Now Is Not Then

For our faithful readers, the fact that we have a long-standing dislike of false equivalencies - especially in politics - is nothing new. It's not that there aren't similarities between the parties and their supporters, especially the fanatics on both ends of the spectrum. We've pointed out those comparisons numerous times over the years.

The problem we've always had with false equivalencies - especially in the modern political sphere - is when those comparisons are based on superficial similarities, and not true factual differences.

Like the comparisons that are beginning to pop up in the media on the town hall meetings we're seeing all over the nation right now.

In case you missed it, during the current Congressional vacation - the fifth one they've taken so far this year - Congresspersons of both parties have been holding town hall meetings. Some of these town hall meetings have been passionate affairs, much like the raucous events of the summer of hate in 2009.

If you were paying scant attention to the news, you might simply dismiss this latest round of town hall meetings as another group of disaffected, ignorant people, probably supported by some kind of outside money.

If that's what you're thinking about this current set of events, you'd be wrong.

On the merely superficial level, there have been no significant acts of violence at any of the current town hall meetings, to our knowledge. Nor have there been credible threats of physical violence towards congresspersons, or attendees toting weapons, loaded or otherwise. Those factors alone make the current meetings different from those of 2009.

As journalist Josh Marshall pointed out yesterday, there are those in the media who will simply stop with the ostensible resemblance, come up with some simple label to slap on the current discontent of voters, and attempt to blow off the real reasons behind this current display of anger about what Republicans, under the proposed Ryan plan, would do to Medicare.

As another journalist, Steve Benen of Washington Monthly pointed out on Tuesday, Democrats and those who support Medicare are hammering Republicans  everywhere over the insane idea of a voucher-based, all-private health insurance plan for seniors replacing what we now know as Medicare. Republicans and corporatists are crying like babies, accusing left-leaning Medicare supporters of scare tactics.

As Mr. Benen also points out, "Political rhetoric isn't "demagoguery" when it's true. If a political message leads the mainstream to feel scared, it's not necessarily "scare tactics" if people have good reason to worry."

The fact is, the current Republican budget plan will end Medicare as a stable, long-term, entitlement for American citizens - one that most working Americans have already paid into and have earned. Further, it's a plan that not even all Republican leadership fully supports.

This year, 2011, is not 2009, and we wish some of our colleagues in the media would stop for a minute and focus on the facts, and not just the stupid pictures and audio coming from the current set of town hall meetings.