Are You Listening, Tammy?

Tonight I accompanied Mr. Ether and friends Donna, Beth, and Crayons to a listening session with Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin. She holds these periodically throughout her district, although never in Madison. I wonder why. Perhaps she knows she'll get a big old earful from Madisonians, or perhaps she thinks we flap our lips enough already and the people in the outlying communities have fewer chances to flap their lips. Whatever. We drove to Middleton, recently rated #1 city to live in by Money Magazine, and home of the lovely and talented Jess Wundrun. I hoped Jess would be there, but alas, she was not.

I have to say that I appreciate that Tammy holds these sessions, and that they are very down to Earth and low key. There are no security checks, no formalities ... Mr. Ether even wore his Impeach Cheney baseball cap. This one was in the Senior Center.

The last listening session I went to I arrived at about 30 minutes before it was due to start and there were already many speakers registered in front of me. I almost had to leave to get back to work before it was my turn. Tonight we took precautions to arrive plenty early, and no one was there! No matter, we went across the street to the diner to wait.

There were many eloquent speakers, and most spoke out about the need to begin impeachment investigations. While she [belatedly] signed on to H.R. Resolution 333 to impeach Cheney, Tammy hemmed and hawed about how there is not enough support for it in Congress. The people present were having none of that. "You work for us!" "Beginning the investigation is the way to build support!" "Step up, Tammy!" and so on. I'd like to think that it was the listening sessions last spring that finally got her to sign onto Kucinich's resolution, so perhaps these sessions too will bear fruit.

Tammy plays it way too safe. I'm not sure if it is because of her position as one of the few openly gay members of Congress, or what. One gentleman, while commending her on her stance on human rights issues, took her to task for failing to see the human rights abuses in Palestine. I was disappointed in her response; predictably, she talked about the failure of Hamas to put a stop to suicide bombings. I was very proud of that speaker for saying, "Just keep in mind as you are considering this, that there is no symmetry there. One side has U.S. supplied weapons while the other side has rocks and improvised explosives." In my opinion, too many politicians, even those with whom I mostly agree, are way too deep in Israel's pockets.

I especially want to commend Beth (a.k.a. "Anonymous") for advocating for immigrants and commenting on NCLB. She even invoked Saint Alfie (Kohn, that is.) Very thoughtfully and articulately done, Beth.

And Mr. Ether, who was passionate, angry, and to the point. Congresswoman Baldwin needs to hear that.

Anyway, I'm glad I went. After a long day it was tempting to go all whiny about being tired and going out into the gray, damp November evening, but being there, I was reminded that we do still have a shred of Democracy left and we need to show up whenever possible.