Free on Friday afternoon in North Carolina? Come show support for Rep. Miller!
I think that something that is really refreshing about the health care debate and the videos of the GOP mobs at meetings is that people are getting involved in their government. During the campaign, I felt a lot of pride about this. I was a part of a movement in this country that wanted to cause change. I was knocking on doors and talking to people to get registered and informed. I see a lot of this same opportunity now in health care. We have the chance to talk to people face to face and actually start changing minds.
Part of what makes the process of democracy in this country so great is that it is representative and we expect that our members of Congress will listen to us. The problem is that a lot of the people that are easy to listen to happen to be the loud ones. The astroturfers. The ones who have the gall to stand at a meeting and shout down HHS Sebelius. Whatever happened to respect and decency? Whatever happened to manners? These people look absolutely ridiculous.
So - it's time for us to get involved and speak up like we used to. It's time to get together and applaud our representatives that are trying to make reform happen. It's time for us to look at the loud astroturfers and tell them to have some respect for other people. If they just want to yell and not listen, they can do that at home.
This Friday I plan on going to a meeting/demonstration at Rep. Brad Miller's office in Raleigh. I found out about the meeting by looking at a conservative NC blog. Rep. Miller is the same one that's gotten a death threat recently - I think we've got the obligation to show up and support him - and make sure that he supports a public option.
The meeting/demonstration will start at 4:00. I'm going to make a big sign that says Reform = Care for All. The address for Rep. Miller's Raleigh office is
1300 Saint Marys St # 504
Raleigh, NC 27605-1276
If you're not doing anything, come by. Bring a sign and a bottle of water. We need to not be outfoxed by these people. We need to make sure reform happens or it's our fault it didn't.