Report from Outside Senator Cardin's Town-hall - By Maria Allwine

There were posters of Obama as Hitler, the "Democratic Nazi Party", "Keep Your Laws Off My Body" (except for abortion - I asked) and other various and sundry examples of ugliness.

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I went to the rally and got there at about 5:35 pm. Already there were signs posted saying the event (which had a huge line already waiting to get in) had reached capacity. I hope members of Healthcare-Now of MD were there early.

The organized right-wingers were there in droves - I estimate (and I am not the best guesser) at least 1,000 attended, maybe more. They were bused in from all over MD from what I was hearing. There were maybe 500 of us, perhaps more (guessing). Osler Drive was lined up on both sides for a very long way but the majority of them were the right-wingers. They were all along the west side of Osler and a good deal of the east side where we were. I'll be interested to read the estimates from a more reliable source than myself.

I have never seen such hatred, vitriol, and racism in all my life - and I do not say that lightly. It made me physically ill. I could stand the heat, but I couldn't stand the hatred and racism. We all read about it, we know it - but having it in your face in such large and angry numbers is hard to deal with. There were posters of Obama as Hitler, the "Democratic Nazi Party", "Keep Your Laws Off My Body" (except for abortion - I asked) and other various and sundry examples of ugliness. There were also a lot of "killing the elderly, euthanasia" type signs. And of course, our favorite - "No Socialism." The right-wingers were screaming and angry, and they often came over to where we were standing to provoke us and to out-shout us. The comments to me as I walked up and down with my signs were appalling. Just ugly, ugly, ugly.

I am telling you this for a reason.

Folks, this is NOT about health care or anything remotely resembling policy or any particular issue. This is about the naked anger of the right wing being out of power and not accepting a black man as President, combined with their own racism. Such racism is thinly veiled at best, but it's racism. I venture to say that this is the least thinly veiled racism I've seen for a long time - they have taken those gloves off. When people say "I work, I'm not paying for anyone else" - that's about African-Americans and Latinos - period. I stated so to a couple of young women and of course they countered me with extreme anger and then one took my picture to show her children what's wrong with America (I worry about that - these people love to post pictures of people they want to make targets).

Later I asked one older woman very calmly - she was calm herself - if she cared about other people besides her own family and loved ones. She looked me in the eyes and said "NO, I don't". I was lost for words. I often heard people saying "I work, I don't want to pay for anyone else." And a lot of "health care is a privilege, not a right", and, " you people just keep wanting more" - a lot in that vein. And of course excoriating "socialism" was a favorite.

I asked one man, who was screaming at us, how he could live with so much hatred every day. He whipped around and yelled at me, "I keep it coming every day!" He was so angry I thought he was going to have some kind of attack. These are people we see on the street every day. I've worked with them - and when I say they are filled with hate, I do not exaggerate. I finally had to leave around 7 pm - I couldn't take any more of the ugliness. I was literally sick to my gut.

Make no mistake - these people are lying and have been told to lie. They have no facts and are not dissuaded by those who do and want to discuss them. There is NO engaging these people - they are way beyond that. That's not what they're there for. That's why I say we must stop discussing policy and start discussing strategy and tactics.

In my opinion, we (the left, the progressives, and the Congresspeople who are with us) are making a mistake by ignoring these people. This is not about the people at these events; it's about who is controlling them. And that is the wealthy elites who will do anything, including destroying what is left of the democracy we remember, to protect what they have, the corporations who control Congress and who actually rule this country and the extremists who are driven by hatred and racism. They are working together and if we do not develop an effective strategy and new tactics to counter them, this country is doomed.

I hope the report from inside Sen. Cardin's meeting is more positive than mine! I'm posting this because what I witnessed tonight must be a wake-up call to us - not something to ignore. This will not go away, and indeed will only get worse.

Peace to you all - Maria Allwine

Maria Allwine was the Green Party candidate for Baltimore City Council President in 2007.