I've seen the women's anti-war group CodePink disrupt many a hearing on Capitol Hill over the past several years in protest of the war in Iraq, but yesterday was the first time that I have seen protesters disrupt a Senate hearing on healthcare.

The protesters weren't anti-war activists, but rather doctors and other citizens, organized by Healthcare-Now! and Physicians for a National Health Program who want Congress to create a single-payer public-financed healthcare plan. Here's the press release and video they published on the event.

No one in Congress is discussing creating a single-payer system and President Obama didn't campaign on starting one either. Still, the protesters yesterday probably put some lawmakers on notice about the passions surrounding the issue.

Eight people got up, one after the other, to yell at Senate Finance Committee members and their panel of 18 stakeholders. Capitol Hill police took them away, one by one and arrested them for disorderly conduct. At one point, a person in the audience turned to me and said "Wow. Now this is democracy in action."

The Huffington Post has more on the story here.