[ahawes]

Originally Posted by smithy77

Mr. Trump promised us that he would preserve the idea of health care for all. He LIED. The Republican Party is showing its true colors. They don't care about ordinary people and their concerns. All they care about is tax breaks for the rich. He stuffed his Cabinet with oil men and Wall Street bankers. The Republicans have moaned for years about how awful Obamacare is, but have not come up with a viable replacement. They sat on their ….. for years and did nothing but vote it down over 70 times. They have nothing. They offer nothing.
All they offer us is empty rhetoric. People are angry. Many are in danger of losing their health care if the Republicans have their way. Have you noticed how many elderly people are attending these protests? I don't see many young people there. When you p.ss off the elderly in this country, you have he11 to pay, brother. Bacon needs to be a man for once and face these people.

I have watched these town halls on-line. They start out politely until the lawmakers start to avoid answering their questions honestly, or lying through their teeth. People aren't stupid. They have every right to call Congress people out on their dishonesty. They work for all of us, not just some Junior League/Chamber of Commerce types that only ask softball questions.

This is probably going to be moved to the politics forum soon with the subject matter but whatever, that's fine.

Let's break this down line by line, shall we?

What, exactly, has Trump changed about your healthcare so far?
What tax cuts have been passed for the rich?

You talk about empty rhetoric angering the people when it comes to healthcare. Would this empty rhetoric look anything like the following by chance?

"If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan."
"If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."
"We're going to lower your premiums by up to $2,500 per family per year." HA!
"No family making less than $250,000 per year will see their taxes increase." HA!
"I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits, now or in the future."

You've already been sold a lie, a lie that every single American HAS to pay for or otherwise be penalized. The system is BROKEN.

[smithy77]

Originally Posted by ahawes

This is probably going to be moved to the politics forum soon with the subject matter but whatever, that's fine.

Let's break this down line by line, shall we?

What, exactly, has Trump changed about your healthcare so far?
What tax cuts have been passed for the rich?

You talk about empty rhetoric angering the people when it comes to healthcare. Would this empty rhetoric look anything like the following by chance?

"If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan."
"If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."
"We're going to lower your premiums by up to $2,500 per family per year." HA!
"No family making less than $250,000 per year will see their taxes increase." HA!
"I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits, now or in the future."

You've already been sold a lie, a lie that every single American HAS to pay for or otherwise be penalized. The system is BROKEN.

The system was broken before Obama took office because the Republican Party decided to let it spiral out of control to the point where people were being denied health insurance for having chronic medical conditions, and literally dying because of their cold-blooded callousness. That's how much they cared about ordinary people. This is a party that wore it's religiosity on its sleeve for all to see. All they did was obstruct any movement to reform health care. They used every political trick in the book to make sure that health reform was a failure, while offering absolutely nothing of their own. Where I come from that's considered pure evil. These are real people with real health problems. These are life and death issues. THIS is why Bacon should hear these people out. I'm sure he has great insurance himself. Let him prove that he cares about people outside of his comfort zone.

To answer your question, the ACA has affected my group rate premiums. My rates went up slightly the first year and stabilized for the next three, but I have a sibling who stands to lose her health insurance if the Republicans get their way, and she has a heart condition. She is scared to death about what might happen, and that is why I'm so angry.
..

[RMESMH]

Originally Posted by smithy77

The system was broken before Obama took office because the Republican Party decided to let it spiral out of control to the point where people were being denied health insurance for having chronic medical conditions

How...SPECIFICALLY.

and literally dying because of their cold-blooded callousness. That's how much they cared about ordinary people.

The law that requires hospitals to treat emergencies whether or not the person has insurance was enacted during the Reagan administration.

[Gunluvver2]

Hard questions should be asked but in a Civil voice, not trying to shout down the answers or resorting to CHANTING. I would suggest that no one be allowed in to these public meetings UNLESS that are openly carrying a FIREARM. Clothing with markings identifying the attendees political thinking should be allowed also. Wanna bet there would be no violence or chanting and MOB behavior? Such a situation would PROMOTE civilized behavior.

[iamjacobm]

I am going to ignore specific policy here and focus on the impact on elections.

To start off with I do think the screaming at these things is getting ridiculous. The whole idea of the louder you speak the less people listen is true IMO.

Saying that I still don't really see a negative for R representatives sitting through the yelling and taking their lumps. I think avoiding these meetings will only galvanize the opposing party even more and letting your conservative supporters see how "crazy"(not saying they are crazy just the perception that can be created) that the left has become could help to rally support for the conservative side trying to avoid "those other people" from taking control of office.

Yes it will be a pain and Bacon(or anyone) will need to keep their cool and not misspeak, but if they can sit there for 90 mins at take a verbal beating I think they should consider it. If not for the sacred public input then for the image it can portray.

[ben young]

Mr. smithy 77, You seem pretty fired up from the get go. Will you act this unhinged if there is a Town Hall meeting ?

[Volvo Driver]

Originally Posted by smithy77

Looks like he doesn't want to face his constituents. Why is a military guy, a General, no less, acting like a fragile snowflake? Is he a coward?

I think you know the answer to your own questions.

Bacon knows that these town hall meetings are little more than an opportunity for protesters to scream and yell. So why bother?

I wish it wasn't that way, because SO much good could come from face-to-face discussions. But I don't think it's going to happen.