Tea Partiers, and how Zernike almost changed my mind

After reading the Zernike article, many of my views about the Tea Party were shook up. I have always thought of Tea Partiers as batshit crazy white people living their lives with blinders over their eyes. I believed they were racist bigots with absolutely no knowledge of white privilege or class privilege. I believed that the Tea Party movement was funded by big-business rich people who were taking advantage of the lack of education of white, middle-class Republicans in order to build a large movement to get the Democrats out of government. I was raised by a Marxist mother, a union father, and a Libertarian grandfather. My own personal politics, which I am still developing, lean towards libertarian socialism (sometimes known as social anarchism). Basically, I myself have many issues with government and bureaucracy. I myself am "mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." After the reading, I realized that Tea Partiers were upset with many of the same things I was mad about. For the first time, I felt as if I had found some middle ground with this demographic that I felt like I had been butting political heads with since I was 12 years old. It was a shocking feeling.

After I finished the article in the course packet, I went online to find some primary resources. I looked at the Tea Party website and I watched youtube videos made by both Tea Partiers and liberals (in the political, not economic sense). Any and all sympathy or feelings of middle ground that I developed were instantly erased. All people depicted in videos on youtube were either protesters who were interviewed and couldn't say one intelligent thing about WHY they were upset or exactly WHAT was wrong with Obamacare, medicare, or social security. They made complete and utter fools of themselves. If this is the grassroots movement coming from the will of the people, shoot me in the face right now, because the idiocy and incoherency of the statements from these protests show just how blind and entitled middle America has become. I would laugh, but these are my fellow citizens. To see that we are living in the same country, under the same government, and under similar conditions, and that these people have these completely ridiculous claims, makes me worry for our future even more than the anti-working class, pro-big business policies of our lawmakers.

For example, I read on teapartypatriots.org their stance on net neutrality. In short, they are against it because it is, according to them, "media Marxism", and that it would be "government interference in the most important communications medium in history." Their stance on equal pay/equal services is "According to proponents, under net neutrality, everyone has to be charged the same, and provided the same services. This is the antithesis of capitalism, and would result in the stifling of technology development. Providers spend billions developing the technology; it is their right to charge as they see fit, and to create pricing plans that serve the needs of real customers in a real marketplace." So essentially, the Tea Party whines and whines about government interference, but corporate control of our daily lives and finances is completely okay. After all, it's capitalism! This is the most backwards, head in the sand thinking.

I have come to the conclusion that my original views on the Tea Party were correct. While the reading made me open my mind to the possibility that perhaps the momentum that has been gaining with the Tea Party movement could perhaps be beneficial for the change that I personally wish to see in our country, there is low probability that it could actually work. The masses of "real Americans" that make up the movement are largely uneducated, gullible Americans, who can't see that the agenda they are supporting is only furthering the interested of those at the top already. The emphasis on free markets in the Tea Party ideals is propagated by those such as Rick Santelli, a classist, wealthy capitalist. By getting middle America to believe that the government is responsible for our economic woes instead of the real corporate culprits, men (and a few women) like Santelli have effectively took advantage of the economic desperation (as well as the standing ethnic prejudice and the Judeo-Christian centricism) of many white, middle-class Americans. Make no mistake, the Tea Party movement is here to stay, but only so long as the real people in the movement keep their blindfolds on.

An interview with Michelle Malkin and Matt Lauer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxwkzSKlESU&feature=related

An interview with Michelle Malkin and Glenn Beck: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLT0lDwZNNM&feature=related

Tea Party Across America promo video (let's get the one Black person in the Tea Party to narrate to show them that we aren't racist!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVp7ONZDfx4

A really funny video from a Minneapolis Tea Party rally. This guy got them to let him give a speech about Illegal Immigration, got a bunch of cheers and hoorahs, when all the while was talking about Europeans as the illegal immigrants on Dakota land. My friend Jane was a part of this. It's pretty hilarious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O66qDqfZm7k&NR=1

A video made by left-wing filmmakers at a 9/12 protest. It shows many interviews with clueless protesters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPMjC9mq5Y&NR=1&feature=fvwp

A nice video of the 9/12 protest made by a Tea Party supporter. Notice how no one is speaking, it's just images and nice, wholesome music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5pegAIQ01A

An invitation video to the Tea Party conference to be held in Phoenix this February 25th: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTvFBli8DYY

The official website of the Tea Party Patriots: http://www.teapartypatriots.org/