Join a Tea Party?
A new Rasmussen poll shows the Tea Party movement is way more
popular than the Republican Party it seeks to be a part of - if they
were a political party, they would overtake the GOP on the generic
Congressional ballot. The results of the poll? Democratic 36%, Tea
Party 23%, Republican 18%.
What this really shows is the power of
populism. And the populists on the left would have a surprisingly broad
range of agreements with the populists on the right. No trust of
corporate America, and their wholly-owned politicians. A visceral
hatred of banks and insurance companies who have been sucking our blood
for decades. A horror at the idea of corporations as persons. A
mistrust of the Fed.
So we populists on the left should be reaching
across the aisle to the populists on the right to form a new alliance,
and maybe together we can actually produce some meaningful political
change in America.
Remember, movement politics have always been ahead
of political parties in producing major change in America, from
abolition to women's suffrage to civil rights to gay rights. We all
need to be showing up at the tea party meetings!
Thom Hartmann is a Project Censored Award-winning New York Times best-selling author, and host of a nationally syndicated daily progressive talk program on the Air America Radio Network, live noon-3 PM ET. www.thomhartmann.com His most recent books are "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight," "Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights," "We The People," "What Would Jefferson Do?," "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle (more...)