Bernie Sander's town hall meeting

Given that his town hall meeting was at the Unitarian Universalist church right next door to my church, I figured I should show up [it's the only time our parking lot is stuffed, sad smile]. It's a pity it was there because the church only seats 200 and there had to have been about 500 people. So 300 poor souls ended up standing in the blazing sun while the rest of us sweltered in the stuffy but shady church.

Bernie started off by saying that many town hall meetings have been disrupted by loud protesters and that 'this is not the Vermont way.' For the most part, people kept things in check but, oh!, the anger that is out there is scary. Worse, the gullibility of people is depressing.

It didn't take too long for someone to make a veiled reference to 'death panels' and an hour later someone came out and spoke of 'euthanasia.' Bernie emphatically refuted that nonsense. There was one woman bordering on being out-of-control who brought up the 'socialist' bit as in, 'I don't want my country to become socialist.' And there were those who said they did not want a single payer system.

Bernie retorted: How many of you want to see Medicare go away? No one raised their hand. How many of you want Dr Dinosaur [Vermont-based program that guarantees medical coverage for children] stop? No one raised their hand. How many of you want the VA to go away? Only a few hands. Raising his voice: THOSE ARE SINGLE PAYER SYSTEMS!



I left after an hour and a quarter mostly because I couldn't countenance the anger in the room. It was disturbing. I had gotten the flavour of it. I was discouraged but not really surprised to see signs like: Barack Hussein Obama (that was the barely in control woman) and there were a bunch of people dressed up like colonialists à la Boston tea party (there's some organisation out there).

On the other hand, there were more supporters than not, though not in an overwhelming majority.

As I sat there, I thought back to General Convention... Since there were people outside, Bernie would take four pro and four con questions from inside, then go outside, do the same... sort of shuttle diplomacy. He also answered and commented on questions so I doubt more than 35 people actually got to speak.

There were cards for us to fill out so I did, reflecting on my $815 trip to the ER, how the woman who stitched me up didn't see that money and how for someone without insurance, that could put them over the edge.

Now to get ready for family visiting, the Feast of Saint Mary tonight, and tomorrow.