In his new book, In Search of Self-Governance, Scott Rasmussen observes that the American people are "united in the belief that our political system is broken, that politicians are corrupt, and that neither major political party has the answers.' He adds that "the gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and the politicians who want to rule over them may be as big today as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18th century.'"
So what do the people want?
Many are confused because of the news they get, which might be renamed "the Daily Chaos," because of murky events that seem unconnected, even bizarre.
For one thing, many voters are at the point of dropping both political parties, says Rasmussen: "Sixty percent (60%) of voters think that neither Republican political leaders nor Democratic political leaders have a good understanding of what is needed today. Thirty-five percent (35%) say Republicans and Democrats are so much alike that an entirely new political party is needed to represent the American people."
This may explain the popularity of the Tea Party concept to many who are open to its simplistic analysis of a government betraying them. The market researchers behind Fox News certainly understand that, which is why they are working overtime to make it appear that the teabaggers speak for all of us. In fact, polls show that at the very most, they represent only eleven percent of the public.
You wouldn't know that by watching the fearless fanatics at Fox. As Professor Juan Cole observes, the corporate media hype them beyond their significance ignoring a much bigger number of dissatisfied voters:
"Percentage of Americans involved in Tea Party Movement: 11
Number of mentions of "Tea Party" past month in Lexis radio and TV transcript search: 1042"
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