Town Hall Meetings Gone Wild

Liberal activists seem to have a motto: anything conservatives can do, we can do louder and with less class. Just take a look at a number of recent town hall meetings hosted by congressional representatives. Unlike two years ago when Democrats AND Republicans met grassroots opposition for their support of Obama’s leftwing agenda, unions and other groups are now staging organized protests at town hall meetings simply to disrupt the proceedings.

First, we have the Associated Press story of Florida Rep. Daniel Webster.

The first heckler shouted his doubts about the Florida congressman’s promise to do what is right in Washington. From there, the hour-long meeting in Orlando was filled with a constant stream of boos and questioners in the crowd of 300 shouting over each other.

Twelve minutes into his remarks, Webster couldn’t be heard over the shouting on both sides. He tried to continue but then stood quietly for a minute smiling, his hands clasped together in front.

As one can see from the pictures at the Orlando Sentinel blog, there is a curious red sticker on the shirts of most of those shouting. Do you think it represents a grassroots movement or an organized protest?

Much of the protest was due to the fact that people don’t want their government entitlements to be reduced. One protester shouted, “Tax the rich.” Wow. Really? I guess it doesn’t matter that the so-called “rich” already pay most of the taxes. But here’s the real kicker to pass along to your liberal friends… We could tax the “rich” at 100% — take all their money — and we would still be in the same mess. The government can’t afford to keep spending like it is. It is spending TOO MUCH. Cuts and restructuring must and should be made.

Although Rep. Allen West had a mostly favorable audience, a former host of leftwing radio’s Air America began “shouting from the audience.” As reported in the Palm Beach Post, “Other audience members began shouting at her and a police officer led her out.” West also faced questions from represents from the Counsel on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

At Rep. Paul Ryan’s town hall meeting, it was much of the same. Ryan is the architect of the GOP budget plan which fundamentally changes the structure of Medicare. Politico.com reports that 200 people were left protesting outside one town hall meeting that reached capacity. Guess what they were chanting. You got it… “Tax the rich, too!” How original.

Here’s a video from a town hall meeting held by Rep. Lou Barletta.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYmb-Anx2P8

Let’s repeat for these people: You can’t fix Medicare by taxing the rich. It’s broken! We must get out of this mentality that the U.S. government exists just to take care of all our needs. It shouldn’t. It can’t.

There are a number of other stories of town hall meetings on the Fox Nation blog. It seems that the message is clear. The Democrats are going to attack the budget and go after Republicans by focusing on Medicare and scaring people that their precious benefits will go away. Rep. Barletta said it best. If we do nothing, those precious benefits are guaranteed to go away. Period.

There will be more heckling and more disruptions, but the facts speak for themselves. We cannot tax our way out of this mess. America has spent too much and promised too much thanks to liberals in Congress and moderate Republicans who had no backbone to stand up to the massive spending. Now we are here, and something must be done.