It occurred to me the other day as I was sifting through this slide show of Tea Party protest signs that I didn’t really know much about the Tea Party movement. From the beginning it’s always seemed a little fuzzy to me. Were “Tea Baggers” just a bunch of kooks from the get-go or was it a sincere political movement that somehow managed to derail itself?
I mean, they claim to be libertarians, “social conservatives”, not Republicans — although suspiciously the movement began during the first few weeks of the Obama administration.
Their agenda at the time mostly involved protesting the 2009 Stimulus package that was about to pass. So far, so good, I guess. As someone whose grasp of economics never made it past clipping coupons for 2-for-1 coupon day I wasn’t sure where I stood on the validity of the Stimulus package but I think it’s wise and, dare I say, “American” to form a contrarian opinion to government action when it involves handing out $787 billion dollars.
But things got real fishy real fast. Fox News quickly jumped on the bandwagon (or, more likely, pushed the bandwagon until it had reached maximum speed and leaped jumped aboard) and suddenly it was quite obvious that this “grass roots” movement wasn’t truly steering itself. Key Republicans like Newt Gingrich started praising “Tea Baggers” (much later Massachusetts Republican Senatorial candidate Scott Brown supported the movement and suddenly he was a Senator. And not a Tea Party Senator, mind you, a Republican Senator), “Birthers” joined the blend, Sarah Palin took home a nice paycheck for speaking at their conference, and what seemed like, in theory, a positive step towards questioning our two-party-turned-one-party system revealed itself to be a hodgepodge of self-loathing Republicans and genuine, bona fide angry, incoherent wack-jobs.
Well darn. That’s disappointing. I like the name. I like the concept.
But as it turns out, the Tea Party Movement is pretty much Woodstock ’99, isn’t it? You know, that “reboot” of the original Woodstock, except this time instead of being motivated by peace and love and music – it was sponsored by Nike and AT&T and Sony and pretty much everything the original Woodstock stood against.
Or maybe a better analogy is this: The players in the Tea Party Movement are the Intelligent Designers of politics. Too cowardly to admit that they’re Republicans (or some would say “too cowardly to admit that they’re terrified of their black president”) they “astroturf” themselves. (I love that expression. Click the link if you’re not familiar).
Oh, and quick suggestion, Tea Baggers. If you’re going to call our President a “Nazi”, a “socialist” and a “communist” fine by me. But PICK ONE. Because those political philosophies are in no way interchangable. Not even close. As a matter of fact, I remember one war a while back (perhaps you’ve heard of it, World War II?) where the Nazis and the Communists actually fought on opposite sides.
I guess when you hate someone so darn much, sometimes you lose your ability to make an intelligent argument. Or in the case of this guy, most likely, you never had that ability in the first place. (Very awkward metaphor, sir.)
I agree that some tea-partiers have taken it too far. The radicals that get all the attention of the news stations you seem to watch are most definitely not the majority. I’ve attended Tea Parties in Raleigh, NC and Washington, D.C. and have met some of the nicest and most hardworking people. Most news stations shoot these people down as nut-jobs and racist rednecks. It’s true that there are bad people on both sides of the political spectrum, but 95% are normal people! And on the subject of “astroturf,” I wonder if you’ve ever been to a liberal protest. They’re so often shown on TV, I hope you’ve at least seen one! Have you noticed all the people wearing matching shirts or holding signs supplied by an organization? That’s astroturf. In fact, I was attending a counter-protest just a few months ago and saw 5 buses packing up people wearing the same green t-shirt! These people are rounded up and promised a free lunch or money if they participate. It’s wrong. The majority of tea-partiers make their own signs and PAY to travel with a group (to save money, like I have done with Americans for Prosperity) or drive themselves to protests. I’m most surprised that this is on Our Annoying World. It is biased and ill-researched blog posts that are most annoying to me.
“I’m most surprised that this is on Our Annoying World. It is biased and ill-researched blog posts that are most annoying to me.”
I guess I’m just a fan of irony
And frankly, an “unbiased blog post” sounds dull and slightly impossible.
RE: Astroturfing. I don’t think matching shirts and signs means a political movement is a front for something else. It just means they’re organized.
If I was a true tea-partier I would branch off from the wack jobs. Because it undermines the (valid) points being made.
I really do like the name. I’m gonna admit something, but remember I’m young, naive and from texas. I actually went to one of these tea parties last year.Though now my thoughts on the matter have changed a bit, I really did consider myself more of a Libertarian than anything. It was kind of a weird experience. Most people, at least at the one I went to- werent all Obama hating… they really were talking about the stimulous package and what not. I dunno. I kinda just went to go and see what it was about. Although it wasn’t a bad experience- I probably wouldn’t do it again.
BTW, I have another dare video up! And I am thinking that the mustard in milk will be next!
David – Great response to Daisy’s post, but I tend to agree with her as well.
My feeling is the Tea Partyers are not racist – rather the term was erroneously inflicted upon the movement to slow its progress, but the attack failed. The Federal government has become overly bloated, greedy and contemptuous of its citizenry.
I proudly voted for President Obama – he promised change and I believed him. I was thrilled when he won, however, he won’t get a second vote from me- as he revealed himself to be even more duplicitous and coniving than his predecessor (?sp), most particularly during the healthcare ‘debates’.
My feeling is the two-party system is not currently and has not worked for a very long time in this country. So Tea Partyers, Tea Baggers – whatever – we need a change!