by Elizabeth A. Marion

Created on: April 14, 2010   Last Updated: April 24, 2010

Throughout the week following the vote that passed the Obama administration's plan for health care reform, unofficially dubbed "Obamacare", several Congressmen publicly made claims of being threatened because of how they voted on health care. Some even released phone messages and faxes they had received to the public. Two democratic members of Congress had bricks thrown through their office windows and a gunshot was fired at one republicans office. And even with an issue as serious as the security and safety of the members of Congress some still choose to play politics.

Representative Steny Hoyer held a press conference in which he made the public aware of the threats and said there was no place for that in a democracy. That's true, but the statement was ironic since the legislation Hoyer voted for would greatly contribute to the destruction of democracy in America. Republican minority leader John Beohner did condemn the threats and encouraged angry voters to express that anger through elections. Congressmen Barney Frank said that he was glad the republicans condemned the threats, but complained that they should have said something sooner about the threats against democrats. He was silent when the public later found out about the gunshot fired at the office of republican Eric Cantor. And Eric Cantor accused the democrats of using the threats to raise money for their campaigns.

This is how screwed up Washington has become. Even the issue of safety becomes a political circus. There is a much deeper concern here than some of the games the politicians are playing. There are many unjustified accusations being spread around by the members of Congress, with the help of the media, to smear republicans and, of course, the tea party. Some democrats in Congress are accusing the republican party of inciting or encouraging the threats that have taken place, when the reality is that they have done the exact opposite. They have strongly condemned these actions and there is no evidence linking these actions to the republican party. That doesn't matter to the people who want to smear the republicans. It doesn't matter to them whether the accusations are baseless or not. The mainstream media, particularly individuals like Chris Matthews, have used these threats to smear the tea party. No arrests had been made, yet the media had been jumping to outrageous conclusions that suit their needs and, with no evidence whatsoever, accusing the tea party and the republican party of inciting fear. The people who are making these inaccurate accusations are the ones who are inciting fear. They are causing people to be fearful of conservatives and right wingers when there is no cause to be afraid of them. The threats should not be tolerated, but neither should the smearing of innocent citizens. The news media needs to be held accountable.

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