You’ll never guess what I did last night.

I went to one of Republican Rep. Sue Myrick’s town hall meetings on health care.

Having read so much about these boisterous events, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

I wanted to confirm the mob outrage I'd seen on TV. I wanted to hear the barely veiled racist remarks reported to be common at other such events. I wanted to decide for myself whether these people are, as they say, simply concerned citizens, or something worse.

I also went determined to keep an open mind.

The meeting was held at 7 p.m. inside the Gaston Day School, 2001 Gaston Day School Road, Gastonia. Even by the standards of Gaston County, this was no easy drive for someone leaving Charlotte.

Myrick’s other two town hall meetings were in equally remote locations – one at Weddington High School in Union County and another at J.V. Washam Elementary School in Cornelius. I couldn’t help but wonder as I drove for miles along narrow, winding roads why Myrick had chosen to ignore Mecklenburg, the state’s largest and most diverse county.

When I arrived, five minutes late, the parking lot was full. So was the 540-seat auditorium. Myrick’s staff was setting up overflow chairs out in the lobby. Being a member of the press, I was given access to the main room. The heavy police presence could not be missed.

The audience inside was decidedly north of middle age. A few carried protest signs, but not many. I counted two African Americans.

Myrick was standing behind a large wooden podium on a large stage, explaining why she opposes President Obama’s efforts to reform health care: the proposals cost too much, they amount to a government takeover, might eventually rob families of choice, could lead to health care rationing…

“We really do need to find a way to solve this problem,” she said.

She then launched into some “common sense things” we as a nation could do to fix health care without a major overhaul: allow insurers to compete across state lines, create an online market where families can shop for low rates, phase out limitations for pre-existing conditions, make insurance portable, limit liability suits against doctors and hospitals…

Then came time for public comment.

“I was brought up to believe that government was for the people and by the people,” the first speaker, a middle-age woman, said right off the bat. “What happened? ...We don’t need another welfare program.”

“I don’t support this regime,” another speaker said, demanding to know why Obama has been appointing government czars who aren’t accountable to the people or Congress. He called them a “shadow government.”

One man said Obama was a “good talker” but was leading the United States toward dictatorship.

“I understand those concerns,” Myrick said.

Another woman said she was angry that Obama supporters had branded as racist those who oppose health care reform. “How dare they?” she kept repeating, “How dare they?”

For two hours I listened, one speaker after another, all praising Myrick for fighting the good fight – for her anti-abortion stand, for opposing health care reform, for supporting the military -- and all lambasting Obama as a danger, a menace or both.

Only two in the audience rose in support for health care reform, and both were booed or shouted down to various degrees. (One said she’d like to hit Myrick with a tomato, and the crowd gave her the expected response.)

To her credit, Myrick did try (unsuccessfully) to silence those who wanted to drown out dissent, reminding them that all deserved a chance to be heard. She also said emphatically that the Obama plan contained no provision for “death panels,” and that she wished the phrase could disappear from the public debate.

In the end, I heard nothing that was overtly, or covertly, racist. But that hardly mattered. This was not Obama’s crowd. They did not elect him. They do not like him. And he will not sway them, regardless of what he proposes.

Next time: The legitimate concerns I heard. Plus, what these town hall meetings really say about America.