I have heard various reports about this, and I don't agree with a snitch line, as desperately as we need public healthcare. I know of other organizations who are asking for people to ask for a hearing in their neighborhood, namely Move On and the SEIU. However, I also get emails from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce asking people to, not only show up at hearings and protest, but to prevent other people from asking questions, prevent our elected officials from speaking, and, generally, prevent free speech from anyone who might be there to find out more about the bill being proposed.
I can say this about the protests at the healthcare town hall meetings: they are preventing real civil discourse regarding healthcare in these United States. We have freedom of speech in this country, but no one has the right to yell fire in a crowded theater, aka insight a riot. I have seen these protests, and I have seen many of them become violent.
I do wish that the Republicans would address the healthcare crisis in this country and propose a plan of their own rather than just pay people to show up at public hearings and scream at the top of their lungs. (Namely Heather Blish, a paid operative at Ideal Campaign, a Republican consulting firm, who disrupted the Kagen hearing in Green Bay. I would not bring her name up here, but she has made herself a public figure and is transparent about her affiliation with Ideal Campaign, that is, except for when she very loudly protested at the recent town hall meeting, where she identified herself as "just a mom.")
I know how it feels to be denied free speech. Even though I was a part of a quiet protest against the War in Iraq back in 2004 and 2005, I was isolated to a "free speech zone," where no one would see the signs the protesters were holding. These were pretty tame signs with statistics. We did not include pictures of casualties as we saw this to be in poor taste. And we sang hymnals, we never shouted. Just kind of ironic.
As far as government going too far, I could say the police officer who pulled me over for no other reason than the fact I had a John Kerry and a Russ Feingold bumper sticker on my car was going too far. He asked me, "do you know why I pulled you over?" and I said, "no, do you wish to enlighten me?" I suppose he figured I was depressed after Kerry had lost and that I had been drinking. This was after the election results were in and it was late at night, as it often is when I have spent the night visiting my parents. I had my dog sitting next to me in the car. Oh, you know I always take him to the bars with me *rolls eyes*. The officer never did give me a reason. I went home and realized I had been profiled. Just some food for thought.