Despite surface differences, so the narrative goes, Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party are essentially kindred movements. They spring from similar impulses, are symptoms of the same disease. As the Washington Post's Marc Fisher excitedly reported in an essay published on Sunday:
Although many organizers of the two populist efforts view their counterparts from the other end of the spectrum as misguided or even evil, attitudes among the rank and file of the tea party and Occupy Wall Street are often much more accepting and flexible. They start out with different views about the role of government, but in interviews and online discussions they repeatedly share many of the same frustrations, as well as a classically American passion for fixing the system.
In another report filed on Sunday, NPR staff writers reached the same conclusion: "At both Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party protests," NPR wrote, "you might hear similar opinions on the 2008 bank bailout, the federal deficit and government spending, and the influence of corporations and money on Congress."
NPR went on to seek an explanation of the sudden outburst of populist rage from Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig, author of a new book, Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress -- and a Plan to Stop It. "Anyone who knows anything about campaigns," Lessig told NPR, "knows it's the people who contribute the maximum in a campaign that have the real power in Washington."
Conflation of the two movements, however, obscures vital distinctions, without which the history of post-Great Recession America becomes unintelligible. Despite recent benefactors, occupy Wall Street remains a bottom-up movement. Their accumulation of $300,000, as well as storage space loaded with donated supplies in lower Manhattan, constituted major news a week ago.
For the Tea Party, on the other hand, the horse followed the cart. Two organizations, Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, forged an infrastructure that was ready-made by the time the Tea Party emerged in the media a mass movement. Think Progress reported in April of 2009 that FreedomWorks employees were coordinating conference calls among protesters. The same reports also revealed that FreedomWorks purchased domain addresses and even designed signs, talking points and sample press releases for use by protesters and local organizations. Americans For Prosperity, meanwhile, took over the planning of early Tea Party events in New Jersey, Arizona, New Hampshire, Missouri and Kansas, as well as several other states.
If one were to search out the folks who, according to Lessig's criteria, "have real power in Washington," FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity would be a fruitful place to start. FreedomWorks was founded by Jack Kemp, the 1996 Republican vice-presidential nominee, and Dick Armey, the former House Republican leader-turned-lobbyist. Obviously, neither are new to insider-politics; neither is their organization, which played a significant public relations role in George W. Bush's 2005 push to privatize social security. Americans for Prosperity is funded heavily by the Koch Family Foundations; Tax records unearthed in a 2010 New Yorker profile of the Koch brothers revealed that in 2008 the three main Koch family foundations donated to 34 political and policy organizations.
Similarities between the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street certainly exist on a micro level -- but they are hardly big-picture. The Occupy Wall Street movement has been criticized for a dearth of substantive proposals, but it hardly takes a political scientist (or a Harvard law professor) to figure out that, without major financial leverage, navigating a broken legislative system would prove borderline-impossible for a mass of outsiders whose commitment to disorganization is a matter of design. Koch Industries and the other major funders of the Tea Party led the charge in donating to Republican candidates in 2010. In 2012, any "Occupy Wall Street candidates" will need to self-identify. Both the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street may declaim against those whom they view as the powers-that-be, but only one of the two movements was birthed by those self-same power brokers.
- The Tea Party is mostly older caucasians while the OWS movement is a broad ethnic mix of young people.
- OWS has now gone international while the Tea Party is the USA only.
So what else is new?
Also, of the 10 largest contributors to campaigns, unions are the last one that leans left. So yes, unions are liberal, but let's not lose sight of the ball. What about the combined effects of all the others which, over all, tip the scales to the right?
One is complaining of choking on the smoke, the other is claiming they're cooking alive. But its the same fire that they both sense.
My video response to media marginalizing OWS
They stand for peoples rights.reformed health care,voters rights,less defense.,social programs.ETC
Not the few,not corporate AGENDA.
WHATS WRONG WITH UNIONS ANYWAY?
Its not a dirty word.
Dont know anything about the TEa Party other than it morphed into Rick Scott,Scott Walker etc.
If they are truly for a peoples agenda they can join up OWS.The platform is taking shape now.
Who knew...
I disagree. So far, practically any politician, pundit or lobbyist that has tried to lay claim to our movement has been laughed off largely based on their record of working for exactly what we oppose. We do not have an "OWS Express" bus tour being funded by a lobbyist group and, as a direct result of the wariness towards existing powerful entities, stand less of a chance of seeing such interests co-opt the movement. It's both a strength and a weakness at the moment. For this reason, I've encountered no shortage of former tea party folk at OWS. We're not wasting our time demanding to see birth certificates, which is appealing to those who actually care about fixing broken policy and law. Given some more time, however, our strengths will be greater than our current weaknesses, and we won't be a sideshow to support re-election efforts of the entrenched Democratic party candidates.
Tea party rally: heavily armed protesters, no police, no batons, no pepper spray, no nets
OWS movement: unarmed protesters, riot police, bludgeoning tools, weaponized tear gas, blockades
Maybe carrying firearms really does keep you safe.
lets hope OWS does not follow in their disgusting footsteps.
I guess I just had good parents.
Really? Care to share exactly what those events were? I'd be quite interested to know.
...and find out for yourself....
Fast forward to an Obama presidency, and suddenly big $$ and conservative politicians/media have more to gain by using spending/taxes as a wedge issue. At this point the Tea Party/related ideas started getting more press and I think your money accusations are more true. However this points to more a strategic adoption/co-opting/hijacking of already existing trends for political gain, not something from scratch.
If OWS continues to gain steam, it too will start to have be taken advantage of. At the very least there will be support for political favor, but I wouldn't rule out liberal $$ from using it for gain in the exact same way. It's more organic than the anti-Obama smoke screen Tea Party, but it's not any more organic than ignored grass roots supporters 4 years ago. Only time will tell, but I'd be on the lookout for some new wannabe hijackers...
Meanwhile, the real Tea Party managed to elect a Republican majority in the House in 2010.
What has OWS accomplished, apart from setting a new low in anti-Semitism?
I wouldn't hail the TP's accomplishments as being anything positive.
Well, let's think...
Tea Partiers don't spend all day not working and smoking pot.
Tea Partiers don't defecate on police cars.
Tea Partiers bathe regularly.
Tea Partiers don't mess around with 15 year old runaways.
And, you will never, never hear a wild anti-semitic rant like Patricia McAllister's at a Tea Party rally.
Did I miss anything?
Tea partiers leave the place of protest better off than they found it. I mention this as a challenge because OWS has the chance to prove me wrong. Please, I'll be happy to admit my mistake!