Health care debate bullies are losing public support

A lot of folks are concerned about the health care debate and pending bills in Washington, D.C. All kinds of opinions are out there, and having a good public discussion about what's needed and what's not is critical. We've needed this for a long time. What's not productive, though, are the folks who go to public meetings to shout down members of Congress and not allow a real discussion to happen. That's not democracy, it's mob rule.

All across the country, groups of people are storming these meetings and causing such a ruckus that the meetings are quickly shut down. Then they act as if they've won the argument. They're not even close. In fact, they are swaying a lot of people against them who genuinely want to learn what's being discussed and debate this in a reasonable, rational way.

As is written about in a column on this same page today concerning political correctness hurting our college campuses, too many people think shouting down opposing viewpoints is winning an argument. It's not. The people who do this are not being thoughtful and open minded. They are just bullies who want it their way or no way. And then they claim to be the vast majority of Americans. They aren't. They're just the loudest.

Most people, regardless of how they lean on the issue of health care reform, at least have an open mind and don't only listen to special interests or politicians who are protecting their big campaign donors. No, they listen to what's being pitched, consider how similar plans work elsewhere in the world, listen to information pro and con and make their decisions. That's how democracy works, not under some mob rule, tar and feather meeting.

It's getting ugly out there and calmer heads must prevail. The good news is that these folks doing all the bullying will soon find that their cause will be shot down by the vast majority of people who are sick of their antics.

These folks may have the right to raise a ruckus by shouting and intimidating, but the rest of us certainly have the right to not listen to that kind of shrill nonsense.