This is not what democracy should look like

We were greeted outside the front door of Mahopac High School by uniformed police and a large display of 16 “Town Hall Ground Rules.” Once inside, we had to verbally confirm that we would comply. Security was stricter than the TSA. They even confiscated my disposable ballpoint pen when I emptied my pockets. As a security threat? I assume the real threat was the written word, not the danger of a physical attack with a disposable pen. 

Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne presided as emcee for Lawler. Byrne gave us another rundown of the lengthy ground rules we had just sworn to in the hallway, with one unsettling addition: “This is a limited public forum. If you violate the rules and refuse a request by law enforcement to leave the premises, you will be charged with trespassing.”

The problem with all of this was the setup. Our Congressman invited us under the false pretense that he wanted to listen, learn and engage in “conversation.” Instead, the first third of the evening was a hard lockdown of the audience followed by a prepared stump speech on SALT. When he subsequently dodged constituent questions, filibustered with stump speech material or made false statements, the crowd would get restless, and Byrne or Lawler would kick in with “folks, we can’t have a dialogue if you’re yelling.”

There was no dialogue. There was an opportunity for 30 seconds with a microphone held in front of you to ask a question. Then the microphone was withdrawn and Mike Lawler ruled the PA system. Kinda like Trump’s press conferences. Fourteen questions were asked, two of those being “Keep up the good work, Mike.” Twelve times 30 seconds equals six minutes of constituent access to the microphone.

When serious questions were asked, Lawler would pivot to demeaning demands for a show of hands from the audience: Who supports spitting on ICE agents? Antisemitic hate speech on campus? Antisemitic rap videos funded with U.S. tax dollars? Medicaid for illegal aliens?

All in all, this was performance art, as perfected by Lawler. Harden the venue, chill the room, dress up as a moderate, dress down the critics, dress up the facts, deflect, demean, distract, distort. And control the mics.

I just had a sinking feeling all night that perhaps this is what it looks like when democracy slips away. A sad night in a high school auditorium, told to sit down, shut up and listen to the propaganda or otherwise be charged with trespassing. Penned up and pen-less.

-Steve Budd