Thursday 3 May 2012
teaparty
Wednesday 22 February 2012
Sunday 19 February 2012
Glenn Beck had a huge role in the rise of the Tea Party and the broader shift of the nation to the right. Remember, during the period we’re talking about, Beck was on the cover of Time as well as the New York Times Magazine; he was the subject of two separate biographies. Whether we like it or not, he was the face of that political moment, the voice that caught the public imagination. In fact, it is hard to make any sense at all of the Tea Party movement absent Glenn Beck’s strange views of history and his dread of the Obama Administration. Go back and look at footage of Tea Party events or interviews with Tea Party participants, and you will find that they often echo, sometimes word for word, the idiosyncratic lessons taught by Professor Beck. What I meant by market populism is the idea that markets speak with the voice of the people; that they are a sort of naturally occurring democracy; that whoever is attuned to the holy spirit of the market is one with the spirit of the people themselves. Vox populi, vox dei. When I first wrote about this idea, back in the 1990s, it was a straight-up propaganda ideology of management theorists and other corporate shills. Today, though, it is everywhere. Thomas Frank ☀
Thursday 16 February 2012
Those that identify themselves as Tea Partiers usually also identify as “very conservative,” and most of them are reliable Republican voters. They are strong partisans who respond to the appeals of political tribalism and combative rhetoric. Gingrich was winning over many of these voters, and so did Santorum, because they present themselves as uncompromising partisans. It didn’t matter that their respective records on fiscal and role of government issues put them closer to the left end of the spectrum within the Republican Party. Many voters were/are unaware of these records, and for those that do know about them Santorum and Gingrich have compensated with hard-line foreign policy and culture war arguments. These are effective more because they reinforce their reputations for combativeness and opposition to the administration rather than anything specific they have to say about policy. Eunomia ☀
Wednesday 15 February 2012
The Tea Party's war on mass transit ☀
The Tea Party soared to power on the notion that it was the antidote to wasteful government spending. It’s now clear that reigniting the culture wars was a top priority, too. From guns to abortion, the extremist wing of the Republican Party has fought to turn back the clock on many socially progressive ideals.
Mass transit is its newest target.
Friday 10 February 2012
In the neo-evangelical world of cheap prosperity and cheap family values, the name of Jesus gets bandied about like an over-inflated beach-ball. Many who utter his name obviously don’t read his life story. According to the Gospels, Jesus spent his adult life as a homeless wanderer who was particularly sympathetic to the poor. He doesn’t refer to them as evil, but he does have very harsh words for the privileged establishment. Such words harsh the euphoria built upon our own self-importance. As I see the homeless in the winter’s chill, it occurs to me that their lifestyle is much closer to that of Jesus than is the that of the executive who works 33 floors above them. Their demands on life are minimal. Their stares should make us uncomfortable. And yet, look at those running for office. The amount of money they spend to make each other look bad is obscene. They try to make themselves look righteous for the Tea Party crowd, but their assets weigh them down. I shiver for the homeless. I shiver when I see the news about the ultra-wealthy bragging about who can dig up the most mud. Most of them would have no idea which end of the shovel to use. I’m afraid that having grown up in a modest setting has forever biased me against posers and average guy wannabes. I’ve had jobs that have involved shovels, sledgehammers, and hard scrubbing. The average person struggles and shivers sometimes. The average person spends some time on his or her knees and sometimes ends up on the ground. And even though the average person falls down more than our shining leaders, we never get quite so dirty. Politicians don’t sling the mud at us. To be honest, I think they don’t even see us. And Then There Were None ☀
Tuesday 31 January 2012
Wednesday 5 October 2011
Wednesday 10 August 2011
Have you seen, anywhere, in any media, or even heard reported or repeated on NPR, the following sentence? “We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act.” Thom Hartmann ☀
Monday 8 August 2011
The tea party just cost you $322 ☀
That’s the latest cost of their incoherent national tantrum — $100 billion in increased financing costs for which America gets nothing in return. That works out to $322 for every man, woman and child in the United States.
So the Tea Party just cost you $322. They just cost my family $1,288.
You don’t get anything in return for that $322, nor does my family get anything in return for that $1,288. It is simply an added cost due to our sharing this country with aggressively stupid, resentful, angry fools who would rather let the whole thing burn than bother to learn even the slightest bit about others or about the world they live in.
Sunday 7 August 2011
Friday 1 July 2011
Tea Partiers, in demanding even more cuts in government help for average citizens and even more tax cuts for the rich, represent only the most deluded part of middle-class America. A recent poll of Americans rated Reagan the greatest U.S. president ever, further enshrining his anti-government message in the minds of many Americans, even those in the battered middle class. When a majority of Americans voted for Republicans in Election 2010 – and with early polls pointing toward a likely GOP victory in the presidential race of 2012 – it’s obvious that large swaths of the population have no sense of what’s in store for them as they position their own necks under the boots of corporate masters. Robert Parry ☀
Monday 6 June 2011
Our Fantasy Nation? ☀
With Tea Party conservatives and many Republicans balking at raising the debt ceiling, let me offer them an example of a nation that lives up to their ideals.
It has among the lowest tax burdens of any major country: fewer than 2 percent of the people pay any taxes. Government is limited, so that burdensome regulations never kill jobs.
This society embraces traditional religious values and a conservative sensibility. Nobody minds school prayer, same-sex marriage isn’t imaginable, and criminals are never coddled.
The budget priority is a strong military, the nation’s most respected institution. When generals decide on a policy for, say, Afghanistan, politicians defer to them. Citizens are deeply patriotic, and nobody burns flags.
So what is this Republican Eden, this Utopia? Why, it’s Pakistan.
Friday 3 June 2011
Budget Battle Pits Atheist Ayn Rand vs. Bible ☀
In novels such as “Atlas Shrugged,” the Russian-born Rand portrays American capitalists as heroes battling an encroaching government bent on milking their success. In nonfiction writings, Rand is more explicit about her Objectivist philosophy, which prizes individualism and regards religion as a “primitive” sop to the feeble-minded masses.
Tea Party Republicans have embraced Rand’s writings, particularly “Atlas Shrugged,” which some argue foretells the Great Recession and Washington’s extraordinary efforts to end it. Rush Limbaugh, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas all call themselves Rand fans.
Biographer Anne C. Heller says Rand was raised a secular Jew in Russia at a time when Jews were persecuted by the Russian Orthodox Church. Early on, Rand decided that the existence of God and the Christian ideal of self-sacrifice were untenable ideas, Heller said.
“It must be either reason or faith,” Rand said in a 1979 interview. “I am against God for the reason that I don’t want to destroy reason.” Rand saw her materialist philosophy and Christianity as incompatible and hoped to undermine Judeo-Christian ethics.
Tuesday 22 March 2011
GOP Is Blowing It by Pandering to Tea Party ☀
So why is it that I have been disdainful of the Tea Party from its first manifestation in early 2009? The main reason is that so many of its members simply don’t know what they are talking about; they seem to think that strong opinions are a substitute for facts, research and analysis. Consequently, many Tea Party members hold views on various topics that are, frankly, nuts, and these views have been embraced by some Republican voters as well.
For example, a March 15, 2011, poll by Public Policy Polling found that 25 percent of Republicans expect that a group called ACORN is going to steal the election for Obama next year and 31 percent aren’t sure; only 43 percent of Republicans believe this is false. In point of fact, ACORN no longer even exists, and it’s doubtful that it could have stolen a local election for dog catcher even if it wanted to.
An August 27, 2010, poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates International found that 52 percent of Republicans believe that Obama sympathizes with Islamic fundamentalists and favors imposing Islamic law around the world; only 7 percent thought this was definitely untrue.
A March 24, 2010, Harris poll found that 67 percent of Republicans believe that Obama is a socialist, 61 percent think he wants to take away the right to own guns, 57 percent believe he is a Muslim, 45 percent say he was not born in the U.S. and has no right to be president, and 41 percent think he is just looking for an excuse to seize dictatorial power.
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