When the Tea Party movement first began, I personally thought that it would be short lived. However almost a year later, my worst fears have been realized. Instead of people devolving anger toward the big financial corporations like AIG and Goldman Sachs, they instead place that anger toward the Obama administration which is trying to end this crisis and regulate these Wall Street Fat Cats. Some may point out that Obama himself voted for the 700 billion dollar (and growing) bailout when he was still a Senator in 2008. However I must point out that many experts originally thought that this was the only option at that time and it is interesting to note that a certain right wing guru originally supported the bailouts(more on her later).
But returning to tea partiers; they have seem to have almost no understanding of issues they seem to be so angry about. They fail to mention that when Bush came into office in 2001, we had budget surplus. By the time Obama entered office, America had a record breaking deficit in hundreds of billions of dollars that were created under a conservative Presidency and Congress. Yet I never heard a single conservative outcry during the Bush years on out of control spending and yet the Tea Party bashes this president for it. I also the movements opposition to the recently signed healthcare bill to be also absurd. Firstly the non partisan Congressional Budget Office or CBO has done an analysis showing the bill would reduce the deficit by $1.3 trillion over the next 10 years. Secondly, I find it very ironic that while Blue states like Massachusetts have lowest amount of uninsured while Red states like Texas have some of the highest. I think it's a sad analogy to the Tea Party and to many Republicans as a whole. These Tea Partiers may have been constantly been hurt and bullied by Republican policies, yet they fight Democrats due to the misinformation mongering of Conservative icons.
I am reminded of Tom Frank's book "What's the Matter with Kansas?" were he also ponders why Kansas; a state that has a long populist history and was a big supporter of FDR's New Deal became a conservative haven. Today, the traditionally working class overwhelmingly support Republicans whom policies have hurt their communities and made the rich richer. "Strip today's Kansans of their job security, and they head out to become registered Republicans. Push them off their land, and next thing you know they're protesting in front of abortion clinics. Squander their life savings on manicures for the CEO, and there's a good chance they'll join the John Birch Society. But ask them about the remedies their ancestors proposed (unions, antitrust, public ownership), and you might as well be referring to the days when knighthood was in flower." he writes. So when you see a bunch of Tea Partiers whom by most likelihood are aging men and women. Don't have Contempt for them, but rather sadness. Try to inform them that the GOP "solution" to our deficit problem will destroy the livelihoods senior citizens like them. I believe that a Tea Partier should not be seen as a liberal's natural enemy, but rather an tragic example of a GOP brainwashed "have not”.
