The Tea Tantrum Movement

The Atlantic ^ | April 10, 2009 | Andrew Sullivan

[Zakeet]

I spent the better part of an hour earlier today scanning the various sites and blogs to try and understand what specifically the Fox-Pajamas tea parties are about. Having absorbed about as much of the literature as I can, I have to say I'm still befuddled.

Option 1: It's a protest of the bank bailouts orchestrated by Bush and now Obama. But surely these tea-partiers understand what would happen if we didn't bail the banks out. Are they advocating letting major banks fail? Or are they advocating a Krugman-style government take-over? No idea.

Option 2: It's a protest against tax hikes. But there have barely been any!

[Snip]

Option 3: It's a protest against illegal immigration. Ok, so why the tea? Weren't all the original tea-partiers illegal immigrants?

Option 4: It's a protest against government debt. Yay! I will leave aside the somewhat awkward fact that Fox News and Pajamas Media barely covered the massive debt racked up by the Republicans during a period of economic growth.

[Snip]

What it looks like to me is some kind of amorphous, generalized rage on the part of those who were used to running the country and now don't feel part of the culture at all. But the only word for that is: tantrum.

These are not tea-parties. They are tea-tantrums. And the adolescent, unserious hysteria is a function not of a movement regrouping and refinding itself. It's a function of a movement's intellectual collapse and a party's fast-accelerating nervous breakdown.

[SteamShovel]

That's Sullivan on the left.....

That picture makes my skin crawl....

[SkyPilot]

#37 - good one!

[usconservative]

Option 2: It's a protest against tax hikes. But there have barely been any!

Andrew Sullivan should come to the People's Socialist RepubliK of Illannoyed where:

• The State Income Tax Rate is doubling;
• The C(r)ook County Taxes have gone up more than 30%;
• Other collar-counties around C(r)ook have raised their Sales Taxes;
• Property Taxes are SKYROCKETING even though home values have dropped 30-40%;
• Drivers Licenses, License Plates and every other "fee" has doubled or tripled;
• Gasoline Taxes are up to 27 cents per gallon across the state (higher in some counties);
• "Sin" taxes such as Alcohol and Tobacco have skyrocketed. I'm not a smoker, but when it costs more than $5/pack of cigarettes that's outrageous
• "Fees" to enter state parks are doubling, in some cases tripling;
• Hunting and fishing licenses are going up minimum 50%

  And these are just for starters! I don't think there's anything here in the People's Socialist RepubliK of Illannoyed that isn't taxed! HELL YEAH it's time for a Tea Party! Once the Tea Party's over, we oughtta be hanging the tax raising bastards too!

  PS - Andrew Greeley - pull your sorry excuse for a head out of your ass, you knee-pad wearing Obamanut.

[Bob J]

The tell me what is the message of the tea parties, one that can be put on a protest sign, a sign that will be photographed and show up in every newspaper and TV news show the day after?

Because that is the message and image millions of Americans will see. And if they don't understand it, if they don't get it within 3 seconds, the effort may not only be in vain but written off in the minds of millions of potential supporters and advocates.

[tanknetter]

"Tantrums! You're throwing tantrums!"

This line of argument is old ... to the tune of better than 15 years.

There's very little difference between it and the "Angry White Male" (as personified by the Michael Douglas character in 'Falling Down') smears from circa 1994.

Sullivan needs to do something other than boost stale material and come up with something new.

[papertyger]

Okay, let’s be specific, because as long as you don’t have a particular target you will never have to admit you missed.

What legislation do you expect to have enacted or repealed as a result of this heroic effort I keep poo-pooing? Judicial appointments? Regulatory changes? Bureaucracies toppled? Editorial policies?

Give me something, anything, by which we can measure your success or failure in influencing government and/or the press.

[Bob J]

“And was that “activism” a group in search of people to follow them?”

By not giving them something the mentally grab on to, you haven’t given them anything to follow.

And the problem with “groups of people” is most of the time you only get one shot at them and then the write you off.

I’mnot saying the TP’s aren’t a good idea, I’m not saying the effot isn’t worthwhile, I’m looking for the easy to grasp message you’re trying to convey.

[Glenn]

And I’m a hardened conservative who spent 8 long years in th trenches of conservative activism.

How'd that work out for you? I must have missed your success in the NYT.

[mainestategop]

I think we got every right to throw a tantrum after the government has s**t all over our liberties and our economy. Its because of idiots like Sullivan that we are in the mess now.

Surprisingly but not so surprisingly, he supports taking our money and giving it to fat cats who evict homeowners and send jobs overseas. Whatever happened to the left having compassion for the poor? oh! That's right, liberals don't give a f*** they just use them to trash America.

[andy58-in-nh]

See, I don't think we will be heard, not at this point, that is, and not by the people who really need to hear it. Instead, we'll observe the usual suspects in the mainstream news media running interference for their quarterback Obama, as they endeavor to mischaracterize, misreport, deny and denigrate; you know: all the things they do best.

For their part, congressional leaders will continue to turn a blind eye to the Tea Parties, when they are not sniping from the rooftops of the Sunday talk show circuit.

The importance and vitality of these events, then, I believe will be to create a sense of community and begin to build a momentum toward real organization which itself is unlikely to occur until more dramatic events unfold. And trust me: they will.

[Bob J]

You've been artound this site almost as long as I. Let me give you an example.

Back in the days of the 2000 election debacle the Free Republic Network decided to help organize and support a national month of protests in support of GWB. That effort ended up well, we had over 250 events across the country and eventually GWB was inaugurated.

But we knew we needed a concise message to get our point across in a way that everyone could could understand. One of members and a good friend of mine, you may remember him as "Registered", designed a graphic that accomplished this.

That's what this movement needs.

[papertyger]

No, but according to your commenter profile (dismisser) you believe they're all too stupid...

No, just you. And you know what: I'm right. Your thought process is one continuous string of prime time cliches, and I think you've written enough now to demonstrate it to any lurkers who might be tempted to think you have a point.

[freeangel]

I believe that people believe what was fed to them in the crappy public school system. — Kind of a rewrite of the Constitution by the liberal left.

[papertyger]

I hope I’m wrong.

Me too, Bob. Because that five percent will be the only ones who have figured out power does not negotiate with powerlessness.

The rest will continue to "protest."

[RaceBannon]

You’re a Marine and don’t understand initiative and motivation?

Why did we do close order drill? To buld teamwork, cuz you never did a left oblique in combat, did you?

Holding these ralies builds a sense of team, it motivates, it keeps the issues alive

otherwise, people will just go to sleep and let others rule us

Wake up

[papertyger]

Real movements create messages over time.

Examples?

[mickey finn]

This is not about abortion. Get a grip.

[papertyger]

My “buy” order is in ;o)

[GOPJ]

You're right - that sign was a part of a natural movement. I remember the thread the first time it showed up... Everyone just knew it was right - - the concept was “sticky”. “SoreLoserman” signs were sprinkled through every protest. Great stuff. The "good old days"...

[EDINVA]

Reminiiscent of Petuh Jennings’s editorial about America having a 2 year old’s temper tantrum in ‘94 when they dared vote in GOP majorities to both houses of Congress. Suppose any mass movement from the Dems liberal dogma is a ‘tantrum.’

I didn’t realize the tea parties were a function of the GOP so much as a grass roots movement of taxpayers who’ve just had it with government (by either party) amassing atrocious debt with concommitant tax burdens today and worse tomorrow.