"In the Tea Party narrative, victory at the polls means a new American revolution, one that will "take our country back" from everyone they disapprove of. But what they don't realize is, there's a catch: This is America, and we have an entrenched oligarchical system in place that insulates us all from any meaningful political change. The Tea Party today is being pitched in the media as this great threat to the GOP; in reality, the Tea Party is the GOP. What few elements of the movement aren't yet under the control of the Republican Party soon will be, and even if a few genuine Tea Party candidates sneak through, it's only a matter of time before the uprising as a whole gets castrated, just like every grass-roots movement does in this country. Its leaders will be bought off and sucked into the two-party bureaucracy, where its platform will be whittled down until the only things left are those that the GOP's campaign contributors want anyway: top-bracket tax breaks, free trade and financial deregulation."
Full and excellent article is here.
6 comments:
Amen
Depressing
Not being a polisci person myself (though, at gmu, and with a few classes of Klein's, I think I came pretty close), what representational system does a better job of being "decent" (as in, not *as* prone to regulatory capture, rent-seeking, etc.) and able to actually form a viable "other" party?
So, what I mean is, how would the representational system in the US need to be set up for the Tea Party movement to actually have some sort of meaningful result?
I dunno, maybe PR?
So, what I mean is, how would the representational system in the US need to be set up for the Tea Party movement to actually have some sort of meaningful result?
I think you're missing the larger point.
While their are a limited number of true believers, mostly libertarians and followers of the "Pauls" and the like, the vast majority of tea partiers are just Republicans by another name.
For them, the whole Tea Party concept is a way for them to stick their fingers in their ears and go "la la la" and pretend that George W Bush and his Republican majority never existed. Its a chance for them to hit the reset button and (re)embrace the GOP with a clear conscience, since this time things are gonna be different (or something).
That is the funniest thing I've read in a long time. Gonzo journalism lives!
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