It's impossible to turn on the news these days without seeing a highlight of a town hall in Podunk Nowhere, wherein a Senator or Congressperson, beloved by their constituents merely 9 months ago is being darn near run out of town on a rail due to their stance on healthcare reform. While happenings in Podunk Nowhere would not have mattered 100 years ago, in today's 24 hour global news cycle, Podunk nowhere finds itself squarely positioned in the center of the "places that are important map." .
The valid arguments on both sides of the debate are irrelevant in the midst of screaming matches where paid professionals are inciting crowds to agree on irrelevant jargon such as "We don't want our country to turn into Nazi Germany." Shouted by an angry person that looks like someone you can trust, those words, regardless of their validity to the issue, can make it appear that the healthcare proposal is evil and that the Senator hosting the town hall is an SS recruitment officer. .
It is a foregone conclusion that some sort of healthcare package will be passed by Congress in the upcoming months. The scaremongering on the part of those paid to sway the town hall debates will impact the quality of that healthcare package in the following ways:.
1) Senators and Congressmen whose jobs are less than secure in the upcoming midterm election will either vote against the bill or else will be very public about their displeasure with parts of the bill that their constituents care about. In places where the constituents feel that abortion is murder, for example the legislator is more likely to rail against the bill if it includes coverage for women who choose to abort. .
It's proven fact that negative energy travels better than positive energy, so the lawmaker whose district is pro-choice will be drowned out until the bill is shaped into a proposal that excludes abortion from the coverage. Then the argument will shift to women's rights.
