My skepticism of democracy’s efficacy has always stemmed from my belief that what is popular is not always what is right. That being said, one recent Saturday I decided to participate in a part of the democratic process. I picked up a friend of mine in Addis, and with our drive-thru daiquiris in the cupholder, we made our way up to a David Vitter town hall meeting being held at the Pointe Coupee Public Library in New Roads. This was going to be my first town hall meeting, and considering that most of the questions my boyfriend and I had previously thrown around focused more on the prostitute thing rather than actual research, I planned to quietly endure an hour of unpleasant political posturing for my own experiential edification as a citizen of Louisiana represented by Senator Vitter.
The moment we walked in from the beautiful day into a chilly air-conditioned meeting room, ten minutes late, the conversation was already on tax-payer funded abortion and how “morally reprehensible” it is. We sat down midway back as an older woman sitting in the row in front of us interjected that Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the nation and snorted at the federal funding they receive. Okay. I know this is anecdotal, and a little personal, but I can honestly say that of all of the times I have frequented the Baton Rouge Planned Parenthood clinic on Government in the periods of time I lacked health care, it was not once to have an abortion. It was mostly to obtain birth control so that I wouldn’t have to resort to having them. Turns out the majority of patients come to Planned Parenthood for birth control, not abortions, and in fact when founded by Margaret Sanger it was called “The American Birth Control League.” (At that time, disseminating information about birth control was illegal—unless you were a physician and doing so for medical reasons.) David Vitter, incidentally, has consistently supported abstinence-only sex education, after the implementation of which our nation saw the first rise in national teen pregnancy rates in fifteen years. And as an interesting segue, the financial effect of teen pregnancy—through increased spending on health care and public assistance and lost tax revenue—is fiscally wasteful, costing taxpayers $9.1 billion in 2004 and a cumulative $161 billion from 1991 to 2004.(1) You would think a fiscal and moral conservative like Vitter would appreciate the logic of wanting to reduce unplanned teen pregnancy and abortion, instead of supporting initiatives that increase what are in his eyes offensive, irresponsible and reprehensible effects on our society.
The next questions and comments broached the issue of the Obama administration’s stimulus package. The tone was derisive and that same obnoxious woman was one of the ringleaders, with the rest of the room grumbling in agreement. I was already deep into dealing with that familiar tightness in my chest that comes from being surrounded by people whose opinions and beliefs terrify me and are in complete opposition to my own. Their snide laughter at the idiocy of the ignorant liberals pumping $800 billion into public projects and forward-thinking research investments didn’t so much upset me because I agree with efforts to try to save our economy and our nation as we know it, but because I appeared to be sitting smack-dab in the middle of an air-conditioned, Orwellian hellscape. The gay priest in the row behind us asked rhetorically if anyone was even watching where the money was going. Another older man asked if Vitter thought our country was headed toward Socialism. Ominous utterances erupted, directed toward the Democrats. As a laughably sincere Vitter explained his heartfelt concern at where our country was headed, a question began to formulate itself in my mind.
One poor soul all the way to the front left asked why we were increasing our troop presence in Afghanistan. Vitter proclaimed self-righteously that we are doing so because the terrorists who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were trained there. Hm, yes. Right. So what was the point of the war in Iraq that has cost well over $600 billion in fiscal terms, and at least 95,000 in human ones? They want to kill us all, interjects that same woman. My friend and I look at each other and smile.
After advocating private choice in health care, Vitter went on to proclaim to the nodding faces that “the American people get” that we need to “drill here and drill now.” He may be frustrated by the lack of choice existing in Obama’s health care plan, but I wonder how he feels about the lack of fuel choice we have. I guess he doesn’t feel the same frustration I’ve felt for years about having no option other than oil to run my car, knowing that between ceasing to drive and supporting big oil, I should be able to choose alternative sources of fuel that aren’t pollutants, don’t allow oil companies to rake in record profits (when prices have skyrocketed only to supposedly cover the rising oil barrel prices) and don’t involve murderous acts to get them to my gas tank. It does appear that the American people are starting to get it, voting clearly against the “drill baby drill” mentality last November. Had Vitter called on me when I raised my hand, I surely wouldn’t have been able to state my question as eloquently as written here, but this is what I ultimately wanted to present to him:
I have been detecting a snide tone in people’s comments concerning the current Obama administration’s handling of the economic crisis, and in the interest of avoiding the hypocrisy that so often plagues the political process, I have a question. Let’s remember that this crisis is the result of irresponsible businesses practices that developed dangerously after years of deregulation supported by conservatives, and understand that fiscal responsibility is of paramount importance. How do you reconcile your condemnation of the wastefulness of this administration’s FY budget and stimulus package with your NO vote on fiscal transparency for the money allocated to funding the Iraq war and your consistent support of this war that cost hundreds of billions of dollars, helping deplete a national surplus and distracting attention and diverting resources away from our presence in Afghanistan after 9/11? (2)
His answer wouldn’t have satisfied me had I gotten the chance to ask it. He would have bullshitted some answer and I would have gotten nasty looks from some of his present supporters, but then again, it is staunchly conservative Louisiana lawmakers like Vitter that give Louisiana its regressive bad name and bring laughter and condemnation our way. There are plenty of other ways I’d rather spend over an hour of my Saturday, but being reminded of the illogic that governs us is always an important lesson. And for the record, I have a similar distaste of experiences with ignorant or ineffectual liberals who speak in accusatory tones about conservatives and neo-cons but without any facts. I propose that next time, we go out in force, armed with information and a strong sense of progressive self. If Vitter wants to hear from his constituents, let’s not let him down. I’ll keep you posted, and maybe next time you’ll be ready for a road trip.
1.http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/costs/default.aspx
2.http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00096