Claquewatch NY: On Civil Society

When Blueskygirl witnesses supporters of Ann Marie Buerkle behaving uncivilly toward some of the people who attend Buerkle's town hall meetings, and when Buerkle allows this to go on, meeting after meeting, Blueskygirl has to ask if these are actions similar to those that occurred at recent televised Republican debates.

Claquers: ask yourselves:

• Does a death sentence, carried out, deny the commandment Thou Shalt Not Kill?

• Does letting an uninsured person die without medical care fit with your moral teachings?

• Does rejecting people who are not like you, any people, fit with Loving Thy Neighbor as Thyself?

Yet, on national television recently, carefully chosen audiences at Republican debates:

• cheered for Texas governor Rick Perry's high number of executions;

• shouted "let him die," drowning out a question to Ron Paul about an uninsured person with a fatal illness and no insurance;

• booed a gay US soldier on active duty in Afghanistan who, in a video question segment, asked candidates' opinions on the US military's reversal of don't-ask-don't-tell.

US HR NY25 Claquers: are these audiences the people you want to be allied and associated with? 

Blueskygirl wishes she had evidence that local Claquers are different, but she has none. Unfortunately the intolerance she witnesses at all of Ann Marie Buerkle's meetings causes her to suspect these people are quite similar to the Republican debates audiences.

And the presidential candidates, and Ann Marie Buerkle, do nothing to interrupt the divisiveness and hate. That speaks volumes. 

As a civil society we must deplore this behavior in any leader or prospective leader, and in their followers. 

We are a nation built on tolerance not hate. Every one of us has a responsibility to help promote an atmosphere where all people are treated humanely.