Town Halls (not health care or 2A related!) by Bytemite

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Town Halls (not health care or 2A related!)

POSTED BY: BYTEMITE
UPDATED: Thursday, September 3, 2009 06:57
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Wednesday, September 2, 2009 9:54 AM

Okay, so I know that discussion about the Town Hall people and the shouting match right now is old hat, so I'm taking a different approach.

I was thinking, and I realized, hey, you know, actually this is a good thing that so many people want to be involved in the political process. Maybe you don't like the issue or the stance people are taking when they're flocking to the townhall, but it's good, right?

So the question is, when the anger dies down, how do we KEEP them involved, coming back to the town halls, and discussing their concerns?

I think something that first needs to be done is to do something about the legalese that keeps the average person from participating. The reason town hall meetings are working (in a sense, you may or may not agree with the topics being discussed, but people are going) is because 1) people are going to see the Senators and officials to talk to them about policy, and 2) the Senators are actually willing to talk about policy and explain it in ways that the townspeople understand. Some of them are lying, and some are feeding the public false information and many people don't know how to sort out the garbage from the legitimate questions. But people are responding to either a desire to educate themselves or a desire for action, and have an opportunity to do so.

And by TALKING to someone they see as official, who has an official capacity to "do something," they feel like they themselves are accomplishing something. If they were to continue to be able to accomplish something, even when a Senator is not there, that might also encourage attendance.

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Wednesday, September 2, 2009 11:30 AM

DREAMTROVE

We're on the right course. It's all resembling Jerry Springer, which will increase interest, viewship, etc. Wait until it is a solid institution and then talk issues.
For now, bring on the teens in miniskirts hitting people over the head with chairs.

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Wednesday, September 2, 2009 3:23 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

But aren't those people coming only to STOP speech, not to listen or voice their concerns, but only to disrupt? Will they come back when it's all over? If they do, will they want to listen and question, or just do more shouting and disrupting? Will the regular people come back, or be turned off by all that's happened and lose interest?

I guess we can't know, just wait and see. I thought town halls were a fantastic thing, but after seeing what happened, I'm losing hope.

I see the Repubs are having "closed" town halls, open only to insurance employees and friends and family. I could say something...but I will refrain

________________________
Together we are greater than the sum of our parts

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Wednesday, September 2, 2009 4:14 PM

BYTEMITE

Actually, I'm hearing a lot about the left responding back and going into the townhalls as well. And the people outside the townhalls don't necessarily represent the people inside.

The question is: yes, they're loud, yes, they're mislead and misinformed, but do we want them to be part of the political process? My answer is yes, and anything that rouses people out of their day to day stupor of apathy is a good thing.

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Wednesday, September 2, 2009 10:09 PM

DREAMTROVE

Yeah, actually, a lot of these nutjobs are coming from the far left. It's a mistaken assumption of left-blogosphere that they are right wing (some of them are) but there's a lot of people who think obama is too far to the right, and there's a stupid trick of the democratic party hiring operatives from their ranks to be their own zero-credibility opposition in town hall meetings, to win an argument (admittedly a step more complex than the republican's softball plants: "Oh Mr. President first I wanted to say how you're the greatest president ever...")

But the whole thing is a big pie throwing contest, and that's great. I say bring on the impromptu striptease streakers, anything that boosts ratings.

This is what lost us the Iraq war. Britain had the Prime Minister's Questions, which was a nice food fight, and got great ratings. When the planning for the Iraq war was being drawn up by Cheney in '97, Iraqis probably had no idea who the prime minister of the UK was, but by the time we set up a govt in Iraq, they rejected our US plan and said they wanted a British democracy, because instead of the state run media of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi's top watched show had been the PMQ's via Al Jazeera.

So, now there's an Iran friendly democracy in Iraq, because American's didn't spend any time watching Iraqi TV, and we didn't make a plan for rigging a British election.

On another note, my sister just got invited to one of these. Bring a pie. I want to see real pie on the face of a US congress person. Oh, and a sign that really draws attention.

Nominations for good Town Hall strategies anyone?

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Thursday, September 3, 2009 6:57 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Quote:
Nominations for good Town Hall strategies anyone?

Go to them, listen, ask questions and voice your concerns, and call out those who are disruptive. Get the rest of the REAL people there who feel the same to do the same.

I don't care if it's left or right, it's wrong, and to me, it's more destructive of people's desire to participate in a town hall in future.

________________________
Together we are greater than the sum of our parts

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