Well, anyone who proposes radical changes to the status quo – especially known contentious and long-established programs, has to know that they’re going to face strong pushback from voters. That is a given in the process. It is probably important to note that even as crowds show their anger and opposition, one should actually credit the elected officials who hold town halls to face tough stuff. Articles like these that point out that someone got kneecapped at a question/answer session aren’t the actual focus. It is worthwhile to establish that some voters are angry with policies while then evaluating how the pol justifies his-her position. It is not just a Republican thing. God help Chuck Schumer the next time he goes home to explain himself. But last night it was Nebraska GOP Rep. Mike Flood’s turn to face a flood of anger.
Flood’s district went 55% for Trump – over the national average, certainly under a red state’s average, but significant enough to ensure plenty of Democrats show up. It is also a district that could go blue in a situation where voters are angry about cuts that go beyond expectations. These are important and Flood certainly knows it. From a report in Rawstory we first see Flood set out his position:
“I believe that town halls are an important part of the process. It’s democracy. It’s how we communicate with each other.”
Yes. We know. Go on:
But as Flood tried to insist changes to massive social programs Social Security and Medicaid were “not on the table,” constituents could be heard in the background shouting back.
It is entirely possible that the shouting back owed to the fact that Flood then immediately put Medicare-Medicaid on the table:
“Any idea that Social Security is in peril or somehow in jeopardy is absolutely false,” he said, as constituents continued to shout back. He received a chorus of yells as he said the federal government’s $36 trillion national debt is “not going away” unless Medicaid and Medicare are dealt with.
“Dealt with” is at least open. One way debt is often dealt with is raising more money but it sounds like tax hikes on extreme wealth – like Musk’s, is certainly “off the table.” Even keeping tax rates where they are doesn’t sound like an option. Short of raising more revenue with tax dollars, it would seem that putting Medicare-Medicaid “On the table” involves cutting the programs. This is so even when cuts to the programs have been shown to cost money in the long run driving hospitals into closure, forcing more emergency room care, and making people too sick to work and dropping out the economy, no longer paying taxes. Hence, boos.
“Let’s remain calm,” he urged constituents. If you’re going to ask me a question, let me answer the question
Fair. But they probably want it answered honestly – see above. He then listed “only” two ways out of the situation, cutting taxes and growing the economy. Except cutting taxes has been shown to grow investment funds more than the economy spending and fail to trickle down. It also increases the deficit. Oh, and there are three ways – one can raise taxes to grow the resources to pay for all this. A person with more than $100 million dollars is likely not to suffer too much and even so – who really cares?
“When you cut spending, that means making difficult decisions… “
You could decide to not cut spending and raise more money – there are some downsides but you don’t cut services to health care and retirements. Just sayin’.
After the crowd erupted in applause, the woman continued her scathing takedown, demanding to know “who’s lying?” — the veterans groups who say they’re underfunded and understaffed or Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Boom? Again, even if DOGE wasn’t lying – a dubious argument given that they’ve been shown to at least grossly exaggerate, while also sucking up government contracts for Musk’s companies, if one puts DOGE up against veterans who will deal with the hassle of having fewer people providing services, and retirees and the disabled losing support – well, good luck. Put those groups up against Musk and you’re going to get booed.
So that happened. And it’s going to happen. They know that. Criticize his position – to be sure. Soak up that they’re getting pushed on this – yes. But let’s at least keep in mind that there are far fewer Congress critters going out to talk to the voters than those who do so. Easy to take him to task for his positions, hard to fault going out and doing it.
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They won’t meet with constituents, go to theirs houses. Protest in front of their houses. Stay on the sidewalks. Let them know they need to be more scared of their voters than trump and musk