Democracy in action

Last night I went to a town hall meeting held by my newly-elected Republican Congresswoman, Ann Marie Buerkle. The room was packed; I found out later from the local newspaper report that about 300 people were there (close to my own estimate), and the fire marshall turned away another 50.

The audience was mixed (including some vocal Buerkle supporters), but most of the actual questions were asked by people challenging her positions, on healthcare, Planned Parenthood, and budget priorities, among other things. I mostly went to see how she presented herself (since I'm aware of her positions), and my opinion is that she's certainly no heavyweight - she used a lot of Republican boilerplate in her responses.

It was edifying, but also sort of discouraging. I feel like many voters are willing to buy any line that sounds good, especially about freedom, or some other elusive concept, but they are greatly lacking in understanding of even the most basic aspects of issues.

The most surreal moment for me was when she said "I think we can all agree that America is the greatest country in the history of the world" (or something along that line) and the room erupted into cheers. And I just thought, this is going to be our downfall - this denial and delusion prevents us from addressing the very real issues that threaten our health and safety as a nation.