Citizens for Ethical Government organized a rally against the current house health care reform bill, H.B. 3200. It was held at Oconee County Veteran's Memorial Park last Saturday, Aug. 29th from 10:30 AM until almost 1:00 P.M. Oconee County Democrats organized a pro reform bill rally for the same time.
In effect, there was only one rally with both groups, and probably many undecided, meeting simultaneously. A speakers platform was set up on a flat bed trailer. At highest attendance there appeared to be somewhere between 150 and 200 people present. The weather was pleasant, mostly a slight overcast keeping the normal August sun from frying everyone on the pavement. And, the rains held off until several hours after the rally was over.
The rally opened with a pray, the Pledge of Alliegance and the Singing of the Star Spangled Banner. Also, the crowd was led in singing God Bless the USA. Almost all present, regardless of position, participated in these activities.
The only organization by the anti-reform bill was in setting up the rally, putting together the speakers platform and getting notifications out. Most of those opposed to the bill showed up singly, in family groups or in groups of 2 or 3. Those in favor of the bill, except for a few, appeared to have gathered several hundred yards away and then loosely paraded to the rally site, waving signs and placards for all to see
While the majority of placards appeared to have been "home made" by hand, there were a few on the pro-bill side that might have been, if not professionally made, made with a lot of preparation. Also, there were a large number of hand made yellow signs that stated "NOT TRUE" spread among the pro-house bill crowd raised when points against the bill were presented.
There were several scheduled speakers, including representatives from Senator Saxby Chambliss's office and from Representative Broun's office. The schedule speakers all spoke first. At some of the comments, there were minor vocal eruptions from the pro-health bill side, but for the most part, they were short and the speakers were allowed to complete there presentations. There were two persistent people, though, who continued to march in front of the podium protesting any comments and yelling out their opinions.
One speaker invited these two up to present their case for why they were interrupting the speakers. This is the only point where the rally had the potential for becoming, shall we say, less than civil when one of the women said "It's not about you disagreeing with the bill, it's about a black man becoming president. It is racism!" This drew a rather vocal response, from both sides of the issue. This was the only time during the rally that the law enforcement present showed any concern. The woman finished her statement and left the stage, the crowd became more respectul again.
After the speakers, anyone who wanted to speak was given 3 minutes to present their case, it did not matter which side of the issue the person was on. There were some very credible points made by members of each side. One thing that was made very clear, almost everyone at the rally wanted some kind of health care reform, the difference was really in whether or not they wanted the government to effectively take over the health care system.
Also, there those that wandered off point and did no favors for their positions, including one speaker who ranted against Michelle Obama's number of aides. On either side, there were those who demonstrated both a poor knowledge of the bill, and an even poorer knowledge of the Constitution (ok, that is my opinion, but, judging from the comments in the crowd, shared by many).
Overall, it was a well attended rally. Both sides voiced major differences, but, each side, except for a few, was, if not respectful, at least civil towards the opposition. The speakers were allowed to finish and almost nobody tried to shout any down or prevent them from getting their point across. And, there was not corporate funding, no unions or community organizer groups bussed in. There was just local people, many neighbors to each other, who came to be heard and to make their positions known.
