Senator Ben Cardin, (D-Md.), Holds a Town Hall Meeting on Health Care

Towson, Maryland -- Senator Ben Cardin, Democrat of Maryland, conducted a Town Hall meeting at Towson University on Monday in front of an audience of about four hundred. The senator's office asked for an RSVP from those planning to attend in order to estimate how many would be there and we did that, but admittance was first come, first served. There was seating for 500, none were allowed to stand, but 100 seats were reserved for The Press, their cameras, and local politicians, so 400 were allowed into the room and formed the "working audience," i.e., ordinary citizens. Credit goes to the senator for doing it that way - it helped ensure that the audience was selected at random - no plants. In fact, credit goes to him for having the meeting in the first place.

We arrived at the University at 3PM, about four hours before the advertised starting time, and were allowed to wait in the lobby of the building out of the 99° heat. We came with hand made signs, intending to participate in a demonstration if we could find one, or perhaps just stand along the roadway with them, which is why we arrived so early. We were told, however, that no signs were allowed in the auditorium or within a short distance of the building. So, we yielded to the temptation, put our signs away, and accepted the chance to get out of the heat.

Inside, we noticed a woman who was wearing a t-shirt with her opinion silk screened across the front and we wished we had thought of doing that. It was considered clothing rather than a sign. Instead we were dressed respectably as senior citizens, not as demonstrators, as were most of the others in attendance, although there was a range of ages. And note to the media; we were all ordinary, unorganized, people.

Our "Plan B" in the event of physical violence was to sit near an exit, but instead of sitting peripherally, close to a safe immediate exit, we sat front and center (4th row) because we were some of the first into the room and by then we had a good idea how this audience would behave. Most were opposed to Single Payer, while a few were supporters. There were a few Union members outside the meeting hall with other demonstrators, both pro and con, and it was noisy out there, but peaceful.

Inside the auditorium at the beginning it was also noisy, and about 6 "police" came to the front of the room. There was a little gasp from the crowd at first, but people soon realized that they were really campus police for Towson University who was hosting the meeting.

The senator began the meeting with a slide show of statistics which was intended to show the need for comprehensive health care and insurance reform. The charts contained the usual numbers cited by the administration and only brought howls from the audience, especially when he told us that there are 45 million Americans without insurance. Perhaps he didn't think we knew that that number includes millions of illegal aliens, young people who don't think they need insurance and many others who are wealthy enough not to worry about paying medical bills out of pocket.

Before beginning the question and answer period, Senator Cardin introduced a young mother of a small child with a metabolic disorder for whom the mother has had trouble finding health care coverage. She didn't specifically endorse the Obama plan, saying only that her daughter requires treatment that she and her husband could not afford. At the end she told us the good news that her difficulty finding insurance had been resolved, ironically with a Maryland state program.

We were "pumped" after the meeting, mostly because the people there were so well informed, the questions were well thought out, and Senator Cardin did an excellent job of managing the meeting. We wouldn't vote for him, but he is hard to dislike. He listened intently to the questions. Some of his answers were appealing, some were just party line, and some were plain disingenuous. The crowd really knew the issue and didn't buy into any of the misleading responses. Their reaction was immediate and was fairly disruptive at the beginning, but calmed down when they realized the senator was going to listen to and answer the questions. But there was a pronounced level of distrust that we were not being told the truth, or that Senator Cardin is telling us the truth as he understands it and simply doesn't know what's going into the proposals being offered, and those in the hall made their distrust clear to him.

The questions were comprehensive, and it was very reassuring to us that there are so many well informed Americans. It was Democracy in action! It has become clear to us that it is no longer enough to simply vote. Americans must and are making their positions known. President Obama is out there today again suggesting pain pills for the elderly rather than actual treatment. We are sure that those "decisions" would not be limited to the elderly under Obamacare. As the young mother mentioned earlier learned, there are other resources. She ought to think about it before she supports Obamacare.

We could be working rather than spending the better part of two days preparing, traveling to, attending, and then following up on a Town Hall meeting. However, many Americans are spending lots of time educating themselves and making their opinions known on both sides of the issue. Like most of us, that time is coming out of their work day and other worthwhile pursuits, but Americans are protecting their freedoms from the perceived threat of their government. The economy and other issues, by necessity, have been relegated to a secondary position while we protect that which is uniquely American.