Have you seen the news about the disruptions in the townhall meetings about the proposed healthcare changes? An interesting article about it is here. People opposed to the changes, currently under debate in Washington, are apparently organizing their efforts to become instruments of intimidation toward those who night support or want to learn more about the possible future legislation.
It reminds me of a situation that occurred right here in the TAJ community. When we were hit by hurricane Wilma several years ago we sustained significant damage to our roofs -- nearly $1,000,000 of damage, collectively. In an effort to lend some assistance to the people of Florida, the state offered Small Business Administration (SBA) loans at a substantially lower interest rate than otherwise could be obtained. If we borrowed the money through them we would save the neighborhood many thousands of dollars in interest repayment.
However, before we could borrow the money we had to have the affirmative vote of 50% +1 of our membership. Seemed like a no-brainer to get people to vote yes to saving money. Weirdly, however, it did not happen that way. In spite of the dissemination of information through the normal channels of mass communication, and the efforts of several community activists going door-to-door explaining the benefits to individual owners of the SBA loan, people were suspicious and generally loath to vote for it.
Consequently, now there are many people who have repaid or are in the process of repaying loans with an interest rate of 10%. The SBA was offering loans at the rate of 4%.
At the time I was struck by the irony that we could not convince people to vote for something that was so obviously in their own best interest. But now I have come to understand that, for many people, decisions like this are based on a straight-forward consideration of the facts. There are also other forces at work, like resistance to change, suspiciousness of government, fear of commitment, and maybe even a little bit of social isolationism that also come into play.
In the current debate over healthcare reform, I fear there are even nefarious influences at play. I fear that political gamesmanship and Insurance company dollars are also behind the vocal resistance to the sharing of information in the townhall meetings.
It is an interesting time that we live in. Our children will one day read about how we made things so much better, or how we really screwed it up when we had the chance. I can't wait to see how it turns out!
It reminds me of a situation that occurred right here in the TAJ community. When we were hit by hurricane Wilma several years ago we sustained significant damage to our roofs -- nearly $1,000,000 of damage, collectively. In an effort to lend some assistance to the people of Florida, the state offered Small Business Administration (SBA) loans at a substantially lower interest rate than otherwise could be obtained. If we borrowed the money through them we would save the neighborhood many thousands of dollars in interest repayment.
However, before we could borrow the money we had to have the affirmative vote of 50% +1 of our membership. Seemed like a no-brainer to get people to vote yes to saving money. Weirdly, however, it did not happen that way. In spite of the dissemination of information through the normal channels of mass communication, and the efforts of several community activists going door-to-door explaining the benefits to individual owners of the SBA loan, people were suspicious and generally loath to vote for it.
Consequently, now there are many people who have repaid or are in the process of repaying loans with an interest rate of 10%. The SBA was offering loans at the rate of 4%.
At the time I was struck by the irony that we could not convince people to vote for something that was so obviously in their own best interest. But now I have come to understand that, for many people, decisions like this are based on a straight-forward consideration of the facts. There are also other forces at work, like resistance to change, suspiciousness of government, fear of commitment, and maybe even a little bit of social isolationism that also come into play.
In the current debate over healthcare reform, I fear there are even nefarious influences at play. I fear that political gamesmanship and Insurance company dollars are also behind the vocal resistance to the sharing of information in the townhall meetings.
It is an interesting time that we live in. Our children will one day read about how we made things so much better, or how we really screwed it up when we had the chance. I can't wait to see how it turns out!
