Why the shouting?

I think I know the answer, in fact I know that I know. But I wrestle with this. I understand the anger. I understand that feeling of not being heard, of the country that you love and live in careening recklessly, out of control towards impending doom.

I felt that way.

I empathize, deeply, I honestly do.

I remember the despair and outrage at being called a terrorist, unpatriotic (whatever that really is), an aider and abettor, a conspiracy theorist.

I get that.

I also understand how in all that darkness and disillusionment that spark of someone else, someone out there that heard me and felt as I did. How that voice speaking is like a life line, a buoy in a raging sea.

I get that.

But never did I think it was a good idea to go and shout at someone trying to explain something.

Regardless of their point of view.

Sure, I got angry with friends and family that kept on and on about how wrong I was. I was incensed. I couldn't understand how they didn't SEE it. No matter how rational, angry, crazy I got about it, they just didn't see how wrong going to war was, the ownership society, the corporations sweeping in and creating legislation.

But never did I think that going in and shouting and screaming and carrying swastikas was the most effective course of action.

But others did.

I get that as well.

I know that it got crazy there towards the end.

Why the screaming?

Where was the outrage when we were throwing billions upon billions at Iraq? When there was no reason to be there? Where we sent in mercenaries? Where we sent our guys into harm's way with defective body armour? Where we started something with no exit strategy?

This is what staggers me and makes me stand in complete awe at the incredible ability of those that want - for whatever reason - to manipulate people. Because that's what it is. Obama seems to have withdrawn with the expectation that people would understand that this legislation isn't even out of committee yet. That there is no bill to speak of. That everyone is putting in their two cents, different entities are bringing in different points of view. It's like wigging out about a house plan when only the structural drawing is done. No architectural no mechanical electrical or plumbing. Just the structural. And we have people screaming No! No waste of money on gold toilets (what gold toilets?)! No Waterford crystal chandeliers (what??)! It's ridiculous.

Honestly, I think these are normal, working class people (for the most part) that are in a mind set of - we have lost our country. A black, socialist, communist, Muslim, terrorist has taken over our country. Everything we have ever known and loved. Everything we have held dear. Everything we thought would be there forever, as it is now. Everything we have held as American....slowly being ripped from our hands.

And those with a vested interest, those with ulterior motives, those who have been feeding gluttonously at the trough of graft and greed, see an opportunity to mobilize these very real, very affected, deeply moral and principled people as the face of outrage and resistance. Hannity starts his program with a subtitle of "Conservative Underground" and "Conservatives in Exile".

The outsiders.

The forgotten.

The ignored.

And for hours upon hours, on weekdays on AM radio they say the same things over and over. Bureaucrats making decisions instead of your doctors.

Death counseling for seniors.

No protection for special needs or dependent beings.

Government funded abortion.

On and on. Some present with a sense of urgency. Some with indignation. Others with sarcasm. But they all say the same things. Over and over and over. I want my country back. Obama is a racist. Obama hates white people. Do you know that they are still bringing up Rev. Wright? Aires? All the nonsense that was thrown from the right - stuck on the radio dials.

Did you know that since he took office there has been a race/creed based shooting once per month? With references to Obama or the threat to country evidenced by every single one?

I have no issue with a debate. I think it is the only way to have a real democracy. I do not want one party to have their way unchecked.

But I cannot get behind the shouting.

Do you remember towards the end of the election? The people that swarmed to the Palin rallies? The monkeys? The caricatures? The adamant clutching onto the false "Muslim" "terrorist" labels?

That should have been our first clue.

There are plenty of people in this country that will never admit that they are racist. But they are. When you bring a sock puppet with a black man's name attached, you're a racist. When you think a place is too dark or decide not to enter a convenience store because there are only minorities, you're a racist. There are people that believe that Muslims are a threat. That brown people are scary.

And there are people who are clever enough to capture that sentiment, that fear, because that's what it is, fear, and use it to promote their agenda.

The MSM....you know...the one owned by conservative run corporate giants aka the liberal elite, have been ignoring middle America. So they are coming out and ensuring that they are heard.

By shouting at town hall meetings.

Or is it, that the MSM is only presenting the concerned citizens - you know the 85% that believe Obama isn't a real American - as crazed, irrational screaming fringe. But that's not exactly what is being conveyed is it? No. They are being presented as citizens who have been shut out of the process, desperate to be heard. Normal, every day Americans that don't want socialized medicine. And, keep your government hands off my medicare.

I think Obama expects us to be grown ups. To wait for the plan to be presented to our individual representatives for debate and negotiation and to see that the idea is to bring down costs, to encourage prevention, to reduce the stress that has been weighing so heavily on the most susceptible, the most vulnerable, those that believed they had coverage and found themselves with no recourse.

The plan is not to make life harder, but ease the burden - so that our seniors won't have to choose between a meal and medication.

This ridiculous exaggerated imagery of grey wool sacks in Soviet style hospitals, rationing is not the goal for anyone. Honestly, who wants that? Who doesn't have parents or know seniors? Who doesn't know a disabled person? Did anyone hear about the bill that is either passed or very close that will pay the college tuition of veterans? This is in line with the liberal agenda. Believe me. I've seen it.

Delayed surgeries, shortages of vaccines, doctors forced to live in ridiculous places because the doctor quota is filled in an area. That is not part of the plan.

I know. I know.

I'm godless.

I want babies to die.

I hate tradition.

I hate America.

I know.

The biggest problem with us is that we are so easily moved into chutes of complacency - absentmindedly moving into categories so that we are more easily able to define. Liberal? Gay loving, god hating, baby killing, anti-military, aider and abettor. Conservative? Neocon, profiteering, bigot, racist, war-mongering bullies.

The problem is that perhaps the tiniest fraction of people fit into these categories. Microscopic numbers really.

But they are the most vocal, the most present in this situation.

They have the ones with the megaphone and the audience.

So when the person that refuses to buckle or cave, who casts out fake conservatives, who repeats over and over again that he is the keeper of the beacon - the last stronghold of morals, virtues and decency says that the country is in peril, those that identify with him, those that have been left behind look for the light in the darkness.

But rush, hannity, savage, beck.

They are nothing but showmen.

Entertainers.

Perhaps they believe they are speaking for the people in some far recess of their minds. Perhaps they believe that they are doing the right thing. But I don't think that's the case. I believe that this is all about money. It is all about how many people they can influence. How many they can get to listen to them and to buy the products they spend most of their time selling in commercials between segments. It is all about getting these people so impassioned that they move would make anyone drunk with power. Can you imagine? Having millions of people not only listen to you but to go and do what you suggest? I cannot fathom that kind of rush. Doesn't matter if you invoke Nazi Germany, Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Gulags to get them there, that's not what's important. Your sponsors, your bosses, your advertisers hear you speak and see the army rise.

It must be amazing.

But is it in the best interest of the country?

As soon as we can get past these ridiculous stereotypes, these pathetic excuses, these moronic caricatures of our fellow citizens, the better.

I don't know what Obama should do. That's why I'm not president and he is. Should he address this or continue his "No Drama" approach? Should he figure out a way to get his "fight the smear" website to other avenues of communication that varying segments of our society use?

All I know is that we need to ratchet down the hysteria. I have a deep dread that this is going to end badly because no one addressed it. We ignored or justified or played down the fringe element that seems to be getting more and more out of control every day. We thought - it's just a few, they don't speak for the majority.

But it takes just one.

Just one person that has had enough.

That sees no end.

No hope.

The minorities are taking over.

The Mexicans are taking jobs and our healthcare.

The Socialists and Communists are infiltrating the weak hearts of the limp wristed liberals.

The gays will be legitimized and will flaunt their lifestyle choice in the faces of our innocent children.

The freaks will be out in droves forcing their ways upon our society.

It will take one person.

One lone person to decided that he is willing to die for his country.

That he is ready to sacrifice his life to save the innocent babies doomed to death, the weakening of the beloved country, the demise of the Judea-Christian foundation that is the foundation of this country.

It will not be an external enemy that destroys this country.

It will be an internal split of the citizenry based on falsehoods and lies.

Unless we decide to be grown ups.