The latest in a spate of polls about the Tea Partiers comes from the New York Times and CBS and it raises some questions about just what's fueling the protests: is it all about taxes or something else?
Of those self described Tea Partiers polled by the Times most considered their taxes “fair.” They send their kids to public schools and despite opposing health care reform, think that Social Security and Medicare are worth the cost.
So what's driving them to the streets in a rage? It's not money per se, it's something else. Usefully, the pollsters asked Tea Partiers other questions too. Surprise surprise, they believe that Obama “does not share the values most Americans live by and that he does not understand the problems of people like themselves.” Half think the administration favors the poor, and a quarter say it favors blacks
over whites — compared with 11 percent of the general public."
Where did they get such ideas? In this case, mostly from the Fox News network, but the coded language is clear as ice. It's not about taxes or spending per se, it's about spending on them...(other people.)
And that's how self-interested politicians and spinmeisters have stirred up people to slash government since Reconstruction. As one Social Security-receiving tea partier tells the Times: "I didn't look at from the perspective of losing things I need" [emphasis added]
And that's the genius of this kind of talk. By painting assistance to the poor as only a "black" thing, poor whites have consistently been enocuraged to support doing away with the only safety net they'd ever had. That's part of what brought us to this spot.
An honest debate about taxes? It'd be helpful. But what we really need to do is grapple with post-apartheid racial resentments. And that makes the whole tax debate look easy.
The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Support us by signing up for our podcast, and follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter.com.
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By Red Shoulder Hawk on April 17th, 2010 at 3:02 am
How wrong you are about what drives T party members. What we see is a President who thinks differently than we do about what this country is all about. What we see is the government intruding into our lives by feit, What we’ve had until now was GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE.. The present congress does not represent the will of the people..What the people want is less government in our lives. The President and the Congress seem to be leading us into a bigger socialist government. If that was what the people wanted why would so many people join the T-party movement. The last time so many people took an interest what the governmentwas doing was when
By Carl vollmer on April 18th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Hi Laura/Grit-tv,Thanks for all you do.Your Tea-Party/Astro-Turf story,is right-on.This co-opting of our anger by a 5th column(Hitler WW2 tactic) and divide & conquer tactic,by the “Rich Trash” can be counter by showing the “Evil” they do and represent.Laura,the most important job now,is showing people working together for the common good.The “devils want us killing each other,we have to many lessons learn to let it happen.United We Stand,Divide We Go To HELL!
By jessie taylor on April 18th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
LAURA. You are completely wrong about what is driving us T party people. Race has nothing to do with what is driving us into the streets. We are black ,white, rich ,poor. old ,young ,thin ,fat,and everyone of us is MAD. We are mad at what appears to be happening to our country. Congress doesn’t pay attention to us. The president doesn’t pay attention to us. Both are suppose to represent us but don’t listen to us. Why on God’s earth do you think so many people are upset with the way things appear to be going. Just think what it takes to get the whole nation in an uproar.
Bush’s war didn’t do it. 911 didn’t do it for very long. I hope you don’t believe that the reason is taxes. The civil rights movement didn’t do it.. I’ll tell you what’s doing it . The founding fathers created a set of conditions that guided this country for 200 years. Making this the greatest country in the world. TODAY there are people trying to change that original set of conditions. What the T party people see ,is,that if they succeed , we’ll end up as a Socialist third world country . This movement is so big that it will probably take over both parties and throw out most of Congress plus most of the House and start off with getting back to where we should be. We’ll still love you anyway
By carlvollmer on April 18th, 2010 at 8:57 pm