It was inevitable that the health care debate was going to get very heated. However, some of the rhetoric during and after the debate, as well as the actions taken by some lunatics really grabbed my attention.
On Tuesday, President Obama signed health care reform into law. There are lots of things you can debate about the bill: Does it actually lower the deficit (it costs an average of $13,000 to cover uninsured people due to emergency room costs, while it costs an average of around $10,000 to cover insured people as small piece of evidence for deficit reduction), did the Senate break decorum by passing such a large piece of legislation through reconciliation (Reaganomics and Bush's tax cuts were passed through reconciliation, and you're going to complain about eliminating pre-existing conditions and letting kids stay on their parent's insurance until they're 26?), or if the Federal government can force people to buy private insurance (people still have a choice whether or not they want to buy insurance, and if they really want to put the government and hospitals at risk by not buying in, they have a small $95 fee to pay).
Since then, here's what's been happening at people's district offices:
NIAGARA FALLS — The window broken Friday at the Niagara Falls office of Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fairport, was one of at least four cases of vandalism targeting Democratic offices across the country late last week during the debate over health care reform.
A window was also broken at the Monroe County Democratic headquarters in Rochester.
In Tuscon, Ariz., a window at the office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords also was broken.
And at Democratic headquarters in Sedgewick County, Kan., a brick with anti-Obama and anti-health care messages was thrown.
At Slaughter’s office on Pine Avenue, a piece of brick and a broken window were discovered at about 12:30 a. m. Friday. The brick shattered the outermost window but not an interior window. Damage was estimated at $350.
This is disgraceful. It's time for Republicans to lower their rhetoric, because it's their fault this stuff is going on. When you stand on the floor of the House and scream that another member is a baby killer (bullshit he was talking about the bill), when you say the bill will "destroy small business owners", and when you're the leader of your party and you call the passage of an expanded health insurance plan "Armageddon" and that it will "ruin our country", you're fucking right that people are going to rise up.
Ezra Klein put it very well when he said
Some politicians and media figures, however, have been in the business of ratcheting up opposition by making people afraid. But you can't count on people to simply cower when they're afraid, or write letters to the editor. Sometimes, they fight. It's a dangerous emotion, and high as the stakes are, public figures need to be a lot more careful manipulating it.
Shepard Smith, one of the last sane people on Fox, also addressed this point
What Republicans are doing right now is boldface lying at best and attempting to incite revolution at worst. Just the same as they used fear to justify violating the civil rights of our citizens after 9/11, claimed that people were coming from Mexico to ruin our country, and now claiming that Obama wasn't born here, is leading us down the fast-track to Socialism, is trying to take people's guns, or is going to get Americans killed by not torturing suspected terrorists in the Middle East, they have once again chosen to use fear appeals to try to strike down the health care bill and who knows what else moving forward.
Speaking from a position of power and telling people that the President is ruining their country and eroding the freedoms provided to us by the founding fathers when you know that that's not true is fucking disgusting. They need to calm down before someone gets shot. They are inflaming people who love their freedom, especially when it comes to the 2nd Amendment, and have shown that they will use violent tactics to get attention. The fact is that an element of the Republican party that is growing larger by the day is turning to fear and stoking the emotions of people who genuinely think that our government is trying to take over their lives. I fear that there will be a violent act perpetuated against one or more of our elected officials in the coming days, weeks, or months, and when it happens, I hope that the disgusting rhetoric of these irresponsible public officials is held accountable. I'm afraid it may have to come to that to get these people to stop.