Ezra Klein: Town Hall Protesters Are Killing Democracy!

Here's Ezra Klein:

When you have to explain why your bill won't create death panels, and what will make sure that it doesn't, you've pretty much lost the argument.

That's an excellent point, and I'm glad he admits it, because the rest of Klein's essay makes the case that just asking if ObamaCare will create "death panels" is killing democracy. That's right, Klein argues that the concerns over Democratic plans for cost rationalization, felt by literally hundreds of thousands of regular Americans, amount to "unthinkable madness."

Klein links to an essay at the Post by Danielle Allen, "Health Reform's Hearing Problem: Both Sides Are Deaf to the Real Debate About Consequences":

In asking lawmakers to consider not merely the goals of their policies but also the experiential meaning of concrete realities that those policies may bring, they have a point. One can't answer them by saying: "These policies won't ration; there will be no death panels." If these reforms do either of these things, they will do so as a matter of unintended consequences. The appropriate answer, therefore, is to explain the institutional checks that will prevent the emergence of such unintended consequences.

Actually ,"unintended consequences" are part and parcel to policy evaluation. Leftists had no problem attacking the Bush administration's robust forward policy of democracy promotion, including wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, by excoriating neo-imperialist "blowback." Yet, now that the Democrats are in power, and when they're being asked legitimate questions - and whether folks are angry while asking the questions is immaterial - they throw up their hands and cry, "Ahh, this is madness ... you're killing the democratic process." Ezra Klein's basically endorsing the Pelosi/Hoyer formulation of criticism of the administration as "un-American." Leftists, people who are supposed to be all about civic participation and civil liberties, want to squelch freedom of speech faster than you can say "comparative effectiveness."

In any case, watch Glenn Beck at the video above. He argues, at about 2:40 minutes, that "I am so sick and tired of the media, and everybody else, equating union thugs with everyday Americans."

But you won't get that from Ezra Klein and the secular collectivists. All you'll here are smears of "Astroturfing" and "teabagging," and how the right's "hooligans" are destroying democracy.

Frankly, grassroots American democracy hasn't been quite this vigorous in some time, and we can thank Barack Obama's own hubris for that, not to mention the Pelosi/Reid/Hoyer faction's own sense of royal entitlement.

Meanwhile, our all-American town hall demonstrators just need to keep repeating: "You work for us"!