Saving the Rich with Pitchforks

[HopeOverFear]

from Digby:

The tea bag parties are a lot of fun and I will be among the first to mock and jeer tomorrow. But it's not a good idea to ignore their potential for serious business down the road if the economy continues to be under stress. Whether they are organized by Republican hacks or not, if they provide people with a way to understand their current circumstances, they could end up being a problem.

I am a worrywart about these things, I know. But it continues to concern me that in the absence of a clearer explanation of what caused this financial meltdown and resultant recession, people will simply fall back on the conservative propaganda of the past two decades to explain their problems. And that is an opportunity the Republicans should not be given.

<...>they haven't quite been able to find the right rhetorical formula yet either, but they are getting closer. The key is to find a way to turn the anger at the bankers into anger at Obama for bailing them out. Right now most people don't feel that taxes are the proximate cause of the nation's problems but a prolonged recession along with continued bailouts could change that if the conservatives can find a way to synthesize their anti-tax message with the current populist anger.

Right now, Obama's popularity is keeping that at bay. But nobody should believe that people are supporting the government's actions because they understand Keynesian principles or that the government has to solve the liquidity crisis because they don't. And Democrats have not exactly made a compelling case for liberal economics lately other than a vague promise that it's better than the other guys' in the wake of gilded age excess. We certainly didn't see any serious discussion of it during the campaign when everyone was talking about lowering taxes and extolling Reagan.

An awful lot of what the government is doing right now feels completely counter-intuitive and there is plenty of legitimate anger that these wealthy pricks just can't shut up and refuse to take responsibility. And also keep in mind that much of what the government is doing, such as stimulus, is as much preventive as anything else, and nobody ever gets much credit for preventing problems only solving them. (I would guess that Roosevelt was given so much slack by the public because he inherited 20% unemployment and a deep national despair, something that Obama -- fortunately! --- doesn't have.) The sheer complexity of the issues and the failure of the Democrats to articulate an alternative economic philosophy leaves a mile wide opening for right wing demagoguery.

We don't know what these tea bag parties are going to bring tomorrow. It's likely they will be McCain rally freak shows, of which they really are an extension. But if they manage over the next few months to get a coherent message together and the corporate backed front groups can successfully manage them, they could turn into something more troubling --- a right wing populist movement aimed at government. Not good.

[ProSense]

1. Photo

From TEABAGGING ACROSS AMERICA :



The satirical "Billionaires for Bush" join in the tea party protest in Washington, D.C.

[rfranklin]

2. I think they have a good start....

because our fellow citizens are so damn stupid they attack each other rather than attacking the oligarchs that created the problems and reduced their salaries every year since Reagan sold his load of manure with a smile. We have no charismatic leader who can counteract the propaganda and overcome the racism, bigotry and religious mumbo jumbo that the oligarchs depend on to keep the populace distracted.

[ProSense]

3. Another thing,

instead of hyping these people's credibility, it would be better to expose them for the dangerous idiots they are. Definition of dangerous: idiotic concept (tea parties) plus wingnuts funded by wealthy assholes.

This happened when McCain introduced Palin. No on is saying be complacent, but trying to portray anything the Repubs stage as real or giving creditibility to its potential to become real is exactly their goal. The media will try to help them out, but that doesn't mean rational people should play along.


edited for clarity.