HuffPo
Yes, some of the Tea Party movement is ugly. Yes, some of the Tea Party movement is race-based. Yes, some of the Tea Party movement is being bankrolled by conservative political groups — and all of it promoted by Fox News. But focusing only on those elements obscures the fact that some of what’s fueling the movement is based on a completely legitimate anger directed at Washington and the political establishment of both parties.
Think of the Tea Party movement as a boil alerting us to the infection lurking under the skin of the body politic.
Precisely. And they aren’t all nutcases either. Not even hardly.
A Tea Partier responding to my comment on Global Guerrillas about how there is common ground between left and right.
Tea Party United said…
Let’s brainstorm: what would a left-right alliance look like?*The Goals:
Democracy as George Washington wanted it: End the party system. End the “culture war”.
End bailouts, have bailouts payed back. Do some Teddy Roosevelt style trust-busting – if a corporation is too big to fail, it’s a monopoly.
YES!
National Jury: a new branch of government, made up of randomly chosen citizens.
Develop all alternatives to imported oil.
Foreign policy as the Founding Fathers intended it: trade with all, alliances with none. End state-building projects and end missions and bases that exist to serve alliances, rather than direct defense (Ie, let Japanese taxpayers pay for Japan’s defense). Use Nuclear and Chemical weapons on Al Qaeda. If an enemy isn’t worth nuking, he isn’t worth fighting.
Oopsie, jumped the shark here, didn’t he? BTW, does anyone even know where al Qaeda is? Didn’t think so. Then, there are those pesky ethics questions that arise when you mass-slaughter non-combatants.
Hire Israelis to run security. They seem to know what they’re doing.
Improve civil liberties, government transparency, get rid of voting machines, increase turnout with vote-by mail, holiday on election day etc.
Cut taxes for the middle class. Pay for it by taxing the financial industry.
What else can left and right agree on?
*The tactics:
Vote out incumbents. Vote in primaries for politicians who follow our rules: no mention of irrelevant scandals, no talking about culture war issues, no changes to legislation on culture war issues. No donations from corporations, not being caught alive with lobbyists.
Boycott partisan media.
Boycott a short, easily remembered list of corporations. Mostly media and donors to the status quo.
Call-in-sick days in corporations that donate to politicians.
Protests/pickets at high-price fundraisers, banks, lobbying firms
Form local juries to debate local issues and pass (non-binding, at the moment) legislation.
Form/join local markets, militias, and local currency systems.
Skill sharing: Right teaches military skills, left teaches misc. (civil disobedience, scientific method etc.)
Works for me. Coalitions mean you you don’t have to agree on everything, just on some things. Imagine what could be accomplished by a mass coalition of left and right working together. Why, that would be the worst fear of both DC and the banksters.
Look, the only think Obama has done consistently, without fail, and fought unceasingly for, is to give Wall Street whatever it wants. That’s a primary reason why people are angry. Not just on the right, either.
Hire Israelis to run security?
Otherwise paints a pretty picture, doesn’t it? All those groovy talking points make everybody smile and feel all warm and fuzzy. What’s a few (million) natives in the grand scheme of things, aeh? The smallpox in those blankets could have come from anywhere.
Use Nuclear and Chemical weapons on Al Qaeda. If an enemy isn’t worth nuking, he isn’t worth fighting, indeed.
This is how movements are compromised, with one small seed of racism, one small compromise of our principles. There’s nothin’ up there I can disagree with, get behind, but for that one small compromise.
If you look past the “platform,” the symptoms indicate a disease that many, left right and center, agree on: power needs to be returned to the people (and the states). Thus devolution is an even larger goal that such a coalition could work toward.
But many of the Left and Right wouldn’t be happy with implementing their ideas in just their own communities– they want to impose their view on the whole country. That’s lust for power, and is the root of the problem. Devolve power and there’s nothing to lust over.
OTOH, it doesn’t matter who has absolute central power, left right or center, he or she will offend half the country, and will continue to concentrate power. Remember all those civil rights “W” took away? How many has “O” given back?
You’re going to get fringe views from just about any group. Some will want to nuke everyone, others want to ban all firearms, institute a theocracy, or outlaw eating meat. Those for whom the fringe ideas are primary usually can’t be worked with and need to be sidelined. (Unfortunately the two-party system has encouraged one-issue groups.) But those who are willing to compromise can indeed be members of a diverse coalition.
Your commenter has some excellent ideas. Time to follow through. Combine this with Alinsky and Gandhi and you got yourself an agenda.
In retrospect (twenty-twenty, g’ma said), delving as I often do in the bowels of conspiracy theory and in light of (somewhat) local news this week Classroom confrontation on Portland State campus leaves professor … and PSU Professor John Hall Outs Jewish Agent Provocateur, Gets Banned…, and lastly knowing John’s … ahhh… eclectic readership, based on that one seed of racism, that one little compromise
Hire Israelis to run security
I would not be a bit surprised if you were engaged with an Agent Provocateur.
Chuckle ’till the cows come home, but I haven’t lived as long as I have by not paying attention.
Addendum: That commenter on your blog may actually be working for the Israeli government
Or your blogger. Bwa ha ha.
“Hire the Israelis to run security” has been a steady refrain since Entebbe (immortalized in a TV movie) and Carter’s debacle in Tehran. We were all saying it back then: the Israelis did the impossible, and our folks failed.
They ‘did it’ alright. There’s credible evidence out there that Mossad ‘did’ Entebbe. It was a setup, a false flag. Certainly terrorizing enough to those on the ground, but do you remember just how calm Imin was about it all…?
“By Deception Shalt Thous Practice the Art of War” (Mossad, Israeli CIA, motto)