On Tuesday evening, March 29, 2005, Congressman Tom Price held the first in a series of three town-hall meetings in his 6th Congressional District.  Well over a hundred Cobb citizens showed up and unanimously told Cong. Price they did not want any form of Social Security Privatization. If this is any sign of the responses other members of Congress are receiving, Social Security privatization is a dead issue.

The 6th District in Georgia encompasses E. Cobb, major portions of W. Cobb, N. Fulton, and parts of Cherokee counties.  It includes Kennesaw, Vinings, Alpharetta, Roswell, and Sandy Springs.  The District votes about 70% Republican.  However, you would have never guessed that from the questions and comments from the large crowd at the Marietta Main Library that evening.

To be fair, the Congressman said he was not necessarily in favor of any of the current four privatization proposals before the House - at least as currently written.  He said he would explore all options, including perhaps raising the ceiling on taxable income and cutting benefits.  

Then, after quite a bit of discussion, one gentleman rose and said that the Congressman could easily see tonight that there was not a single person in the crowd there that wanted any of the four privatization bills to come forward.  For this, he received a resounding round of applause.  He then asked Cong. Price, what he was going to do now after hearing from his constituents this evening.  The Congressman said he heard and listened carefully to what was said and would consider all options on the table.

At one point, the Congressman was so tired of the tough questions that he asked, "Does anyone here have a softball question?"  One woman responded by thanking Cong. Price for his positive vote on the Terri Schiavo bill.  For that, she received a resounding chorus of boos from the assembled.

I was very proud of my fellow Cobb County Citizens in the 6th District for their very intelligent, articulate and surprising (to me) progressive stands on the issues.  I was also proud of the many members of East Cobb Democratic Alliance that spoke at the meeting.  However, we were not the only ones there who came out against privatization and in favor of progressive values.

Contact Sander Bellman