This might be unimportant during times of relative prosperity. But if, as many economists predict, the current financial crisis becomes the second Great Depression, the period between 1980 and today will have been a crucial pre-depression era--the era whose teabaggers, like those of the pre-depression 1900-1932 period, could drive the policies that emerge from the crisis.
The road to Douchedom could be paved with teabags
In terms of tactics, yesterday's pre-New Deal labor organizers, Bonus Army marchers and communist agitators have become the militias, tax deniers, Ron Paul-followers and Minutemen who populate the right. And these new voices are being amplified by a powerful Fox News/talk radio noise machine that no teabagger ever had before.
Certainly, President Obama's budget includes some progressive priorities, but the framing and overall direction of the policy debate reflects the pull of right-wing populism. The administration is still trying to out-tax-cut the GOP, still citing defense budget increases as proof of "toughness," and still laughing off criminal justice reform proposals for fear of losing "tough on crime" battles.
In the lead up to and aftermath of the April 15 tea parties, progressives used their limited media resources (MSNBC programs, Air America shows, blogs, newspaper columns, etc.) to make fun of the conservative protestors. Many voices lamented that in railing on government and demanding more tax cuts, conservatives continue to champion the Establishment's wish list--not genuine teabag populism.
On its merits that is true. The April tea parties were organized by corporate lobbyists and backed by the same moneyed Republican douchebags that drove the economy into the ground. But with stagecraft defining so much of contemporary politics, and with such a powerful media machine behind the image of conservative teabaggery, the truth doesn't really matter.
That means until progressives stop spending their time ridiculing teabaggery and start co-opting it through their own brand of full-throated populism, we will continue to be portrayed as the inept douchebags in the Manichean struggle--and we may see any "new New Deal" opportunity pass us by. GET INVOLVED
A New Way Forward is organizing around the demands of "Nationalize, Reorganize and Decentralize"
David Sirota is a senior editor at In These Times and a bestselling author whose newest book, "The Uprising,"- was released in May 2008. He is a fellow at the Campaign for America's Future and a board member of the Progressive States Network--both nonpartisan organizations.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
