Liberty’s cracked bell
August 30, 2009 by Teri Christoph
Filed under Features
By Gayle Plato
Blame Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh for the uppity folk packing the cafeteria last night, and you will miss the truth. Moms pushing strollers, young veteran dads, grandparents with death panel protest wear: the halls are throbbing with a pistol-shot pulse. All missing Wipeout or Jon and Kate Plus 8; our Congressman is having a town hall. Politics is now the best show in town. But this is an interactive art and the people are all in.
A stoic elder stands for an hour just to speak, warbling voice, he says he is afraid for his country and wonders what legacy he’s leaving his children as an American. The man cries a bit and all connect. In these moments, happening in every community, the body politic gels. The town hall energy is not fake, nor can it be coerced. What everyone misses in the read of the movement is the catharsis, and the desire to feel that unconditional positive regard of a like-minded patriot. These are more than social meetings or congressional reports. Town halls are becoming group therapy sessions as the country is scared, hurting, and wanting some answers.
I’ve taken part in and helped organize a number of rallies, meet and greets, and tea parties and no one pays me a dime. Freely, I listen to the crowd. In my profession of adolescent counselor, I know the moment of confluence we strive for in group sessions. It takes weeks of get-togethers, and disclosure, but then, there is a magical moment and all flows. The group no longer needs much guidance; it develops a bond, talk flows freely, and people feel valued. Town halls, social media communication, and local word of mouth connections are ablaze; citizens are seeking like souls for support.
Voters want to be heard but also validated. Citizens do not want legislators to grant an audience like a monarch at the castle. The people want the truth from listening legislators genuflecting in an act of contrition. What may have started as a show of support and a voicing of anger has evolved. We showed up months ago upset about taxation, talk radio on in the SUV, but now it is a demand for representation. Passionate chatter and electrified claps ring Liberty’s cracked bell.
The grass roots have created a fairness doctrine, written it with a Sharpie on poster boards, stating no more ignoring the people, the Constitution, or the principles of democracy. A few home-spun heroes are shouting from the back of the room like brave soldiers, a retooled Shakespeare’s Henry V:
“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that stands up for Liberty with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in Washington D.C., now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That stood with us upon this town hall day.”
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