Dont hold your breath waiting for the Tea Party supporters to protest this new bailout. Remember, many of them held Dont touch my Social Security signs at protests. The Tea Party has always been funded by such mavens of the radical right as the Koch brothers. Without that money the Tea Party wouldnt have been a blip on the medias radar screen. The Tea Party is essentially an astroturf movement, which consisted largely of middle-class retired whites. They were call into service by the monied right-wing interests to muddy the waters. Yes, a true populist movement would be enraged by the machinations of Congress and Elizabeth warren would be its champion. The Tea Party members prefer Ted Cruz. Editorial Staff Anniston Star: A popular explanation of the Tea Party from the left says the political movement that arose in 2009 was a new label on an old movement, and not something wholly fresh on the scene. These analysts claim the Tea Party is a new incarnation of a strain of conservative populism that dates back to the John Birch Society, the Red Scares of the 1950s and in fact almost all the way back to the founding of the United States. “The real analogue to today’s unhinged right wing in America is yesterday’s unhinged right wing in America. This really is your grandfather’s right, if not, to be sure, your grandfather’s Republican Party, wrote Adam Gopnik in The New Yorker in 2013. This is the counter-narrative to how many in the Tea Party see the movement. In their view, it sprang out of the financial collapse and disgust with the ensuing corporate bailouts of 2008 and 2009. Newly elected Barack Obama took the crony capitalism that rewarded fat cats during the end of the Bush administration and made matters much worse. A 2009 televised rant on CNBC by commentator Rick Santelli against bailouts and stimulus spending is said to have spurred the Tea Party to action. The government is promoting bad behavior, he said, adding, It’s time for another Tea Party. What we are doing in this country will make Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin roll over in their graves.” Fast-forward to now. Specifically, last Friday night on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., spoke out against a part of the massive spending bill that was slowly creeping its way through Congress. One section would strip away regulations policing high-risk investments by large Wall Street banks. “Republicans slipped in a provision at the last minute that would let derivatives traders on Wall Street gamble with taxpayer money and then get bailed out by the government when their risky bets threaten to blow up our financial system, she said. The Boston Globe, Warren’s hometown paper, added this gem, The bill was a big priority for the banks. Citi, one of the banks that would most benefit from the change, has spent at least $10.6 million on lobbying over the past two years. It has 54 registered lobbyists, nearly 90 percent of which previously held government jobs, according to data collected the Center for Responsive Politics. What’s more, Democrats, including President Obama, seem content to let this policy change become law. Sounds like an issue tailor-made for the Tea Party. We’ll be waiting and watching for the protests on an issue that should unite left and right.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:44:36 +0000