Almost by rule, town halls are usually boring affairs. The local empty suit that goes to Washington, D.C. to "represent" us comes back to his/her home district, rents out some library, auditorium, or college theatre to, presumably, listen to what we have to say. Its tends to be a cover for the people who have nothing better to do than go to town halls to tell the guy/gal they voted for how great he/she is. Like most things these days, however, the Tangerine Ceasar has changed all that. During the congressional recess, republicans from both chambers of Congress have been met with open hostility and protests promising that this term will be their last if they continue the new, chaotic, borderline inhumane status quo. Times are even tougher if you wear the magic (R) in a deeply blue state like New Jersey. In fact, of the 5 districts represented by republicans in Washington, only the 7th, the one Leonard Lance (R-NJ) calls home, got a chance to speak its mind. No other New Jersey republican had the balls to face their voters. It's low hanging fruit to characterize this as the latest in the long line of GOP lawmakers being lambasted at home because of the President because it's only part of the story.
From what I saw at Raritan Valley Community College, the protesters calling for the removal of Leonard Lance had to be the most unprofessional, disorganized, rag tag group of individuals I've ever seen on a campus. It was a gathering of mostly women lofting a sea of carboard, magic marker, glitter, and righteous indignation fenced off behind an orange construction fence. Despite the dampness, low temperatures, and accusations of being on the George Soros payroll, they persisted. They wanted to dump Trump, welcome refugees, make america think again, insist that it's her body/her choice, and investigate all things Russian. I saw no buses. If these were the best paid protesters you can buy then Soros should be screaming for a refund. The police, were actually polite and helpful, something I'm frankly not used to. Maybe the man purse, sharp diction, and lighter than threatening skin threw them off. At first there was confusion as to who would be allowed to attend. There was apparently a call to RSVP your seat which differed from the previous "first come first serve" seating I was accustomed to. I wasn't the only one thrown off because the chief of security was getting loudly berated by an older woman who was recording him...just in case. Ironically, the tension this woman was trying to generate felt dangerously familiar. I knew she was trying to create a viral moment for social media to prove her politics were right. In any other scenario, we might have had a synergistic conversation, feeding on our mutual distaste for what's happening in Washington. At that moment, though, I didn't care. In that moment we couldn't have been anymore different. I suppose that's the difference between people who've lost their souls one moment of chaos and the people who can never lose the benefit of the doubt. I stepped toward the protesters until she either got what she wanted or was escorted out. Didn't care which. Even as I type this its crazy to me that I actually felt safer with the protesters than near Lance's security.
After about 20 mins of streaming the protesters I tried to re-enter the auditorium. The shit starter was gone and so was the line so I got a chance to speak with a now much more relaxed security chief. He, like the police, was unusually cordial, as were the volunteers that guided me to the over flow room where the Town Hall was streaming on 3 large cinema screens. The transcripts of the acutal back and forth between Rep. Lance and the crowd are documented already. The parts that stood out to me, besides the usual skill of political double speak, were his willingness to take the tough questions. He didn't cower or make excuses for his positions. When he expressed his gratitude for Paul Ryan's leadership, a name that drew vociferous boos, he didn't cower, flinch, or try to explain himself. He was consistent in his answers, The Crimean annexation was wrong and proved that Russia was no friend to America. The Border Wall needn't be as ambitious as the President claims since sections of the terrain are already an effective barrier and the costs would be absurd. Public schools should remain funded and shifting money from them to charter schools exclusively would be a grave mistake. Immigrants should be vetted but the ban shouldn't affect dual citizens nor Green Card holders. Trump should release his taxes but the current bill being pushed in the House goes too far. The feed cut out on answers regarding Dodd-Frank, concealed firearms, and a few other questions I didn't hear. The only time he looked truly unable to verbally navigate his position were on the bombshell questions on his inconsistent opinion on oil pipelines and Obamacare. He supports Keystone XL and the DAPL because he "believes they're safer than land transportation", a fact disputed by the questioner, but opposes pipelines running through his district. If they're safe, why oppose one here? One woman detailed with righteous anger why Obamacare saved her life and drove home the point that no one would take lawmakers seriously as long as they didn't have the live by the rules they made for everyone else. In response, Rep. Lance dropped a bombshell on all of us.
Under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, no member of Congress or their staff can be covered by the government's health care system. He and his wife had been paying for private insurance. The hush that took the crowd on the screens and in the overflow room revealed our collective ignorance of this fact. I'd always assumed blind racist hatred was the sole motivator for the political outrage at a program that was designed to save lives. Not that it couldn't still be the case but the personal motive fits so much better. It was 8:45 and I needed to get home so I streamed the last 15 mins from my car. As I drove off, I was relieved. I pay so much attention to this stuff that I feared that I'd started to view them like celebrities and I was only going to this Town Hall to be near it. Instead, my faith that people are willing to stand up for what they believe in and speak truth to power is as strong as ever. The energy I saw on that campus wasn't isolated if the "fake news" is to be believed. I felt something I didn't expect, a renewed respect for Rep. Lance. He wasn't delusional like Chaeffitz or a bootlicker like Ryan. Despite shift in power, Lance remained the same even keeled principled man I met several years prior at my first town hall. He could have stayed in the shadows but he chose to accept his responsibility to his voters. Maybe it's a strategy for 2018 but for one night at least, I recognized my country.
#Resist
If you want to contact Rep. Lance:
Website: https://lance.house.gov/
Twitter: @RepLanceNJ7
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CongressmanLance/
After about 20 mins of streaming the protesters I tried to re-enter the auditorium. The shit starter was gone and so was the line so I got a chance to speak with a now much more relaxed security chief. He, like the police, was unusually cordial, as were the volunteers that guided me to the over flow room where the Town Hall was streaming on 3 large cinema screens. The transcripts of the acutal back and forth between Rep. Lance and the crowd are documented already. The parts that stood out to me, besides the usual skill of political double speak, were his willingness to take the tough questions. He didn't cower or make excuses for his positions. When he expressed his gratitude for Paul Ryan's leadership, a name that drew vociferous boos, he didn't cower, flinch, or try to explain himself. He was consistent in his answers, The Crimean annexation was wrong and proved that Russia was no friend to America. The Border Wall needn't be as ambitious as the President claims since sections of the terrain are already an effective barrier and the costs would be absurd. Public schools should remain funded and shifting money from them to charter schools exclusively would be a grave mistake. Immigrants should be vetted but the ban shouldn't affect dual citizens nor Green Card holders. Trump should release his taxes but the current bill being pushed in the House goes too far. The feed cut out on answers regarding Dodd-Frank, concealed firearms, and a few other questions I didn't hear. The only time he looked truly unable to verbally navigate his position were on the bombshell questions on his inconsistent opinion on oil pipelines and Obamacare. He supports Keystone XL and the DAPL because he "believes they're safer than land transportation", a fact disputed by the questioner, but opposes pipelines running through his district. If they're safe, why oppose one here? One woman detailed with righteous anger why Obamacare saved her life and drove home the point that no one would take lawmakers seriously as long as they didn't have the live by the rules they made for everyone else. In response, Rep. Lance dropped a bombshell on all of us.
Under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, no member of Congress or their staff can be covered by the government's health care system. He and his wife had been paying for private insurance. The hush that took the crowd on the screens and in the overflow room revealed our collective ignorance of this fact. I'd always assumed blind racist hatred was the sole motivator for the political outrage at a program that was designed to save lives. Not that it couldn't still be the case but the personal motive fits so much better. It was 8:45 and I needed to get home so I streamed the last 15 mins from my car. As I drove off, I was relieved. I pay so much attention to this stuff that I feared that I'd started to view them like celebrities and I was only going to this Town Hall to be near it. Instead, my faith that people are willing to stand up for what they believe in and speak truth to power is as strong as ever. The energy I saw on that campus wasn't isolated if the "fake news" is to be believed. I felt something I didn't expect, a renewed respect for Rep. Lance. He wasn't delusional like Chaeffitz or a bootlicker like Ryan. Despite shift in power, Lance remained the same even keeled principled man I met several years prior at my first town hall. He could have stayed in the shadows but he chose to accept his responsibility to his voters. Maybe it's a strategy for 2018 but for one night at least, I recognized my country.
#Resist
If you want to contact Rep. Lance:
Website: https://lance.house.gov/
Twitter: @RepLanceNJ7
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CongressmanLance/
