At Bergman's Office, Interview with a Veteran

At a gathering of concerned citizens at Representative Jack Bergman’s office on Tuesday, Feb 21, 2017, I interviewed a veteran holding a flag and sign that read “This Veteran Wants a Real Town Hall.”

Me: Can you tell us your name, sir, and why you are here?

“My name is Jim, and I’m here to protest. I wanted to see Jack and tell him about some of my concerns. I heard he’s not going to be here. I’ve been here four Tuesday’s in a row. He must understand that I come here every Tuesday. I’ve been signing up on that sheet.”

Me: Do you give him a call every now and then?

Jim: “Well Washington, yes, but he’s in district this week is my understanding. I thought I might go pay twenty bucks and go to that small business dinner [in Petosky], but then I thought, well wait a minute, he might come here because this is where his constituents are and we’re rallying every week. I kind of thought he’d be here.”

Me: What kinds of concerns did you want to ask him about?

Jim: “Well, I would say basically, I understand that the Representative is new to Congress, [but that] he’s also a seasoned military man. He understands hierarchy, so what he’s probably thinking is that he has to go along with the platform of his party and vote along those lines. But we’re in Northern Michigan here. We have a lot of sense of land. We have concerns about the Healthcare Act. One question I wanted to take today, does he realize all these defunding actions that were taken by the Congress last month, does he understand that these defunding actions will leave us without insurance? Does he have a number on his constituents who will now not have insurance? There’s a lot of other stuff. Mostly, I just wanted to talk to him.”