Unions and Our Allies Keep Health Care Debate Civil
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At town hall meetings, rallies and candlelight vigils, union members, health care activists and community allies are showing that the health care reform debate doesn’t belong to the loudest or most outrageous.
As a report form the Minnesota AFL-CIO says:
“The throng of union members who attended the recent town hall meeting that Rep. Tim Walz (D) held in Mankato know that their presence was crucial to keeping the debate thoughtful and respectful as right-wing fringe opponents of health care shouted and yelled in a weak attempt to disrupt the evening’s discussion.”
The 100 Minnesota union members were among the 800 or so residents who attended the Thursday town hall that filled a high school auditorium. According to news reports, the crowd was about evenly divided, but one group of opponents loudly booed and interrupted throughout the meeting. But, according to one participant, many left before the meeting was over.
Once they were gone, the air was lighter and people were able to calmly disagree with each other.
