Protesting against change

Everyone is trying to classify the tea party protesters. The coverage from Fox TV is favorable so most call them right wing and most call them republicans. This is a group however that defies easy identification. Many have never protested before, have never been active politically and have never been closely aligned with one political party. This may be why many call them racist. Lacking any easily identifiable markings observers note the obvious. The protesters are angry, the target of the anger is black, therefor the protesters are racists. This is no more true than the other labels.

The reality is these protests are a true grass roots uprising that has forced a widely divergent group of individuals together for common interest. Typically this type of group is seen in the "not in my backyard" protests such as those against walmart or prisons or power plants. This type of protest brings everyone in a geographical location together regardless of political affiliation or economic status.

The commonality is that all members of this new group feel disenfranchised, overburdened, afraid about the future and concerned with change. Most are concerned that the proposed changes are dramatic and permanent. They fear that this new vision for America proposed by the Obama has no place for them. His vision involves social and economic engineering they are not sure they want. ( This point is worth noting because the Obama was elected as an agent of change, so it seems clear that many are surprised by the type of change proposed by their new president. Could it be that all they really wanted to change was the tone and demeanor in Washington, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan our relationship with our foreign interests and maybe the face of the president?) They worry that taxes which are already high will grow higher for years to come. Most of all they fear that they are loosing footing on their economic tier.

The raw emotion and the inexperienced display offered by the protesters gives insight that these people don't quite know what they are doing but feel that they must act now. Many of the signs held up at rally's and many of the comments offered by protesters were absurd. Don't therefor dismiss them, instead consider the massive emotional content that brought them to this place. It will be a mistake to ignore them. The fear and anger they display suggest that they mean business.

A question as important as who are they, is how many are there? Is it possible that there are many more? Could there be 10 times or 100 times as many as we have seen so far? Anecdotal evidence suggest that this grassroots movement is very very large. Many times senators and Congressmen have seen their email servers, web portals and phone lines full to capacity and ground to a halt as floods of protests poured in from every corner of their districts. Town hall meeting are filled to overflowing and Glen Beck attracts over 3 million viewers at 5PM.

Two months ago they were AstroTurf today they are a political reality. Washington must acknowledge them or risk being overrun by them. Its a change you can believe in.

A black president and the race card collide

Opposition to the First black president is racist or at the least racially motivated. So says former president Jimmy Carter. This is the kind of disarming argument that liberals love to make as it allows them to dictate the terms of the argument and avoid actually discussing the subject at hand, such as socialized health care. They used the same tactic regarding gay marriage. It didn't matter how many thoughts you had on the subject the response was the same "don't be a hater". Instead of discussing the merits of your thought you are forced to defend your integrity.

This time the liberals may have overplayed their hand. The issues that lead to the Tea Party Patriots and the march on Washington brought together a very disparate group of people. Many of them are true independent voters that helped elect The Obama only to be shocked by his policies and immediately revolt. Turning on these important voters now risks alienating them for years. Another more interesting aspect of the race card is its recent overuse and the potential consequences of that. People will become habituated to its use and inured to its effects. Once this line is crossed the power of the race card will decline dramatically. Howard stern the shock jock is a perfect example of this effect. He said so many shocking things that listeners were no longer shocked by them.

The Obama must now realize he is in a difficult position. He has abandoned talking up the merits of his health care plan and instead has focused on attacking his opponents and ridiculing dissenting voices from the public. This approach seems unlikely to work as insults never win an argument except among children.