posted 8/4/09
 

Kagen Overmatched in Listening Session


by Rick Sense
Editor of The Inside Scoop
 

I witnessed a beautiful thing today.  I attended Congressman Kagen’s (D-Appleton) listening session focused on healthcare this morning at the Thompson Community Center and my hope for our country’s future received a wonderful boost.  I arrived more than 30 minutes before the event’s scheduled start to find I was one of the last people to be let into the room.  The room limit was 300 and that’s how many folks were present.  A full house and many, many more people were turned away.  Democracy in action-what a wonderful thing!

Having long been a student of grassroots political action, I was impressed by how much of what took place at today’s event was true grassroots in action.  I have heard reports from some media outlets at how those critical of the healthcare proposals being debated in Washington are fronting for insurance companies or Republican or Libertarian groups.  I have attended hundreds of political events in my 40+years and I know an orchestrated event when I attend one-this movement lacked an orchestral conductor.  I didn’t sense any “entity” behind the mass passion present or any organized movement propping up attendance.  I recognized just as many of my liberal friends as I did conservative friends in attendance; however most attendees were people that I did not know.  I didn’t receive one email from any organized political entity encouraging me to attend the session out of the hundreds of emails I receive in a given week.  No, these were real people, with real concerns, real passion, real frustration, and real anger toward what is taking place in Washington.

And to whom was the frustration and anger aimed at during the session?  Representative Kagen, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, and President Obama.

Many interesting exchanges occurred throughout the session and it appeared to me that Congressman Kagen was overmatched.  Some of his less than stellar moments included a claim that “the United States Senate is the real enemy” and that he believes it is “unconstitutional” for a pharmacy to be able to charge different people different prices for the same medication (ever buy a used car Rep. Kagen?).  When asked if he would support healthcare legislation despite the majority of his constituents being opposed to it, he first replied, “Well, let me explain the legislative process to you,”  later adding the cliché “these are complex issues” and ending his answer with, “I will vote for the best interest of our constituents.”  At one point, obviously frustrated, Kagen yelled at a constituent, “How dare you!” during an exchange with a member of the audience on how to possibly help a different  audience member facing the tough prospect of covering healthcare costs with her husband out of work.  Overall Rep. Kagen did little to inspire me, however those in attendance did and in a big way.  I can’t help but think this is what the founding fathers were expressing when they said in the Declaration of Independence, “But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government.”

Based on the reaction this morning, the Democrats are in trouble on this.  I would estimate that about 90% of those present were against the legislation as it currently stands.  If legislation similar to what is currently under consideration in Congress passes I believe that Democrats stand a solid chance of losing control of Congress in 2010. August will indeed be an interesting time.  Will elected officials like Steve Kagen get the message that their constituents are delivering during recess, or will this fall’s vote on healthcare in Congress come down to Democrats doing ‘what is in the best interests of their constituents’?