Today, the US House of Representatives voted to pass to pass health care reform despite Republican obstructionist tactics and Tea Party disruptions.  The final vote of HR3962 was 220 yea, 215 nea.  39 Democrats joined every Republican in voting against this bill except one, Joseph Cau (R-LA).

Background of the Resistance to Reason

The hijacking of the Tea Party movement by Republican strategists and corporate front groups like FreedomWorks has been well documented.  Despite some folks having legitimate concerns about certain issues, the vast majority in the Tea Party leadership are now the very same people who created this economic meltdown and massive debt that our nation is suffering under now.

They have some strong tools to aid them in generating turnout to events though, such as Fox ‘news’, conservative talk radio, and websites.  These tools have given them a way to propagate disinformation to a wide audience, and it is no surprise that a majority of these people.

According to an NBC poll:

45% believe that the health care reform bill has death panels (euthanasia of the elderly)

55% think it will cover undocumented immigrants

54% suspect it is a government takeover

50% believe it will provide free abortions

While these outrageous claims have been thoroughly debunked many times, the rumors persist, and it is this type of fear mongering that has directly resulted in so many angry emotions from the right wing.  Nobody can blame the emotions of these people, they are simply reacting to what they believe to be true, but we can blame their grasp on reality in not independently verifying the things that Fox ‘news’ claims.

Regardless, it was an easy sell to get Tea Party conservatives to shift their focus to opposing health care reform in America.  During the summer recess of Congress, town hall discussions were planned so that legislators could have some interaction with their constituents in their home districts.  The right wing was quick to mobilize their Tea Baggers to crash the party, disrupt the conversation, and intimidate pro-reform voices.

A leaked memo obtained by Talking Points Memo reveals the right wing tactics in explicit detail:

– Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”

– Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early.”

– Try To “Rattle Him,” Not Have An Intelligent Debate: “The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.”

The mobs, intimidation, and deceit at these town halls brought a response, and those who would not be intimidated who strongly favored reforming our countries failed health care system began to show up in force, and this tension naturally resulted in some scuffles.  Conservative websites were quick to pounce on this, and invented the fable of a ‘union beating’.  Luckily, this reported was able to clear up a few of these points during a later interview during the Tea Party Express, an event sponsored by a GOP political action committee.

The precedent had been set however, normal discussion would take a back seat to angry outbursts based on corporate deception and a purely partisan attempt to derail Obama’s platform of change through any means necessary.

“If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.”

- Sen. Jim DeMint, R-SC

Bypassing Stubborn Resistance: The Dire Need for Reform

That the country needs to reform its health care system is undeniable to anyone except the most brainwashed tools of the health care industry.  At least 46 million Americans have no medical coverage. 86.7 million Americans have been uninsured at some point over last two years.   There has been a dramatic rise increase in the uninsured rate in every state.   Lack of health care coverage caused 45,000 deaths per year.   Health care premiums shot up more than 90% between 2000 and 2007, while the profits of the 10 largest insurers increased 428 percent over the same period. Without real reform, there will be a 94% increase in health insurance premiums by 2020.  Harvard researchers say 62% of all personal bankruptcies in the US were caused by health problems—and 78% of those filers had insurance A good video analysis of the scientific reasons for reform can be found here.

When there are precious profits to be made by big health insurance corporations, they are going to oppose any reform that could potentially threaten this.  So they initiated an unprecedented propaganda campaign, spending $1.4 million PER DAY on advertising and slick lobbyists, who have outnumbered members of congress 6:1 during this 6 month debate.   They have even sponsored a ‘research firm’ to manufacture data that supports keeping the status quo in place, a firm that has been quoted repeatedly by Republicans in congress, despite the obvious conflict of interest.

All of the lies and distortions have been proven false and been debunked over and over again.  However there are simply some people that refuse to listen to reason and facts.  These people insist that the conspiracies about killing grandma in FEMA camps are true, and that Obama is some type of Kenyan-born Islamist who has somehow taken over the government.

When Obama spoke to a joint session of congress about the dire need for health care reform, there were many rude interruptions by the Party of No.  None compared to Joe Wilson (R-SC), another South Carolinian wingnut, who yelled out “YOU LIE!!!”  in response to Obama asserting that undocumented immigrants will not be covered in the bill.  This was just like the angry mobs that had previously invaded town hall discussions, only done by an elected official.

Even though appeasement to Republicans has stripped out the most meaningful parts of the health care reform bill, and managed to inject a severely draconian anti-woman amendment to it, they still are mobilizing to defeat it.   This proves the words of Jon Stewart: “Conservatives hate Obama more than they love America.”

Now that what could be the final vote on reform may be here, Michelle Bachman, the far right Republican from Minnesota’s 6^th district, made a plea on Fox ‘news’ for angry protesters to come to the capitol to scare legislators.  3500 were bused in with the help of the corporate astroturfing front group Americans for Prosperity.  Bachmann went on to urge reform opponents to confront lawmakers during their ‘tour of the capitol building, with video cameras.

Keith Olbermann was quick to denounce these tactics: “An elected Republican official today leading a protest on the west steps of the capitol, compared health care reform to nazi death camps, and encouraged mindless harassment of, and possibly violence against the government.”

This is a direct threat to our democracy.  The chilling rise in right wing hate has led to an increase in violence, 30 death threats a day against Obama, 8 acts of domestic terrorism, even gone so far as to suggest a Honduran style military coup against Obama.  Differences in opinion are fine, but our nation has a tradition of civil discourse about these disagreements, not intimidation and violence.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) joined the protesters Saturday, and attempted to crumple up a copy of the bill on the US Capitol steps.   One protester in the crowd named Andrew Beacham, 27, of nearby Falls Church, Va yelled, “You’ll be starting a civil war, you fascist tyrant!” Inside the chamber, the GOP seemed focused on their unsubstantiated talking points about ‘big government takeover’, ‘less freedom’, ‘$1 trillion in new debt’, and ‘a huge tax hike’.  One odd thing happened when John Shadegg (R-AZ) carried a baby to the microphone in a stunt to try to make his point.

A breakdown of the complicated proceedings can be found here.

ThinkProgress released this photo from the protests, comparing health care reform to the genocide at Dachau.  Jewish and Israeli leaders were quick to denounce this pathetic comparison.

Despite all of the disruptions, obstruction, delaying tactics, and lies, the US House passed this historic piece of legislation by a razor thin margin.  All of the disruptive tactics of Fox ‘news’, Tea Baggers, corporate lobbying, and GOP obstructionism have failed to derail the movement for change.  The need for reform is just too important.  The battle is not finished yet, as the US Senate must fight an uphill battle to pass this legislation before Obama signs it.  The main lesson learned from 6 months of disruption and delay is that to move the country forward, we need to work around those who refuse to leave the failed ways of the past behind.  This is progress.