'Buffaloes in Springfield' or Vignettes From a Demonstration

…A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

For What It’s Worth - Stephen Stills - Buffalo Springfield

I got an invite for a protest from Democratic activist John Fennell, who wanted to get a presence at Congressman Meehan’s office in Springfield. I had a number of conversations that day. Here are my impressions.

The Signs

John’s invite gave me an address in Media. I was assuming it was the Congressman’s office until I went in and found it was the Delaware County Democratic HQ. People were making signs to carry. They were thinking up the slogans. Before identifying myself, I chirped in with some more moderate ideas about putting America First and Party Second. They kinda liked those thoughts.

One of the folks in the room identified herself as a secretary for the county party. So I asked her – could she see painting the GOP with a Tea Party brush in the local elections? She was pretty adamant that would never fly. She thought such a strategy would backfire on Democrats. She thought that painting people who may be a little league coach with a Tea Party moniker would be wrong. She still thought I was off base when I responded with the thought that those “good” Republicans are enabling the Tea Party by their silence.

I asked her if she knew the strength of the Tea Party in Delaware County and she said she hadn’t looked at them or thought about them. I knew I was going nowhere fast so I excused myself to the next room to see John. I spent a few minutes chatting with John and the executive director, who seems very sharp. I got directions to the congressman’s REAL office and was on my way.

On leaving the building, I saw the secretary once more and said in passing, “How ya doin’?” Her response was, the we say it Delco, “Alright.”  But the way it comes out the “L” and the “R” are silent. I know I am home.

Driving to the site, I started thinking about coaching little league. I used to coach everything my kids were into. I took it fairly seriously. I learned that the best combination of three things will win on the field – brains, brawn and speed. Kids growing up can’t do much about the brawn and speed parts (you are blessed or you aren’t), but you can always do a whole lot about the brains part. You can always get smarter and prepare better. I learned that you will generally lose if you don’t know anything about your opponent. 

If this Democratic Party wants to play on the field with the Tea Party and the GOP they may need to scout them better.

The Buffaloes

Congressman Meehan’s Office is well located just on Route 320 just north of Route 1. When I pulled up I could see the herds gathering.  There were a number of people who were already talking. I walked up and eavesdropped on one conversation. A gentleman with a hat full of Obama flair was engaged with some Tea Party women. They were all respectful in tone, but it still seemed like a game of talking points volleyball.

So I walked down and found a younger guy hold a sign about lower taxes and started asking questions. Turns out he is political science major from Neumann College. He wants to eliminate the Department of Education. He said his mother was a teacher was now laid-off.  If he wanted to blow me away – he was doing it. I asked him how eliminating the Department of Education was going to help secure our national economic security when a country like China is out-educating us. His response was that China was so far ahead anyway – why bother. When asked him what town he was from – “Oh, I am from South Jersey.”  I walked away with a really bad impression of Neumann College.

As I was talking to the Neumann “scholar” an older guy had his arms folded and a look of – I am going after this guy. He wanted to continue the attack the young scholar from outside the district couldn’t finish. I made sure he was from the district – Drexel Hill. The first thing he said was the Department of Education was stated by Jimmy Carter and has wasted over a trillion dollars. I tried to stop the talking point flow there but he was moving too fast downstream. When he took his first breath at 25 seconds I brought him back to his first point.

If Carter established the Department of Education in 1977 – that means we are closing in on 34 years. Dividing that up is less than 3 billion a year (stack that up against the Pentagon). I asked what do we get for it – his response was lower test scores. I reminded him the education is an economic development issue.

We are sitting in the 7^th Congressional District. Schools like Widener, Neumann, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Villanova are all located here.  Look at the populations going to these schools. Every time you see a student from another country coming here to be educated – this is proof that we have a really strong school system – something the Department of Education maintains. He did not want to buy my argument and moved on.

As I moved through the crowd one guy was carrying a large American flag. He was Tea Party and I asked where he was from – “Fort Lauderdale, Florida – Wasserman-Schultz District”.  “Did they bus you in?” “No – we don’t bus people in. I am Tea Party.” He made sure I knew he was close personal friends with the guy down there who called the Congresswoman all sorts of names. (You know – the one that lives in Wasserman-Schultz’ District but serves in another district – seems only fitting.)

There is something I find really objectionable to having someone come into my district from 1500 miles away to affect my Congressman. This guy has his own Congressman – he should leave mine alone. If your town or school district is gerrymandered such that there are two or three congresspeople then I can see going across the line, because it is affecting you indirectly – but from Florida?

I came upon three folks together and as we talked I found they were very involved people from Concord. The main thing they wanted was to stop the spending, but we got into a very interesting conversation about voter fraud. They feel the ID issue is a valid one. I think it is attempting to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. They feel that showing an ID will somehow do a better job than the poll workers we have. 

One of the women said she could vote as her dead mother if she wanted. Aside from doubting that very much, I asked what procedure is performed at the polls in Delco (I moved to Montco a while ago). I never got a real clear picture of what goes on there from these folks.  But when you think about this issue, keep in mind that no one is getting arrested for the activity of fraudulently voting. The gentleman of the group complained about Chicago at which point I said, “Why should Pennsylvanians be punished for actions done in Illinois?” No answer.

They could not contest that the procedure of checking someone’s signature against what is on the books at the polling place is a sufficient enough to allow one to vote. It is also insulting to the already-elected officials on these polling boards who are sworn to do these jobs to cast aspersions upon them.

It wasn’t a thousand people in the streets (well less than 100) and they weren’t singing – but they were carrying signs. The Tea Party members outnumbered the Democrats by about 2-1 at this gathering.  Fox came by and made sure they got their optics.

The Office

Congressman Meehan’s office is on the second floor of the building. Walk in and you find a sliding glass partition to allow the workers to greet citizens. The woman who took my name was very polite and professional. 

I asked if the congressman had taken the Norquist No-Tax Oath. She couldn’t say. Funny – no one else can tell if he has taken it either (I asked everyone I could find). 

I asked her to relay the message that it would be good if the congressman could be the first GOP member to cross his party’s borders and start negotiation directly with the Democrats in Congress to break this impasse.

The Chief

An old friend and I were talking off to the side of the demonstration when Springfield Police Chief Daly spotted us under the tree we using as a sunshield. He complimented us for not roasting our brains next to the traffic where everyone else was. After he realized I was with the press, he basically said he was really happy with the way things are going; not only today, but earlier in the week when MoveOn was out with another Tea Party Group doing the same type of thing. He said this is the way America should work – groups of people voicing their opinions without anyone getting hurt.

We kinda joked that if we can stick them all in a room and not let them use the bathrooms, these people might talk TO one another instead of AT one another and we may be able to get somewhere.

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