Donnelly town hall on August 12

I was pleased to be able to attend Congressman Joe Donnelly's town hall meeting yesterday at the Inventrek Technology Park here in Kokomo. As soon as I turned the corner onto Home Avenue and could see the parking lot, I knew this would be different from any previous town hall I had patronized in the past. I had never seen this parking lot even close to capacity, and by the time the session began, it was.

I have come to several conclusions, some of which I reached during the town hall; other thoughts came to me after the event was finished.

ACORN seemingly had been notified of the meeting to a far greater extent than anyone opposing the bill had been. They were very well organized with professionally printed signs, several tables with staffed workers and a good-sized pavilion with brochures and bumper stickers. There was even a handmade sign attached to one of the tables that advised us "Jesus would vote "YES." Nice. Mind you, the ACORN logo was nowhere to be found, but their fingerprints were all over everything.

In spite of the above, the crowd swelled to what I would estimate was around 400 and in the end, was 80/20 against the bill. The variations in the intelligence of the respective questions were staggering. A representative sampling of supporters of the bill included questions such as "Congressman, what is the biggest lie you have heard about the health care bill?", which Donnelly wisely dodged by saying that he really didn't want to use such language since he believed that everyone there that day was concerned about their country. Donnelly also did not reply to another man who went into a diatribe about his own 6-year span of medical examinations, which seemed to have no real narrative thread, since his health checked out fine all the way through the story and which concluded with this brilliant consummation: "I don't know much about democracy or socialism or communism...but it seems to me that here in America, we ought to get all of this for free!" He was roundly booed by a robust majority which included yours truly. (And yes, I did try to behave, though it was difficult at times.)

The questions from opponents were substantive and varied in intensity from cordial to heated, but not rude. There were, of course, varying levels of articulateness from the questioners. I was especially impressed by a middle-aged military wife who asked the Congressman to please tell Nancy Pelosi that she was exercising her rights as an American by being present and opposing the bill, a far cry from Pelosi's accusation of un-American activity. Every major fear about the bill was repeatedly and eloquently addressed, from the "death panel" rumors to the out-of-control costs of government spending to increasing government oversight to denial of care based on perceived life value.

Joe Donnelly, who defeated a good Congressman in 2006 (Chris Chocola), is not someone with whom I feel a natural affinity, but my hat is off to him for facing his constituents and doing so in a way that was courteous and open-minded. I really don't know which way he will ultimately vote; he is the classic example of a blue-dog Democrat as I described in another recent post. He was asked if he was prepared to vote for the bill even it meant political suicide. His answer was that however he voted, his position on any legislation is that he had a job before he went to Congress and he'll have one when he isn't there anymore, so his vote is never based on what it might do to his political future. I hope that reply was a genuine reflection of his heart. He had no unkind words to say about private initiative, but he did fall back on what seems to be a new talking point in the town hall meetings. When questioners would protest about the cost, he repeatedly would ask, "What do you think about Medicare? That's a government program. Do you want to get rid of it?" Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) pulled the same tactic on O'Reilly last night. This ploy may be effective if people don't understand that it is government intervention that has put us here in the first place, but of course, Medicare has to be reformed if it is going to last; it currently has a $40 trillion unfunded liability, which Donnelly certainly didn't choose to mention. Knowledge of the free market and economic cause and effect was not, shall we say, manifestly on display from the Congressman, but I can't say I was terribly surprised at that.

We have real hope here of blocking this, but if the Congressman votes "Yes" in the fall, he will do so against the wishes of the vast majority of his constituents who have done their civic duty and made their voice heard.