There’s Something Happening Here
“There’s something happening here…”
It began with the tea parties. People of all ages joined in huge protests against the massive spending approved in Washington. They gathered by the thousands in cities and towns from coast to coast to speak out against the huge stimulus plan. Yet, for months not much was covered by the mainstream media and President Barack Obama told the press that he didn’t know anything about the tea parties.
“What it is ain’t exactly clear…”
Forty years ago Buffalo Springfield sang about the protests against the Viet Nam war and the mainstream media covered the protests on front pages, covers of magazines and on the nightly news. In fact, the late CBS anchor Walter Cronkite devoted an entire newscast to the protests and gave the protestors their full voice in demands to end that war. It wasn’t long after that President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek another term of office.
But this time everything is turned around. The protestors aren’t being heard on Capitol Hill. In fact, the US House ignored the people’s demands to put a hold on spending and, instead, proceeded to pass the so-called “Cap and Trade” bill, which, if approved by the Senate would raise rates you pay on everything from the gas you put in your car to the lights you use in your home, to the power you use to heat or cool your home, to the energy you use to cook your meals. And then they turned to nationalized health care.
“What a field-day for the heat. A thousand people in the street. Singing songs and carrying signs. Mostly say, hooray for our side.”
The numbers of protestors grew. They showed up at Senators’ and Congressmen’s offices and town hall meetings to speak their minds.
In the war years, President Richard Nixon called the protestors “bums”. This time, President Barack Obama has told them to shut up. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called the protestors “un-American”. And, when the media finally began covering the protests, organized union opposition curiously arrived to shout the protestors down and, in some cases, attack them. You can tell who these thugs are. They carry professionally printed signs with union bugs. The protestors carry home made cardboard signs.
“There’s battle lines being drawn. Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong…”
Washington’s attacks on the protesting people have, in the words of Admiral Yamamoto, awakened a sleeping giant – Middle America. Average Americans have watched as companies closed, unemployment grew, and once-busy stores turned into boarded-up empty spaces. They’ve seen their retirement accounts evaporate. And, in the midst of this, as President Obama told the nation that they would have to make some sacrifices, they’ve watched this President plan to take his family to a multi million dollar estate on Cape Cod for the summer. They’ve watched Congressional members travel to far away places to snorkel under the ruse that they’re investigating climate change. They’ve watched the House attempt to tuck into a defense budget 500 million dollars for eight luxury jets for their own use. And they’ve noticed that, while they’re being told to accept a public option health plan, the President, members of Congress and all federal employees will continue to enjoy a health care plan that gives them private insurance top of the line coverage all paid for by them, the American taxpayers.
“Paranoia strikes deep. Into your life it will creep…”
Public option has been tried and failed in Canada and England. It has amounted to rationed care, long waits to see a Doctor and denial of services to those considered less likely to live as long as others. England cannot get rid of its public healthcare now because bureaucrats running its public health system are now the third largest block of employees in the world.
The protestors know this. They also know that the numbers being given on those without insurance are wildly inflated as 40 million. Take out the 10 to 20 million illegal aliens, remove the 8 to 10 million who can afford insurance but choose not to get it, and the number shrinks considerably. It would be cheaper for the government to simply pay to cover those who can’t afford insurance than to spend 17% of the nation’s economy to rip up the best health care system in the world. People may not like their insurance, but they prefer it to Obamacare. They’d rather see reform of the health system by allowing Insurance companies to compete nationally, across state lines. For instance, an insurance company in Wisconsin might offer lower rates, but someone living in Illinois can’t get it under current laws. Open up free trade lines and watch healthy competition take place. It’s better to have coverage where you can argue over a claim, than coverage where the government tells you what your coverage is and you have no where to take your argument. Many in Middle America are asking, is this push for Obamacare about health or is it all about power and turning America into socialism?
The leadership in Washington appears to have been purposely deaf to Middle America’s voice and its power at the polls. Playing games with the census won’t be enough to stop the votes to oust them if they don’t begin to listen to the people. Their numbers are growing, not through the SEIU and ACORN paid organizing of Obamacare storm troopers – Obama’s praetorian guard — but through word on the street among everyday people and over their kitchen tables. Friends are telling friends and those friends are showing up, no matter that Washington leaders are calling them a mob. They’re growing in numbers and showing up with their children in tow, pushing baby buggies, or in their walkers and carrying oxygen. Their message is clear. They want Washington to stop the spending spree, read bills before they pass them, and give them some tax relief. It’s time for Washington to begin to listen.
“We better stop, hey what’s that sound. Everybody look what’s going down.”
**
Mary Laney is a regular columnist for the Chicago Daily Observer
image Buffalo Springfield
Excellent analogy!Not only is “something going on around here”
but it is something oh so right(no pun intended).Every day I see the passion of middle America in restaurants, workplaces, stores and
churches. At all of these places the people are talking about the
fear that they have about what is going on. When they are given a few
simple facts they become incensed and then passionate. The reason they get passionate after the fact giving is that the main stream press has denied them of the facts. This all gives the appearance of an evil conspiracy against our country and our way of life.These people feel that they are in the desert and the democratic white house and congress has just took thier last canteen of water.Let’s not wither and die in the desert! let’s fight for our last canteen of water and come out of the desert on the other side maybe a little tanned but not parched and dehydrated.
This out to be sent to every elected official in the country. Let them all know the “Sleeping Giant” is awake and is going to be heard.
“There is something happening here” , but Obama continues his lies, so does AARP, so do the main stream liars when they report ‘the news’.
The Democratic party will bear the consequences and I hope in huge numbers.
The put downs of this so called ‘president’, who himself is totally unpresidential, is getting very irksome. Ditto the consigliero Rahm Emanuel whose thugish Chicago methods best stay where they and he came from.
Keep putting people down with jokes by way of answer and they will find out what the next election will hold for them.
One would think that this community agitator would acquaint himself what the bill states that he is trying to ‘rahm’through (Zeke &Rahm Emanuel), but no, Mr. Arrogance can’t be bothered, too busy using the perks of the WH.
We do not want government visiting families to see how children are being raised, we do not want our elderly having to undergo ‘end of life counseling’ every few months, we do not want the young working people who want to opt out, forcing them that a certain percentage comes out of their salaries.
But as Mr. Conyers stuttered his reply, who ought to have end of life couseling now, ‘who is going to read these 1000 pages, you need 2 lawyers to help you!’ Yeah pal, you do, but the rest of us, given a chance manage to plow through the jist without their help and understand what it all means to US!
So bud out of our lives, and get the drift ” there’s something here”!
Nice piece but there is one disconcerting note: “For What its Worth”, the Buffalo Springfield tune that is used as the scaffolding for the story, was not about the Viet Nam War. It was about the “Sunset Strip Riots” where a hippie/psychedelic club called Pandoras Box was closed by LA County (which controls the strip). LA County Sheriffs, who were the absolute incarnation of the 60s image of tough cops (PIGS?), cracked hippie heads for blocks and blocks. Depending on how you think about that period when you listen to the tune. As to the present protests, it would be the first time I’m aware of in American history where the elderly are leading a potentially ground breaking protest, not the youth. Come to think of it, maybe they were on the Strip in 1967.
This song came out just before I shipped (flew) to Vietnam. I think I heard it a couple of times on the radio. But later it got bigger than just a hippy protest song and was popular on the Armed Forces Radio link that we could (barely) pick up out in the boonies. Of course there were not many times when we could actually listen to the radio as it would give away our position. Or so they said, I think that they always knew where we were and even where we were going.
For those of you not old enough to know the song, (the title) really has nothing to do with the actual song…here it is:
Buffalo Springfield, “For What it’s Worth”
Buy More Ammo…
Papa Ray
West Texas
You’re blaming the current president for problem that preceded his term. Where was all this vitriol when Bush was in office? He took more vacations than any other president ever, and the health care situation was exactly the same. The Bush administration did a great job clamping down on terror organizations in 2002 (freezing bank accounts, destroying their training camps, etc.) but failed to end the problem, leaving Bin Laden at large and our soldiers still overseas seven years later. The housing crisis also has little to nothing to do with Obama. People gladly sold their houses for ludicrous prices and buyer not-so-gladly borrowed the money to buy them, thinking the prices would continue to rise making them millionaires later on. What does that have to do with Obama? What did the press do in 2002-2008 to try to stop the real estate bubble and convince the public to sell for a reasonable price? To only borrow a reasonable amount?
Also, equating the current situation with the Vietnam era is gross exaggeration. The draft during Vietnam was much, much worse, and the protests in the city streets were more violent. The police used to open fire on crowds of student back then. Everybody’s indoors and online these days. Basically the right is pissed Obama got elected. Anything they can say to make him look responsible for the current situation, they will. It’s this partisan attitude, rather than actually solving problems or getting anything done, that cost them the presidential election. Sad, because McCain probably would have made a good president, and I was sorry to see him lose.
What an outstanding idea to mix the current with the classic. While the Buffalo Springfield (I think) song is just a little bit before my time your combining it with the current ‘crisis’ discussion was great.
Thanks it was fun.
(My favorite crowd quote – just heard on the radio – Obama inherited a crack in the Liberty Bell but I don’t want the government to fix it either.)
Mary, if you keep writing stuff like this, I may be obliged to send you a fee for therapy. Many thanks.
An excellent article!
Everywhere you go, people are talking about what is wrong with the Congress and how the current administration making major missteps. Obama and his courtiers are lying morning, noon and night and the population is on to them. Many of these people are not Republicans or conservatives — they are simply middle class Americans who see what the radical community organizer is trying to do their country after pretending to be a moderate in 2008.
The 2010 elections are many months away, but a significant voter backlash may be in the offing unless the Blue Dog Democrats abandon Obama and Pelosi.
Mary you speak for a great many others. Thank you,
Our Congress could gain some credibility by first taking action on Tort Reform. The Pacific Research Institute estimates defensive medicine tests etc. cost $200 Billion each year. Could we see more reporting on
health services costs due to malpractice insurance.
Am I the only one on this thread who knows what “Buffalo-Springfield’ really is?…..it is a company that makes steam rollers…anybody see the irony in that?
Dear Ms. Laney,
One of the better pieces I’ve read in many a year – and there’s been too many of them. It’s what I’ve been trying to tell people but have failed to adequately convey. It’s been forwarded to a lot of people on my E-mail list.
To those who criticize particular points – this is not an argument for a policy. It is an excellent exposition of the popular mood.
I am reminded of another lyric by Bob Dylan at the time – stuck in my mind for 40 years.
“Something is happening but you don’t know what it is. Do you, Mr. Jones”.
Again, congratulations for this fine bit of writing.
Regards,
Roy Lofquist
As usual Ian you blame Bush but you disregard the fact that he had a democratic congress to deal with. Bush tried to warn about what Freddie and Fannie were doing but Maxine and Barney wouldn’t hear about that. They don’t want to upset the apple cart and make the peeps who want the government to take care really mad.
Well done! A Home Run, Ms. Laney!
A wicked good read! I wasn’t a Vietnam protester, but I remember the song well.
Good job, Ian! Best summary of Obama talking points heard since the campaign!! Keep up the good work!!!
Keep up this excellent writing, Mary….
and all best wishes for summarizing so well zee current situation.
Where can we see other examples of your writing talent? Plz use my
Email to advise me with the answer to that question. Thanks.
/s/ John Jay
Sorry Mary. I neglected to say that your article is a Gem and well written.
Keep writing, Keep your voice up and make it loud.
“Tellin Me, I got to beware”
Papa Ray
West Texas
What a grandiose piece of drivel. To suggest that the rants of angry middle class white people afraid of losing their xanax approximates the antiwar/antiracist protests of the 60s is beyond absurd. However, as a 55 year old who came of age on the shoulders of the 60s radicals I welcome the militancy (sic) of “The Right” because now you’re playing our game. Who do you think can fill the Capital Mall with a million people faster, Rush Limbaugh or William Ayers?
Randy,
If you think Ayers can gather a bigger crowd than Limbaugh then come on a my house. We’ll play some poker.
Regards,
Roy
When you talk about Canadian health care you don’t know you ass from your elbow. Typical scare stories to enhance an otherwise decent article. I know for a fact that the Canadian health model works extremely well. Can it stand improvement? Of course it can, just like any other business. Are there shocking tragedies? Yes,they happen. As a frequent user of the Canadian Medicare Model I can tell you that it works for the vast majority of the population. Stop regurgitating your written vomit on the system and get your facts straight.
The option of developing a one payer system, individual lockbox medical accounts is not being discussed by ANYONE but mildly by a few Republicans that are allowed to voice their opinions and we as a nation need to focus on alternatives and other systems instead of just beating down Obamacare or asking to leave in place a Medicare system that will not function soon due to the lack of funds. Instead of making all of us start paying for a new system, take those who actually (eliminate those illegal immigrants and those who can pay for their own lockbox systems but do not want to do so and you will probabl;y only have 10 to 15 million, not 50 million people to assist by our dollars. As far as illegals are concerned, have them verify their citizenship (country of origin)andthe bills their country healhare plans and pay ourselves by reducing the assistance to that country.
Individual medical accounts with everyone paying a small catastropic event healthcare premium would eliminate the lobbists for and of, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, doctors unions etc. everyone in the healthcare system from looking to the government to pay and have all the fraud and waste of our taxpayer dollars. They would be required to leverage their services against each other rather than have insurance companies decide who get what from whom.
When you get to decide which doctor or clinic and where you want to buy your prescriptions and on what plan and where you want to have physical therapy and what level of catastropic health care you want to buy (younger people usually would only need accidental insurance and others would need more levelsw of care) also preventitive health care would be another option for those who want to reduce their lifetime level of expenses. So much could be accompolished for the good of the economy and if you go in to your doctor and pay out of your own lockbox account where the government cannot access it for any reason and you get to keep it as it grows, earns interest and can be added to by you and or your employer and then used for end of life care and passed on to your children and their children. You are the ONE PAYER SYSTEM that would solve the problem, NOT THE POLITICAL PARTIES THAT THINK THEY ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR LIFE. YOU ARE THE GOVERNMENT. Suggest the alternatives, don’t just complain and yell about what is proposed for your life.
All of my friends and acquaintances in Canada COMPLAIN about the quality of health care in their country. TAXES in Canada have spiraled out of control due to socialized medicine. Additionally, everyone that I have spoken to in Canada is familiar with friends and relatives who have traveled to the USA to receive medical care when faced with a serious medical emergency that requires prompt attention (usually surgery, including heart surgery and organ transplants, or treatable forms of cancer).
If you want to experience the future of American medicine under Obamacare, try visiting Cook County Hospital.
To Dan Kelley:
I call bullshit! The only Canadians you have talked to are figments of your skewered imagination. More ignorant fear mongering. ‘Taxes spiraling out of control due to socialized medicine’ is so typically political fiction. Taxes are high in Canada because we are the second biggest country with the 36th biggest population in the world. Lots of infrastructure to pay for with few to pay for it. As in the U.S. we had idiot politicians that ran our economy into the ground by over spending on needless programs that we could ill afford. The last 12 years have seen budget surpluses that have been used to repay out long term debts. Our socialzed medicine works for the vast majority of the population (over 95%). Those who chose to go to the U.S. for care are free to do so but this does not constitute a lack of service in Canada. Stop talking about things you have no clue about.
Sorry to disappoint you “Jamesticat,” but I actually checked my facts with a friend in Calgary before posting. A brief excerpt from this message, which I received within the past twenty-four hours:
Federal (Canadian) Health Care taxes are high. The average cost across Canada is $120 a month to the province’s plan and whatever the Feds take. I can only speak about Alberta and British Columbia. In Left wing B.C. you pay through the nose for no service. In right wing Alberta you get good service. But Alberta is the only place that manages their money right. I don’t see how our plan would work in the States. I think the cost to start it up in the U.S. would kill the your economy.
Obamacare is unworkable. It is less about benefiting the public than it is about a massive power grab by the Washington bureaucrats.
Dan Kelley, a final word to rebuke your latest post. In 1997 my brother, who lived in Vancouver at the time, was diagnosed with leukemia that required an urgent bone marrow transplant. Not only was he given first class care and treatment but the hospital also flew me, the donor, out to Vancouver and back at no charge. He is enjoying a full healthy life thanks to the best service I’ve ever seen. I can’t imagine how much all this would have cost had we not had universal health care. To blindly say that B.C. has no service has no credibility to those who profit from it daily.
Please note that I have never suggested that socialized medicine would work in the U.S. although I”m sure that if there were a partisan political will it would be a cake walk . I am simply saying that there are too many ignorant ‘experts’ vilifying a system that they can’t even pretend to understand.
Thank you for your unique perspective. It would have been helpful if you added your brother’s age (at the time of the surgery) to your comment. That would have helped advance the discussion as well as addressing a major topic of debate here. How old does one have to be to not merit healthcare options that involve expensive procedures?
In my last comment, the second paragraph was excerpted from a message from a resident of Calgary, who formerly lived in British Columbia. This person has experienced healthcare in Canada, including the loss of a parent to cancer. This individual is of the opinion that many Canadians with the wherewithal to do so seek medical treatment in the USA rather than enduring lengthy waits in Canada. This was not a statement that was made blindly, as you suggest, but it was based upon my friend’s own family experiences.
How are the Hamilton Tigercats doing?
Dan, my brother was 42 at the time. I don’t consider heresay as facts. We all, I included, complain about health care and costs but when it comes time to use it we’re mostly all extremely grateful to have such a wonderful system.
Only an idiot like Sara Palin would suggest that systems like ours are eagerly waiting to pull the plug on Grandma to save costs. The only thing worse than saying such tripe is knowing that there are people out there who actually believe it.
Those who go stateside will never be content and are in the thresholds of the bell curve. You cannot use the actions of a few to generalize. We may have socialist programs but we are still a strong democracy where majority rules.
Tiger Cats are showing some teeth this season for the first time in years. My heart and soul however lies with my beloved Giants.
In light of the recent reports from Canada that have been published within the last week, I think that the original point has been substantiated.
Late addition to this post…
Jamesticat says: “We may have socialist programs but we are still a strong democracy where majority rules.”
Well, I need to point out that the United States of America is not, has never been and will never be:
A Democracy”
We have been and always will be a “Republic”.
There is a world of difference.
Papa Ray
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