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Paranoia, Birkenstocks, and Pony Tails in the Peoples Republic of Berea Kentucky (On The Subject of Social Security)

by Mario, Guerrilla Reporter

March 23, 2005

I had the pleasure of going to a couple of meetings last night about the current Social Security discussion. In Richmond, KY at 5:30 PM, David Adams of the Fair Tax alliance, Jessamine County Conservative Brian Goetl, and Chris Derry of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions spoke to the issue of allowing Americans to invest a mere portion of their involuntarily confiscated Social Security dollars into private accounts that will grow for them. A bonus - with these funds "locked up" in safe and conservative investment accounts, Congress cannot get their hands on these funds to spend on their beloved pork and socialist entitlement programs. Nowhere in the mainstream media, or out of the mouths of politicians I have heard, is anyone talking about this wonderful bonus to privatizing a portion of SSI. If you were in Richmond, KY last night, you would have heard this.

Then, I went to the Folk Center in Berea Kentucky to hear my congressman, Ben Chandler, talk about this in a "town meeting" format. I thought this would be a great time to ask the congressman a question. Was I ever wrong. Congressman Chandler would have no part of any questions that did not toe the party line. I should have known this, as this meeting was in the People's Republic of Berea, a hotbed of communism, socialism, anti-war activism, and other leftist missions. It was "PARTISANS AND ARTISANS" in attendance to turn what was billed as a town meeting into a Ben Chandler Socialism Love Fest. I haven't seen that many older men with ponytails and Birkenstocks since my last "protesting the protesters" mission at a local anti-war protest.

After the congressman presented a slide show of meaningless charts and graphs full of liberal fuzzy math, and called on a liberal AARP fellow to back him up in his assertions, the town hall meeting turned into an anti-Bush, anti-war, anti-Republican, pro-Socialism liberal rant session. I raised my hand to ask the congressman a question trying to get the "discussion" back to the issue of SSI. He had been speaking against private accounts being integrated into SSI, so I wanted to know what all the fear was with private investment accounts in the greatest economy in the world with a market that has consistently, over time, produced wealth for so many Americans.

Did Ben Chandler answer my question or call on someone that could? No, he attacked me for sitting next to the campaign manager for his opposition in the last election, accused me of not listening to his presentation, and showed his paranoia by accusing "us" of filming this meeting to be used against him in a future campaign ad. Amazing! He even asked who the people were that were filming and it turned out they were local liberal partisans there to support him. One fellow even said that in America, we don't film town meetings to keep people from speaking out and asked that the cameras be turned off. As it turned out, the only filming going on was by the liberals themselves. The paranoia was startling to behold, and by a congressman no less!

So much for being able to ask your congressman a question, not if it is Ben Chandler! You had better toe the party line and tell him how much you love him if you are going to get any real exchange out of him. The "partisans and artisans" in attendance did just that, and it was sickening. Nobody there, outside of myself and a couple of others, wanted any real facts or to discuss the pros and cons of this issue. It was truly a partisan evening in the Peoples Republic of Berea last night.

After Ben Chandler refused to answer my question and turned the "jeering" crowd of Birkenstock clad liberals against me, it was all I could do to contain myself. An intelligent, politically experienced individual next to me told me to just smile as they don't know what to do when you don't lower yourself to their level, and he was right. After some accusations, booing and hissing, and ridiculous attacks from others that Ben Chandler called on to speak, I just took notes of the foolish things they said for future analysis, and with a smile. I was amazed at how sheep like and easily controlled the crowd was and at how my congressman would not answer my question, would not allow me to speak by aggressively speaking over me, and had no real knowledge of the issue he was presenting in this alleged "town hall meeting". Amazing! Now, not only am I going to work harder for private accounts as a part of SSI, I am going to do everything I can to get socialist partisan Ben Chandler removed from his congressional haunts. If a stronger candidate ran against him in the last election, he would not be there anyway. Maybe it will help him with his paranoia issue to be retired from politics.

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