this stage it appears the lobbyists are just too strong and politicians and doctors are just falling in line with them, enriching themselves as they go at the expense of the economy.
No one has a monopoly on ideas. Radical ideas today are conventional wisdom tomorrow. Rage on!
Every one of these things could be done privately. We had toll roads everywhere at one point. Here in central Kentucky there are a number of roads that were originally toll roads. In some countries you would have to have your own private security firm and your own fire protection because the public isn't protected, just the rich.
So don't YOU, Utah Patriot get confused about what this is: it is reclaiming our freedom to be healthy without losing our souls to the insurance companies & their lackeys. The only freedom you have right now is the freedom to fail should you be hit with major health care problems or lose your job etc..
We need to have health care reform, including a good public option. It has nothing to do with socialism. It has everything to do with being a just society. We are not that now. Beginning in the 80's the robber barons took over; and we need to eliminate them.
Selfish people always yell "socialism" or "communism" when something is about to happen that opposes their particular brand of capitalism. We don't have capitalism right now. We have robbery at the hands of the rich, the HMOs, the drug companies,
You can't have it one way. For those who think dissenting is a crime, shame on you!
And the second problem I have is that much of this disruption isn't intellectually honest. It's an orchestrated campaign by well-heeled corporations who want to preserve the status quo. They're deliberately spreading misinformation designed to upset and anger people, and then encouraging these same people to act out at public forums.
Howard Dean's 50 state strategy and the mobilized citizenry of the Obama campaign with issues speaking to average Americans, reversed that. The result: winning.
Health care for all is a moral issue. Do we or do we not care for "the least among us?" Or for that matter, the most among us; since average people no longer have job security, they cannot be sure of health insurance. Begins anew with different employment and excludes preexisting conditions. The rich can still have their Mercedes medicine. Think they owe other Americans nothing? Have they benefitted by technologies or pharmaceuticals developed at universities from public funds? Or the financial bailouts? Or the military?
Lets call this tea-bag terrorism what it is. An attempt by the ultra-privileged extremists bankrolling this astroturf campaign to deny the rest of us security. Having us anxious and distracted keeps us from doing anything about the slide into a system where the workers are "competitive" ie get 3rd world wages and working conditions. While the 1% becomes the dictatorship of the financial elite.
There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.
If Bush had done this what would you say? You would call him a fascist and you would be correct so what will you call Obama? They are asking you to turn in people that disagree with the administration my goodness how Orwellian is this? This screams of violation of the first amendment by the Whitehouse. Is this what you liberals want to totally shut down freedom of speech, to take away peoples rights to openly demonstrate against the government? Freedom of speech is a double edge sword it cuts both ways and if you take it away from one group that you disagree with it is only a matter of time before they take yours.
Also, why aren't we able to purchase insurance across state lines? THAT would add competition and lower healthcare costs.
I asked my representatives that question and got only "form" responses, no real answer to my question.
Also, you're right, the polling numbers are not in favor of this plan.
Obama Health Plan Draws Majority Disapproval in Poll
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aM56e_kb2m9Y
Right and left need to demand tort reform
Congressional Democrats don't want a real health care reform.
Grassroots Democrats do.
Of course Congressional Democrats weren't going to organize town hall meetings as events intended to mobile emotional support for real health care reform.
It's up to Grassroots Democrats to do that and take back the discussion from the astroturf tea-baggers being bussed in with prepared scripts by the plutocrats.
Congress is in a bubble. The plutocrats' media keeps them in the bubble, afraid of a "silent majority." The tea-baggers aren't about changing the national point of view. They're not even about changing the point of view of the Congress in its bubble. They're about shutting up the rest of us so we can't break through the bubble.
So what's the result? "Health Care Reform" will pass, but it will be the bait and switch garbage that the plutocrats actually want. (Subsidies to the insurance companies, mandates, and a weak public option that will die in no time.) The tea-baggers aren't being mobilzed to shut it down, despite it seeming that way, they're being mobilized to distract us from what's really going on. (Of course they don't know that, but the plutocrats' marching soldiers are always fooled into thinking it's about their agenda, not the greed of the plutocrats.)
Oh well.
It's a big shell game. It's a con. It's a long con.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but the talking points are wrong. No astro turf here. I know Tea Party folks. I am one. I have not seen any organized bused groups yet. Nor paid operatives, or any other lies you been told.
Nor are the people racist, I have not heard anyone refer to the Presidents race....it is just is not done. I’m certainly not saying it hasn’t happened but I’ve not heard it. In fact I have never heard anything approaching the vile spewing about Bush from the left…and I am no fan of Bush.
You might be surprised; most of us agree that we need reforms. The discussion is truly about paying for it, we are broke as a nation and printing money. We do not want the government involved; don’t trust them and plenty of history to back that concern up. We do want transparency, which absolutely lacking in this administration.
Politicians cause most of the dissention among us, to their benefit; for it does not benefit the American people one iota.
I guess it's a good thing the majority of progressives are passive (or working, or busy elsewhere) or we really would have Internet anarchy.
Will you concede that the plutocrats are organizing things through organizations like "Freedom Works," run by Dick Armey, former GOP congressional leader and now "senior policy advisor" at DLA Piper, winner of the 2009 "Corporate Law Firm of the Year" award and the firm that represents nearly half of the richest corporations in the US and the UK, and "Americans for Prosperity" founded and ran by oil billionaire David Koch? You can verify all this at recessrally.com, the astroturf site organizing the town hall protests, and then use google and wikipedia to verify that these two main organizations are fronts of the plutocrats.
So, Utah Patriot, I plead for you and others to say no to the astroturf tea-bagger foot-soldiers of the plutocrats when they suggest that the whole point is to shut down discussion. Stand up as a non-astrotruf tea-bagger saying, "We have the right to express our views. We also need to respect the right of the representative to answer, even if we don't like his or her answer. We also need to respect the right of other citizens who disagree with us, even those who want to express their view for a public option or even single payer. We need to let them speak, not shut them down.
Thanks, Utah Patriot. ::smile::
We're going to get mandated private insurance that's going to benefit the insurance companies and burden struggling families who don't have employer provided insurance. And possibly those with employer provided insurance will be taxed on it.
http://thatsrightnate.com/2009/08/02/a-patriots-guide-to-disrupting-health-care-townhalls/#comment-5716
By the way, I don't know any "teabaggers" but on television they look like people with jobs who pay taxes.