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The American Way - Honest Debate

Submitted by tomganley on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 07:34

All politicians at one time or another have faced heated debate. That is the American way. Thomas Jefferson probably said it best "The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to." If our founding fathers recognized and spoke out in favor of dissent how is it that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer call Americans who engage in raucous dissent "un-American?"

Evidently, Pelosi and Hoyer would rather remain in the ivory tower that Washington DC has become rather than listen to the voices of Americans who oppose the Health Care bill that no one has bothered to read. It is far easier for Pelosi and Hoyer to stifle dissent and call the American people names than it is to debate a bill that they haven't read. For them to claim that opponents of the President's health care bill are disrupting townhalls across the country by "drowning out the facts" is disingenuous to say the least.

Jefferson discussed debate hundreds of years ago when he said "Difference of opinion leads to enquiry, and enquiry to truth; and that, I am sure is the ultimate and sincere object. We value too much the freedom of opinion sanctioned by our Constitution, not to cherish its exercise even where in opposition to ourselves." It's too bad our Congressional leaders have never read anything about Thomas Jefferson. They could learn a lot.

Raucous debate is nothing new to this great country. Sometimes the tone and tenor of the discussions get out of control. But it is interesting to me that none of the confrontations turned violent until allies of the Democrats got involved. In fact, wasn't it a White House advisor who told Democrats, "if you get punched, we will punch back twice as hard?"

None of us like to see meetings turn violent, or even see them get out of control. But every public official must respect the right of the people to be heard. Dissent and public debate are part of the First Amendment. Public officials who seek to silence public debate are the ones hurting our country, and they are the ones forgetting some of our founding principles. 

Cross posted at Tom Ganley for US Senate.

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Who are the "allies" of the Democrats?

Submitted by cg on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 12:28.

"But it is interesting to me that none of the confrontations turned violent until allies of the Democrats got involved."

This is a very vague statement.  What does it mean?  Who are these "allies?"  When did they get involved?  Why did their involvement "turn" things violent?  Are these individuals carrying guns into town halls or making death threats?

Oh come on, cg... playing dumb now won't make it.

Submitted by JakeMountain1 on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 16:33.

"This is a very vague statement" -who are those Democrat "allies"?  Note how cg uses scare quotes around the word ally as if to suppose he can actually distance himself or the Democrats from being identified with Chicago-styled thugs?

The allies of the Democrats who have visited strong physical force, manhandling and abusive intimidation on the brave souls of their fellow-Americans exercising constitutionally protected rights in protesting the wanton, irresponsible and reckless spending and reforms of the Obama Administration are the UAW, the AFL-CIO, the SEIU and other strike-line thugs who have well practiced the rough art of stopping decent people from crossing lines.

Frankly, I'm kind of surprised that the Black Panthers or the Nation of Islam or CodePink or ACORN aren't in there yet... they've all got a similar track record of using threats, intimidation and force to quell dissenting voices.

I think, cg, if you Google the phrase "townhall Democrat allies violence" you'll get something like 559,900 hits.

When you have an Administration with a leader who is a devotee of the insurrectionist radical and fellow-Democrat Saul Alinsky AND you have a deputy WH chief of staff screaming that they'll (the White House) "punch back twice as hard" to any opponents of the One True Faith... it's not hard to appreciate that the White House, the Obama Administration and all their Chicago-styled thug allies are responsible for the new violence brought by them to these townhall meetings.  Does Tampa or St Louis townhall mean anything to you?  SEIU members have on t-shirts to identify themselves to other thugs.

About the only Democrat ally missing from the ThugFestTownhall Intimidation Squads are the farLeft gay community.  But they're still pissed at the Great O for not having lived up to his campaign pledge to immediately repeal DADT and force a vote on repealing DOMA.  Sort of like his pledge to "End the endless war on terror" that's been deep sixed.

Really, cg, that you would ask the question with a str8 face is an amazing feat of denial and a pure avoidance of reality.  Stunning.

I'm asking questions about

Submitted by cg on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 21:36.

I'm asking questions about the specific language used in this post in order to reach clarity. 

If there is any evidence of misconduct, as Mr. Ganley implies, it should be discussed in a specific and substantiated manner and not left ambiguous. 

Such ambiguity either prevents the addressing of actual misconduct or allows the uninformed to draw dangerous and divisive conclusions.

No, your "reach" is to discredit, dissuade, disinform....

Submitted by JakeMountain1 on Sat, 08/15/2009 - 13:49.

just like the White House and the Obama Administration and the efforts of his Chicago-styled thugs from SEIU, ACORN, the UAW, Organize America and the countless farLeft allies like MoveOn and all the "consumer" driven but well heeled and liberally supported health care reform advocate groups that popped up recently.

The ambiguity lies only inside your narrow, closed mind.  And why shouldn't you try to discredit anyone who questions the Great O and his One True Faith?  Maybe call them unAmerican?  Maybe contend, like HillaryClinton did recently, that America's experiment with democracy is fraught with corruption like in the 2000 presidential race.

Of course, she's quick to overlook the voter fraud the Obama Campaign brought to the 2008 race... but that's because her new plantation boss swings a big bat and she doesn't exactly have a spouse who would defend her in a pitched battle.

Yup

Submitted by Jim Dandy to th... on Fri, 08/14/2009 - 09:34.

...my post deleted here, too.

Thanks, guys.  It wasn't worth it.

 

Democratic governance of this

Submitted by Corbin U on Mon, 08/17/2009 - 00:07.

Democratic governance of this regime is acting not what we are expected them to do. What's wrong. We can see that everybody is in favor of this Health Reform. Sadly Obama isn't giving people the power to judge him. He will do what he wants. It is not appropriate to call him a Democrat leader.  Obama and the White House have hailed the actions of Congress, as they are in favor of keeping the short term loans from  Cash for Clunkers going.