by Vedran Vuk
The constant Tea Party media coverage should strike you as peculiar. After all, who cares? American history has been filled with protesters. There have been anti-war protesters, environmentalists, and labor unions at every turn. And they’re still at it today.
Further, there’s nothing to make the Tea Party stand out. The media will point to the racists and weirdoes in the bunch, but this is nothing new for protesting groups. Any environmental rally will round up plenty of strange tree-huggers and eco-terrorist sympathizers. Let’s not forget the gay pride parades. There are plenty of weirdoes there too. Yet, despite their quirks, these other groups aren’t getting much attention lately. In fact, they must be a bit jealous of the Tea Partiers.
Another strange aspect of the coverage is the bundling of the movement. There are many different protests taking place. Sometimes, it’s an immigration protest, sometimes it’s taxes, and sometimes it’s even a protest against the Federal Reserve. But for some reason, the “Tea Party” is grouped as a single entity. No one attempts to group environmentalists and gay rights protesters together. There’s not a Green Tea Party out there encompassing several left-leaning agendas.
I don’t believe that these differences are mere circumstance. After all, Democrats have a lot to fear from these new protesters. For the first time (outside abortion protests), the right-wing is utilizing left-wing organization tactics.
What do you think Obama’s job was as a “community organizer?” He organized rabble-rousing movements. He wasn’t a social worker or a non-profit volunteer attempting to feed the hungry. His job as a community organizer was to build political movements under the guise of grassroots. Similarly, many individuals are beginning to fill the same role within the Tea Party. They might not be called “community organizers,” but they perform the same job.
Community organization isn’t about backing a politician like a single campaign (sound similar to the Tea Party?). Instead, it’s about building a lasting power base. For this reason, community organizers often participate in on-the-surface good acts. They may clean up an abandoned lot in a poor neighborhood, or get funding for a small playground, or organize an after-school program for teenagers. These aren’t altruistic acts but rather investments in a power structure. By establishing trust and legitimacy early on, the community can be more easily manipulated for political ends later.
Organizers particularly enjoy small projects with high possibilities of success. By showing success with one project, they begin to gain trust soon to be abused. The organizers don’t give a damn about the playground; they’re looking at the big picture.
For more on the strategies of community organizers, check out one of their own books, Roots to Power – A Manual for Grassroots Organizing by Lee Staples. I’ve read about a third of the book myself and plan on finishing it in the future. Thus far, it’s absolutely fascinating. You’ll never look at inner-city protests and organizations the same way again. Often, they are simply puppets dancing for distant masters. Manipulating disadvantaged communities for political gain has practically become a science.
The Right is finally picking up the same process with the Tea Party. Naturally, the Left is frightened. A segment of the population that usually doesn’t stand up is spending considerable time and money on political organization.
Of course, the Left has a game plan in response. First, they want to put the same label on all protesters, aka “the Tea Party.” They aren’t interested in battling a specific group or issue. Rather, their battle is against a concept. The Left wants middle-class taxpayers to feel ashamed of protesting. After grouping everyone, they want to stigmatize and demonize any participants in order to discourage the rest. So far, the Democrats have done a fairly good job of transforming rather normal and benign protesters into radical racist rednecks in the eyes of the public.
Ultimately, I’m not sure whether the Left will succeed or not. But either way, the outcome could be bad for the country. Though cells of the Tea Party have free-market and anti-tax views, once the Republican Party tightens its grip on them, they will be used for all sorts of wicked deeds. I can easily see them showing the same fervor for war and whatever other plans the Neocons may be brewing. The Tea Party is a powerful weapon, and the Democrats know it. The movement is straight from their playbook. Depending on the holder of this weapon, the future could spell opportunity or danger for America.
Vedran Vuk [send him mail] has a bachelor degree of economics from Loyola University of New Orleans, and was a 2006 Summer Fellow at the Mises Institute. He is an analyst with Casey Research and lives and works in the D.C. area.
