I’m reminded of the quote from Mark Twain “God made the idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board”. In this instance he was referring to the members of the school board but let’s go ahead and broaden the circle to also include the outraged parents.
If you every want to see angry adults act like children, go to a school board meeting when there’s some point of contention on the agenda. Sometimes it’s when attendance zones are changed, sometimes it’s when dirty books show up in the Library and sometimes it’s because the child of a parent was horribly wronged by being deprived of the chance to be on the cheerlead/drill team/sporting team/whatever. Funny how it’s rarely over cutbacks in school supplies, science labs, art classes or drama clubs. Yeah, funny, that’s the word.
So, the Democrats are mad at the Republicans for a “vast right-wing conspiracy” to disrupt the town hall meetings regarding the various health care reform legislation that is working it’s way through the Capital. The Republicans claim that it’s no conspiracy but a grass roots movement of indignant citizens exercising their right to free speech.
It doesn’t matter either way because they are both full of #$%&. If the RNC and groups allied with the RNC aren’t marshaling the troops to pack the halls they are idiots. The DNC would do the same and certainly has done the same when the shoe was on the other foot. There is no shame in groups organizing together, banding together to present a unified front and agreeing on a common point of view.
Likewise, when an elected official comes back to the place that they represent and holds a public meeting to allow his or her constituents a place to voice their opinion - they must do so with an expectation that not every body is going to be in agreement. That’s part of what makes the process work.
What doesn’t make the process work is the infantile behavior on display. These folks give the mob in the Frankenstein movies a bad name. They are behaving like children. No, they are behaving worse than children because they are old enough to know better. They are not interested in debate. Their goal is intimidation. It is an embarrassment to the Democracy and Liberty that they claim. Their behavior proves the old saying “never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups”. When children behave this way, we make them stop and go sit in a corner till they've calmed down and can act their age. What a fine example these adults are setting.
Belligerence is always the currency of the intellectually bankrupt. That statement holds true in the school yard, the prison yard and the front yard. It holds true for the most conservative and holds true for the most liberal. It transcends political party lines. It transcends ideological lines. It transcends theological lines. It has no place in our school board rooms or our town hall rooms. It has no place in the halls of our Capitol. It has no place in our moral fabric. It has no place in this discussion, period. Stop it.
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