The tea parties that sprung up across the country on tax day would seem to be a revolt against government tax tyranny. They parade around with signs, chant slogans of anti-government uprising while embracing the idea of revolutionary upheaval. But these people are not your neighborhood anarchists that haunt your local IMF conference. No, these people are a different breed of delusional miscreants. Not too long ago the American political scene got a taste of a small but vocal community that had consolidated their voice behind one presidential candidate, Ron Paul. This libertarian in sheep’s clothing was a constant and persistent thorn in the side of the Republican party. They championed behind the ideology of limited government and saw fit to remind people that many of the candidates in the Grand Old Party were not champions of any real cause, insofar as that the parties own political rallying issues were mere talking points to later discard once office was held. The truths in these words, along with the breed of insanity that follows the cult of Ron Paul followers, caused a great deal of isolation and scorn from the rank and file Republicans. But from the ashes of failed Ron Paul campaign, something important had happened. The genuine ideologues of the far right had learned to communicate, and the networking apparatuses created through outreach on the internet had formed a new political beast. From it sprung organized fund raising, campaigns and a protest apparatus. The creature has risen in the rank and file of the Republican nest, an animal the GOP thought they had but really didn’t: ideologues with teeth.
There was no new message being unveiled in the tea parties. The ideas expressed by Ron Paul are now being vocalized by a new party base, much younger and far more discontent at the leadership of the GOP to effect change. While the GOP tried to change its image by bringing in Michael Steel and finding moderation to its tone, the libertarian activists sharpened their swords and were ready and able to shed blood on the battlefield of public opinion. Unlike their GOP counterparts, this new face of the conservative movement is far more organized and more willing to take their fight into the trenches. The election of Barrack Obama has energized them into action against progressive agendas, against big government and social homogony . The government spending undertaken by Bush and Obama, both in bailouts and stimulus bills, has given this new political machine a punching bag to which they can swing. With Newt Gingrich smiling into TV cameras and praising the protest actions, one might even consider that these events were somehow planned by Republicans. Nothing could be further from the truth. When looking at the blogs, the news clips and even the protestors themselves, it’s evident that these are the same people that were holding Ron Paul signs just several months prior. Republican leadership, always the opportunist, tried to exploit the success by praising it. Newt and others won’t be so quick to embrace everything about this movement, however. These aren’t the people the GOP wants to have representing them. They happily declare Obama as Hitler. They revel in the idea that America is now a communist state run by a Marxist who isn’t even born in the country. They are every bit the kooks that the GOP mocks on the left. And while Fox news and the conservatives do their best to embrace the movement while concealing the backwards and often blatantly racist tea party constituents, the actions and words of these folks has not been lost on the greater population of Americans with internet access. That said, I’ll refrain from posting examples of sublimely idiotic displays shown at the tea parties, rather I implore everyone to do their own homework and see the real face of the kooky right. The democrats thought they had problems with the crazy leftists in their ranks, but these bastard children of the GOP hold their own in the ranks of embarrassing politically active troglodytes. The GOP might claim the tea party as a victory, but anyone paying attention knows otherwise. The albatross that soars above one’s head is heavy when tied to ones neck.
I notice a particular hand-rubbing glee among the proletariats, who, preferring the path of least resistance, are satisfied to see that Obama’s warnings of future struggles before our economy gets better, was not considered very palatable by a public that has grown accustomed to promises of future fortune. The public, which rarely shows much interest in politics until they feel the personal consequences, has a very short memories. Already, they are blaming Obama for the global meltdown, forgetting that it’s been twenty years in the making. For those who do watch politics closely, Obama has an albatross hanging around his neck as weighty as the one JFK wore in his errant action during the Bay of Pigs. His additional bail-out to the financial institutions seemed hasty and poorly planned. There is an overall opinion that the industry of bringing America back to its feet should begin from the ground up.
On the ground, we see increased joblessness and homeless victims, an emptying out of retirement savings and an elderly work force who had thought they could live out their remaining years without the necessity of punching a clock, but now find themselves accepting menial tasks usually reserved for teenagers. They are being asked to renew their faith in the very institutions that have left them in the gutter.
From another perspective, there is the accute necessity to support businesses and industry that would generate jobs, a need for available low-cost housing, and the complete revamping of the intellectual persuasion that moderating the costs and accessibility of effective health care is somehow an affront to the fundamentals rights of free enterprise. Enterprise itself is a subjective word and can as much mean a novel thought as it can exploitation and extrepeneurism. As the actual lein-holders of these institutions, the American people, under the determination of their elected leader, might wish to put a little concentration the type of industry they wish their institutions to support and what type of policies they would find agreeable.
JFK effectively removed the albatross from around his neck through the peaceful solution of the Cuban Crisis, through changing the Cold War from an arms build-up into a space challenge, and for his great strides in phsical fitness, American health, as well as addressing civil rights. It has even been speculated that the Vietnam conflict would have been settled by peaceful means if he had lived out his term in office instead of escalating into a war. Obama could remove the albatross from around his neck through close regulation of the policies used for determining loans, reversing an easy credit to an earned credit system, and insuring a more thriving American family through affordable housing and health care.