Examining the Tea Party
October 28, 2010
The NAACP in collaboration with the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights recently released its report exposing the Tea Party, its racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, islamophobia, nativism and its militia impulse. The various Tea Party factions (Freedom Works Tea Party, Tea Party Nation, 1776 Tea Party, ResistNet Tea Party, Tea Party Patriots, and The Tea Party Express) all make up an umbrella of spoke like organizations serving as radial limbs. At its core the central shaft comprises disaffected white leaders espousing racist ideas and advocating violence and many of whom are formally associated with white supremacist organizations. This well researched documented report is a sobering read.
The Tea Party is not a political party rather a movement that emerged through a series of locally and nationally coordinated protests in response to several Federal laws: the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the health care reform bill. The movement’s primary concerns, leaders of the movement claim, are cutting back on the size of government, lowering taxes, reducing wasteful spending, and reducing the national debt and federal budget deficit.
“Take America Back” is the Tea Party mantra directed at the African American President and clearly meant to address the nation’s growing population of people of color: Latinos, Asians, and African Americans. Essence Magazine reveals what is meant in an article written by Gini Sikes, a white journalist, who was hired to go undercover and report on the 2010 convention of the Council of Conservative Citizens who kept their meetings secret from the media. “As a White journalist hired by Essence to tell this story, I’m able to mingle with them,” wrote Sikes. “I discovered they have widely varying agendas, but two things clearly unite the majority: unyielding loyalty to their race and a hatred for President Obama.”
The leaders have a hidden unspeakable agenda with goals directed toward the social realm. The movement claims not to be Republican, but embraces Republican political philosophy to which opportunistic Republicans attempted to control, advising Tea baggers to disrupt and essentially break up town-hall meetings. This attempt at capturing and channeling this new found energy, seems to have failed with the rise of little known Tea party candidates, Sharon Angle, Joe Miller, Christine O’Donnell and Rand Paul, upsetting the establishment in race after race only to later stumble because of their inexperience is delivering their extreme message and dealing with the media.
The Tea Party is like an escaped circus chimp reeking havoc and danger on to all around. The question is will the American electorate wise up and push back on this extremist movement? Voting is the only way to sedate the creature and put it back in its cage.
Outsourcing and Declining Wages: The Duped American Worker
September 28, 2010
It is now clear that the accelerated shifting overseas of technical and white-collar jobs undercuts upward mobility for American workers. Politicians, pundits and even some economist are now having second thoughts about free trade-agreements that protect the rights of investors but not the rights of labor. Conservatives have since before the days of Ronald Reagan continued to echo the same refrain: Government is the enemy of the people. This has lead to three decades of eroding government regulation in favor of an unfettered free market rule which ultimately brought the nation to the brink of financial collapse.
Labor unions have been weakened while manufacturing jobs have gone abroad. The educational system is failing while teachers and their unions are being demonized. Outsourcing jobs, harassing labor unions, repealing safety regulations, and undercutting benefits: all of which became the order of the day during the Reagan-Bush era. And now approaching midterm elections we stand poised to put he same players with the same strategy back into the game.
To those players the free market means having free reign to advance their interest at the expense of consumers and workers, the people. It’s been shown time again Wall Street, bankers, and corporations’ only concern is the bottom line. Their self-serving policies have proven disastrous to the economy, the environment, and the American middle class. The very same conservatives who favor tax cuts for the wealthy oppose extending unemployment benefits for the long term unemployed. Yet many Americans continue to vote against their own interest unknowingly lied to and manipulated by the top wealthy 3% who use their money to control the media and the message.
One-third of American workers say they would join a union if they had a chance, and over half support collective bargaining. Yet only 13 percent are union members because existing law make it difficult. Meanwhile companies like Wal-Mart paying low wages thrive and expand abroad. Once one of the most effective lobbying machines was that of organized labor, but unions too have not faired well under conservative domination. Government is not the enemy but the wealthy conservatives who use the media to misinform and mislead American voters.
It is absolutely essential American workers make their elected officials accountable to them and not special interests lobbyists. We are at a cross road and Americans must show solidarity if we want a government for the people and by the people not corporate interest. Government is not the enemy. Corporate greed is.
