Mike Honda Holds in Person Town Hall Meetings on Healthcare

Today Congressman Mike Honda held two in person town hall events. Two if by Sea was on hand to cover the first event held at Santa Clara University. Those present seemed to overwhelmingly be in favor of socialized medicine, however, it is not clear how well the event was publicized. Representative Honda has had a small blip about it on his website for the last week or two, but those who do not regularly visit his website, or participate in left-leaning email groups or websites, probably would not have been aware of the event. For the better part of an hour Representative Honda fielded softball questions from a mostly friendly audience. Some audience members without specific questions, who nevertheless had won the question "drawing", were allowed to pontificate at length about the merits of a "single payer" system and their unwavering support for Representative Honda's agenda. Only at the end of the meeting, after it had been announced that the last few questions would have to be asked quickly, were dissenting voices from the crowd heard.

I was somewhat disappointed with the town hall event from the perspective of it being a real debate about healthcare reform. There was not a lot of diversity of opinion in the audience, an audience which was certainly not representative of the broad range of viewpoints people have in California's 15th district. In the future I would recommend that Representative Honda and his staff make an effort to reach out to those who may not readily agree with all his policies, and invite them to participate in the discussion.