As we enter what will be ugly negotiations over a climate and energy bill in this country over the coming months, there are sure to be angry outcries of government overreach and intrusion. And we know where the hub of those protests will be coming from: the Tea Party.
So it's worth looking at who these folks are, and the NY Times yesterday did us all a big favor by reporting on poll results on these citizens. The title of the article, in what was a very kind interpretation of the data, was "Poll Finds Tea Party Backers Wealthier and More Educated."
Yes, Tea Partiers are a bit wealthier and educated, but the poll also makes clear that they are whiter, male-er, angrier, and well, more racist -- 25% believe Obama favors black people over white (vs. 11% of the general public) and they are "more likely to say that too much has been made of the problems facing black people" (yes, that pesky history of slavery, repression, and civil rights issues). But all of that demographic data, while interesting, is a side show. The core of this movement is an un-nuanced, unthinking belief that government should be smaller no matter what.
This perspective is making it hard to do anything of scale in our country, such as building and investing in infrastructure (e.g., a new energy grid) or pass broad legislation to tackle as big a problem as climate change. Imagine a Congressman proposing that we spend what China is laying out on high-speed rail ($300 billion in the next three years) or even the hundreds of billions we need to spend on crumbling infrastructure. He or she would be pilloried by Fox and likely run out of office.
I could easily be wrong, but I don't think we used to debate whether we needed things like roads, bridges, sewers, and rail. Republican President Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System after all. Without infrastructure, led by government, we can't grow and evolve (but that's the point of the movement isn't it?). So now we've got a rising portion of people thinking government equals bad, full stop.
What's really interesting about the article is to see how disconnected from reality the Tea Partiers are about what government does for them (see my earlier post on what small government means in reality). So, the point of this blog was actually just to share the end of the Times article, which made me laugh out loud. Enjoy...
But in follow-up interviews, Tea Party supporters said they did not want to cut Medicare or Social Security -- the biggest domestic programs, suggesting instead a focus on "waste."Some defended being on Social Security while fighting big government by saying that since they had paid into the system, they deserved the benefits.
Others could not explain the contradiction.
"That's a conundrum, isn't it?" asked Jodine White, 62, of Rocklin, Calif. "I don't know what to say. Maybe I don't want smaller government. I guess I want smaller government and my Social Security." She added, "I didn't look at it from the perspective of losing things I need. I think I've changed my mind."
We're going to have trouble having real, substantive debates in this country if we're not reality-based. As I read quotes like that, I think, well, it's better to laugh than cry.
Follow Andrew Winston on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GreenAdvantage
In other words they want to reap the benefits but screw future generations out of the basic saftey net that they currently enjoy.
you do realize that only YOU and your BOSS pay into Social Security right?
has NOTHING to do with the Government Debt.
and it was paid into for almost 30 years before the first payment was paid out
Now Add Inflation
"so brainwashed"
Your economic "ideas" only outlasted Soviet communism by two decades before it, too, fell under its own weight, and that only *three* decades after Reagan put Friedmanomics into practice in the United States. So really, when you think about it, Soviet communism at least took four decades longer to bankrupt itself than you & your Chicago boys' best effort at an economic system. Go read a book. Make it one by Naomi Klein.
Has NOTHING to do with the Government Debt.
Except when we stop collecting taxes from the top 5% of earners. Or when we start wars for no good reason. Or when the economy suddenly implodes and no one is able to pay into the treasury anymore, yet we still need to pay for that military, those schools, those national parks and those highways.
We forget that 65% of white voters in this country did not support or vote for Obama. It was minorities along with 35% of whites, mostly young progressive whites, that gave Obama his victory. Given these facts it is no surprise that the majority of whites have aligned themselves with the Tea Party movement. After all, it is just the same old republican themes wrapped in a different package.
That is why government needs to get smaller. It is unsustainable. Not hard to understand.
Deeds speak more loudly to me than pretty sentiments.
and released to spread the message, that intolerance is embedded in who we
are as Americans.
http://funks2.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/the-trip-to-nowhere-on-the-tea-party-express/
Obama must think Americans are stupid. Because of the health care bill there are staggering new costs to Americans, as well as less high quality health care available. The are now 47% of Americans that pay NO federal income tax and I am sure those free loaders do like Obama. The actual hard working Americans paying the bill for all of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid's socialist agenda are mad as hell. Obama, the liberals and pro-socialists may make fun of the TEA Party movement, but wait until November and see how much they laugh. We are tired of an over spending government that even provides free cell phones and 300 free minutes to people at the tax payers' expense. No one helped us buy a house or car. We earned our own way in life. Tax payers are also supporting the health care of up to 20,000,000 illegal aliens while the politicians and the American Homeland Security chief allow them to stay in this country. Meanwhile, I have read there are 8,000,000 illegal aliens working in the USA, while 15,000,000 REAL Americans are unemployed. Many of these illegal aliens work in skilled construction jobs such as carpentry, brick and stone mason, plumbing, etc.. These are high paying jobs that should be filled by Americans. Obama and the Democrats see these illegal aliens as future Democrat votes instead of criminal invaders.
Moreover, I work on software that is used by the IRS, and I can assure you that the tax rates for 2009, are low for most tax groups with where the AGI is less that 250,000. If you had half a brain, before posting your idiotic comment, you would have taken the time to compare the tax tables for years 2008 to those of 2009. In addition, did you know that those so called “freeloaders” who don’t pay taxes were also ‘freeloaders during the Bush Administration?
While I’m not and have never been illegal, I am an immigrant who is now a US Citizen. My parents came to this country to study a Yale University and subsequently my father worked for the World Bank. I’m certain though, that in the eyes of people like you, I’m still not worthy because you hate those who are different. I feel sorry for you because you will go to your grave a bitter, unhappy and a hateful person blaming others for your pathetic life.
I am successful and a professional and I pay over 30% of my income in taxes, how much of your income did you pay?
Bush, Bush, Bush.....YES....now let's FIX IT, not continue it!
Surely at your salary you can afford a dictionary to discover the definition of "illegal". As half Irish and half Cherokee, married to a Latino I have nothing against any ethnic background in a person. I hate no one. I am disgusted with freeloaders though. People that live in large cities with access to public libraries, free job training at tax payer expense, and jobs nearby, yet are too lazy to obtain an education, speak well, and earn their own way in life. Millions that do drugs and drink all day while honest people are working. I was against the heavy spending during the Bush administration, but it pales in comparison to the disaster Obama is causing. It sounds like you are very insecure with who you are and therefore felt targeted by my comments. As far as the IRS goes, I would like to see it abolished and a flat 12% tax on every single person in the USA. That would be truly fair, instead of having 10% of the citizens pay 70% of the taxes. I truly believe Obama is a Marxist at heart and is destroying the America that was so successful.
And either taxes for 95% of people went down under Obama or they didn't.
I also love how conservatives like to assume that THEY are the only people in this country who work and pay taxes...guess what? So do I, and I'm not "mad as hell".
And people make fun of tea partiers because they deserve it in many cases...you all are mad at high taxes, yet expect to get LOWER taxes AND eliminate the deficit at the same time...I guess that can work in imaginary land, but it doesn't in reality. Further, if you all's concern is the deficit, wouldn't you be for higher taxes NOW and lower spending?
I spend most of my year immersed reading and deciphering the tax code so that we can update our software and then I sit down at home and hear so many comments on how Obama and Pelosi have raised taxes and the deficit, blah, blah, blah….. all I want to do is scream! If I had a dime for every time one of these tea baggers incorrectly sited tax code, I’d be rich.
Unlike you though, I am mad as hell. Mad that my tax dollars are more than likely being distributed to the ‘non-working’ tea baggers while I put in 60 hr weeks – today being an exception because I’m taking a day off.
I don’t care what FOX news reported, from what I’ve seen trolling around here in the DC area, these people are NOT highly educated!
So curious by paying out money for healthcare for people and entitelement prograsm... what does the country/govt actually get out of those programs? Nothing.
But you can appreciate the billions spent on a Mars Rover?
wow. i don't really know where to begin...
Medicare it wouldn't hurt but to be hoenst I pay in more than i will get out of it and that too will go bust without reform. I'd be better off managing my own funds towards that. Not to mention I always will be picking up LTC insurance to prepare for the future.
If I were to retire today I need 2 million dollars in cash/investments to be able to survive. By the time I'm 65 that will probably be clsoer to 6million. If you think I'm betting on the govt to take care of me your crazy. There's a reason why I'm in the middle class at 26 because I refuse to rely on others to support me and so that means excelling in work and making more money than most.
I am alredy putting money into different investments for retirement. I dont' expect social security/medicare to be there when I retire. Certainly not at the level of payouts we have now... not enough people to support that.
And while I congratulate you on being middle-class, you are naive (either willfully or not) if you believe that you are some self-made person. You aren't. Any number of people helped you get to where you are today.
MOST people in this country work for a living, just like you...most people excel at their jobs, just like you...stop trying to make yourself into some glorious exception.
infrastructure makes sense because it's the only way it would get done. Same for military. but I'm honest enough to know the govt doesn't do those effecently either. Talk to a defense contractor or a govt employee and find out how quickly money gets waste on admistration and other beauractric bs.
We need some infrastructure upgrades sure but now is hardly the time spend more money. At some point debts come due and with everything else being signed now we can't afford to add more. You have to give up things sometimes. People forget that. The govt is doign exactly what caused this economic crisis - unchecked spenidng.
Good way to disagree with my point that our government was designed to be inefficent from the moment of it's inception. And since the goverment can never get a program in under budget or at least with the budget they were originally given, I have no desire to see goverment expanded in any form.
Some of us have jobs to perform instead of proof reading and crafting a expertly written post on a website. I'll save that time for e-mails and contracts.