By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
–Marcus Aurelius
On Columbus Day, some of our local group of Democratic Club members gathered at the Court House Square here in the Pea Patch, carrying homemade signs demanding that our Fourth District House Representative, Vicky Hartzler — a Tea Bagger who catapulted into national politics during the Great Disenchantment of 2010 — keep her hands off our Social Security. Hartzler, well funded by the Republican political machine here in Southern Missouri, replaced the respected Blue Dog Dem incumbent, Ike Skelton, beating the 34-year veteran of the House and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee by a mere 5% of votes.
Although the shut-down had yet to be settled, the impetus for the protest was the Tea Party attack on “entitlements.” Hartzler had joined 50 other Republicans in signing a letter to John Boehner urging that any negotiations for shutdown should include, among other things, implementing chained CPI and means testing for Social Security. Nowhere, of course, did it include discussion of raising the cap on earnings of the wealthy, which would quickly stabilize the Social Security Insurance program well into the future, or of allowing for an active immigration program that would mend it in an eye blink.
Since the county seat (of slightly less than 10,000 souls) was shut up tight as a drum on the holiday, we gathered, flashed our signs at the few cars that passed by, and took pictures, including several outside the little local newspaper office, just across the street from the square. One of our company, a lifetime resident active in the Dem party who had previously served in county government, slipped a letter to the editor pointing out Hartzler’s intent into their mail slot, including a copy of the offending letter to the House Speaker with Vicky’s name highlighted. We had no idea if they would print it, given the overt tendency to lean as far right on most matters as possible while still issuing a policy of allowing “all viewpoints to have a voice.” The paper came out mid-week, and — lo and behold — there it was.