Chet Edwards First of 3 Regional Town Hall Meetings Raucus (Bryan-College Station)-August 2009Somervell County Salon-Glen Rose, Rainbow, Nemo, Glass....Texas
"I currently have a right to a private health care system if I want it," Tom Konderla said as many in the audience cheered. "Where does it say in the U.S. Constitution that the federal government can usurp that right and impose their will upon me as a citizen of the United States?"
Edwards responded that the federal government has been involved in health care for years by providing subsidies, health insurance for veterans and programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. He asked those in the crowd if they would support eliminating Medicare and Medicaid, and a large group raised their hands and said they would. Edwards countered that he believed such views didn't represent the opinion of the majority of his district.
@Marcy-Well, I don't agree politically with that news talk station at all, but I did agree with part of the video regarding private meetings that the public isn't invited to.. where there aren't public meetings for all. And i don't like these regional town halls.
I think he ought to hold a town hall meeting in every county of the district he is in. Not one big ole honking tele-town hall and not smaller ones that emcompass multiple counties. For example, he came here last week, without any notice in the newspaper and without scheduling a town hall meeting and went to three different events (one was a News conference with the 2 reporters from the 2 newspapers, one was a meeting with the local hospital and one was a meeting at the high school.) I don't know about the hospital but the school district teachers didn't know that he was coming. And what's a little offensive to me is that he told one of the reporters that Somervell County residents feel thus and so about this and so. Well, how can he know that when he is not holding an open town hall meeting for JUST OUR COUNTY that invites, in advance, the residents to attend? There are 365 days in a year. And he has, what, 15 counties? That leaves 350 days. And you can't tell me that he couldn't have stacked in an extra meeting.
I also have a real problem with a. the short length of time he has for the entire regional town hall. b. the fact that he is going to do a lottery system for questions instead of, um, taking them ALL even if it means staying till midnight (that's what TxDOT did during the trans texas corridor hearings-and I went to a NAIS deal a couple of months ago where the USDA was going to do the lottery and there were so many complaints from all the participants that they sat there over time until everyone had a chance to really be heard and c. the fact that he is banning cameras and electronic devices from his regional town hall UNLESS IT'S ONE HE APPROVES OF. I don't like him attempting to control the media, control his appearances, control who gets to actually speak, etc.
Here's how I feel about congressional representatives. I believe there is MORE of them so that they can more closely represent their district, as opposed to two senators for an entire state. It doesn't matter to me if the representative shares my views or not, only that he or she should make attempts to hear and interact. Calling up a rep and getting told that I will get a letter about the subject in a week or two isn't enough.
