Congressman Lloyd Doggett(D-Tx), made famous as the first Teabagger "protest" victim, had a very different welcome yesterday when more than 2000 people gathered in Austin for a Health Care Forum. Here is my personal story of the event.
The images of Congressman Doggett being ambushed by sign-wavin', No! chantin', astroturfers at my neighborhood grocery store on August 1st not only set the tone for the past few weeks, it gave the other side ammunition to say "even in liberal Austin..."(sorry, I will not link to any of the many YouTube videos of the event - how convenient so many cameras happened to be there).
So I was spoiling for a fight.
Yesterday's forum at First United Methodist was preceeded by a rally at the State Capitol. Texas Secessionists had promised to attend. Here were the only ones I could find:
Yes, that's a 'come and take it" flag.
The crowd at the capitol steps was energized, and in a generally respectful & jovial mood (maybe because for the first time in weeks we were not in triple-digit heat - it was a balmy 93 degrees). There was lots of this:
But much more of this:
At 2 pm I headed over to the church for the 3 pm rally. The line was forming:
One LaRoucher, complete with Obama as Hitler fliers, was working the crowd:
Move On organized the event, and an anti-reformer in front of me objected to filling out the ticket with his name & address that was required for entrance. Conspiracy anyone?
Inside the church, the tone was respectful and positive. The crowd was a mix of ages, ethnicities and levels of Austin weirdness. It was a predominantly pro-reform, pro-public option crowd. I only spotted 4 anti-reformers (we all had to leave our signs behind - I don't know for sure these were anti's but they sat & applauded nothing and no one):
"Na Na Na Na I'm not listening"
After introductions, the first speaker was Pastor Jim Rigby of Austin's St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. He addressed the ethical concerns of the health care debate, and gave us a new mantra to, in his words, counteract the "Christians waving guns, shouting us down"
"If you talk about helping the poor, they call you a Christian. If you actually try to help the poor, they call you a socialist." -Pastor Jim Rigby
This brought the crowd to its feet, roaring (except for our 4 friends in the balcony). Pastor Rigby was such a wonderful speaker, and laid out the arguments so beautifully, he deserves a national stage on this issue. Hopefully someone will post video of his speech.
The next speaker was Geoff Tudor, a lawyer who had worked for Aetna & Prudential, among others (groans from crowd), but due to illness lost everything, finds himself uninsured today, and is facing death if he is unable to get a new pacemaker battery in a few months. He said:
"In war, we don't leave the wounded to die on the battlefield; yet in peace we leave our brothers and sisters to die with no health insurance."
-Geoff Tudor
Our next speaker, Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, informed us that 2 years ago the US Conference of Mayors adopted a resolution supporting HR 676, Medicare for All. Why isn't this publicized?
Lloyd Doggett spoke next, to a standing ovation welcome. "I know a lot of you are thinking," he started out, "that I look a lot different than I do on TV. Well, seeing as how this event is in a church, I didn't think it right to bring the red horns". The crowd loved it. Doggett spoke at length about the economic and moral issues of health care reform, and left no doubt that his support of the public option is only strengthened by the voices of the opposition, opposition he attributed to fear.
One thing that struck me about all the speakers was the compassion for the anti-reform side; almost all the speakers, Doggett especially, talked about the need to educate those who oppose reform. Here's Doggett's To Do List:
"This bill is not moving too fast, it is 60 years too late."
1. Insist on a strong public plan
2. When the opposition sheds heat, you shed light
3. Post, blog, write letters to the editor, tweet
4. Educate your neighbors with humility, faith and compassion
-Congressman Lloyd Doggett
About this time our friends had had enough, and left:
The rest of the speakers included veterans, physicians, policy wonks and several people with personal stories. Dr. Anthony Weary, a family practitioner in South Austin, gave a very compelling argument for a public, not-for-profit option - when a politician asked him "You're certainly not against profit, are you, Doctor?" He answered: "Well I am when it's killing people!"
"My colleagues tell me, 'Don't get involved, don't be political, you'll be sorry'. Well excuse me."
-Anthony Weary, MD
Dr. Weary, I would love to see you on CNN, Hardball, anywhere, instead of the hacks and pundits that tell us what they think we should think.
Overall, the rally was a very positive event; later I learned both overflow venues were filled, and people were on the street outside the church chanting for reform; I was told only a few hundred were there protesting against reform, and they appeared to be paid "protesters". I know I didn't see them as I left the church.
I don't know if any minds were enlightened yesterday - I doubt it, as most of us were there in support of reform. But I for one intend to try to do the things Congressman Doggett urged us all to do. I will not stop fighting. Maybe this diary will inspire others to rally, to speak up, to educate our neighbors with 'humility, faith and compassion'.
PS: check out some other chronicles of the event, poohsmom
andyalladog
and check out kath25'sexcellent action diary.