What I Learned From the 'Mob' (Sen. Coburn on Town Hall Meetings)

Wall Street Journal ^ | 9/1/2009 | Tom Coburn

[markomalley]

I spoke with thousands of voters at town-hall meetings this summer. What I gathered from them is that it's not just the proposed overhaul of health care that has them upset. Many also expressed a sense of betrayal. In spite of their hope for change, it still appears that the government in Washington is run for its own benefit and the benefit of special interests—not for the benefit of the American people. The folks I met with also don't trust politicians in Washington to address mounting long-term challenges to our economy.

It's not just the attendees of town-halls meetings in Oklahoma. Voters across the country are telling Washington what's on their mind, if only more people inside the Beltway would listen. A Rasmussen poll released last month showed that 40% of voters said that cutting the deficit in half by 2012 should be President Barack Obama's top priority. Only 21% said health-care reform should be his No. 1 priority.

Notwithstanding these polling results, the administration and Congress have responded by trying to win public support on the strength of an argument that's too clever to be true. They say that the key to saving money is spending money, a lot of money. And they've done just that with a $787 billion stimulus program as well as billions in bailouts and proposals to spend vast sums on health-care reform and other things. Their belief seems to be that every government expenditure grows the economy or can be counterbalanced with cost savings.

It's a confusing argument, and it's flat wrong, particularly with regard to health care. The Congressional Budget Office has said as much when it stated a few weeks ago that the health-care legislation before Congress fails to restrain costs and instead "significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care costs."

[Radix]

Americans are pretty smart, when they are backed into a corner. Not so very smart when they find themselves in a voting booth.

You reap what you sow.

[Frantzie]

This man is a real (conservative) Republican and is what other Repubs should aspire to be. He is also smart because he is a doc and he comes from a good state.

I wish he was our President.

[politicalmerc]

What do you know? A SENATOR that GETS IT.

[Albion Wilde]

His excellent book. Coburn is truly one of the only incumbents who should not be dumped.

[victim soul]

Agreed. Senator/Dr. Coburn is an honorable, honest man.