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Opening Arguments

Eviction notice

Since I'm obviously more sympathetic to the Tea Party movement than the Occupy movement, some will accuse me of partisan-hackerly-level gloating for bringing this up:

Six months after the Occupy movement first used protests and encampments to turn the nation’s attention to economic inequality, the movement needs to find new ways to gain attention or it will most likely fade to the edges of the political discourse, according to supporters and critics.

“They have fewer people, and it’s not a new story anymore that there were people protesting in the streets or sleeping in parks,” said Neera Tanden, the president of the Center for American Progress, a liberal organization that has strong ties to top Democrats and has encouraged the protests. “They need to think of new ways to garner attention and connect with people around the country.”

The piece is in The New York Times, and it must have pained them to run it, since that institution has seemed much more sympathetic to Occupy than to Tea Party.

Garnering attention has never been the problem -- it's that "connecting with people" part. Inchoate anger not attached to any specific remedial recommendation is not destined to last. Say what you will about the Tea Party types, they have focused on the one big thing they identify as the problem -- unchecked, unsustainable debt -- and concentrated on one remedy, getting people elected who pledge to do something about it. They're slipped a little below the radar of late, but they're still out there organizing and endorsing.

I do wonder if the zeitgeist has passed the Tea Party by, which would be a shame since taming out-of-control government has been my passion most of my adult life. For a brief moment there, the taxed-enough-already rallying cry seemed potent enough to be a lasting issue. But the longer the lousy economy has lasted, the more government growth has been overtaken as an issue by personal fear of the future. It's hard to simultaneously ask the government to scale back and to do more to help us.

A big test of the Tea Pary's continued relevance will be right here in Indiana. If Richard Mourdock wins his primary battle against incumbent Richard Lugar or even comes close, it will be a sign the less-government movement is still relevant.

Comments

Tim Zank
Tue, 04/03/2012 - 8:38am

The only reason you don't hear much about the Tea Party these days is because the democrats media monopoly is pretty busy starting race wars, supporting health care mandates, cheerleading for Obama,  and praising large groups of marxists that want a free ride. Priorities. 

They will basically ignore the Tea Party and conservatives in general because their only goal and message (the Tea Party) is one of common sense, not emotion. Democrats and the media need emotion to win, facts and simple math are obviously not on the agenda

littlejohn
Tue, 04/03/2012 - 11:51am

The Tea Party rarely makes the news today because they aren't doing much. Also, the Tea Partyers don't get beaten up and pepper sprayed by cops. Virtually all cops, despite being unionized, are Republicans. You'll notice there's also been little in the news lately about Occupy. They too aren't doing as much as they used to.

Christopher Swing
Tue, 04/03/2012 - 12:24pm

"The only reason you don't hear much about the Tea Party these days is because the democrats media monopoly is pretty busy starting race wars, supporting health care mandates, cheerleading for Obama,  and praising large groups of marxists that want a free ride."

That's some quality conspiracy theorism there. How could anyone not take that seriously?

The Tea Party had their own entire network, Fox News, you may have heard of it. Though with the owner's other media properties having so many legal problems they may not be as focused as they used to be.

Occupy seems to be working on The Next Thing, for whatever value of Occupy you might be dealing with. The people that have been part of it so far haven't gone away, and many are still working on other things - just not necessarily under a single old-media friendly banner.

Tim Zank
Tue, 04/03/2012 - 5:40pm

Littlejohn, "Virtually all cops, despite being unionized, are Republicans."  What praytell, do you base that on?

Tim Zank
Tue, 04/03/2012 - 5:52pm

Swing, in r/e the media:

Open DEMOCRAT and OBAMA Supporters: ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, PBS, NPR, NEW YORK TIMES, ATLANTA JOURNAL, AND BASICALLY EVERY MAJOR NEWSPAPER OF EVERY MAJOR CITY, NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE, TIME MAGAZINE, ROLLING STONE, ETC ETC ETC.

Non Supporters of Obama: FOX NEWS, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, NEW YORK POST....

 

Any questions?

Christopher Swing
Tue, 04/03/2012 - 7:23pm

Did you mean "In re," which actually means something?

What constitutes "Obama supporter?" Endorsing his views or simply not telling us how horrible he is often enough? Did anything get left off the list because they only supported Democrats and not Obama or Obama and not Democrats?

Do you think typing the list in all caps as much as possible makes it truthier? Or did you want to maintain style with how the Conservapedia article lists most of them? Does it making it more conspiracy-theory-list-like play into your Persecuted Republican Complex?

Sure, I can come up with plenty of questions, Zank. XD

Tim Zank
Tue, 04/03/2012 - 8:02pm

Glad to see you ask the same type of riveting pertinent questions as most 9th graders (and democrats) do. Heh...Keep it inane or emotional, it's really working for ya.  

Christopher Swing
Tue, 04/03/2012 - 9:26pm

Honestly Zank, it's impossible to respond to the more insane/ridiculous things you post with any sort of seriousness, so we might as well get some entertainment out of it. It's all part of the conspiracy! XD

 

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