Texas TEA

The past week was an interesting sociological experiment in disorganized protest, disconnected media, and disinterested public servants. I had hoped to attend the TEA party at the Alamo in San Antonio. Unfortunately the logistics did not work out and the closest I was able to get was to attend a morning TEA party/protest on the steps of the Grayson county courthouse in Sherman Texas and then watch Glenn Beck's show broadcast from the Alamo that evening. In a way I'm glad that the Alamo trip fell through so that I could experience the small town 'unproduced' gathering in Sherman.

The nationwide protest on 'tax-day' was an amazing testament to the power of the internet to get people connected and informed. The new media (talk-radio, bloggers, forums and internet news sites) did an admirable job of getting out the message regarding the April 15th gatherings. The conspicuous lack of a centralized planning organization or sponsor makes the event all the more impressive. The mainstream media(MSM) responded to the event with a sense of bewilderment and a naive disbelief that such an event could be pulled off so quickly by a 'grass roots' effort (particularly with such limited MSM exposure or affirmation). The MSM's failure to grasp the situation almost immediately sparked speculation that there was some invisible hand of conspiracy organizing the event. To those that closely followed the events it is pretty clear that there was not a lot of orchestration between individual gatherings. These were every day folks standing up for their principles, not organized activists.

Some of the TEA parties shunned elected officials while others welcomed them. Some were festive productions, some were just gatherings in homes or on the steps of rural county courthouses like the one in Sherman. Two themes were constant parts of the protests across the nation on Wednesday; Washington is out of touch with the people, and the out of control spending must stop. The clear dichotomy of American society was illustrated by two counter posed themes from the MSM and the Oligogues in congress respectively; The event is just a rant from uninformed rubes, and the event is just an astro-turf theatrical stunt funded by big corporations or shadowy right-wing figures.

The desire of many elected officials to dismiss the event as inconsequential is a clear indication of their belief that the only opinion that matters is the one that comes from Washington. They are offended whenever the little people start trying to assert influence over government. Patently offensive comments from elected officials and from members of the MSM demonstrate the contempt they share for the average American that is tired of being discounted by the government/media complex. It is hard to fathom that the plummeting viewership/readership and plummeting congressional approval ratings have still not begun to convince the oligogues that there may be more to our expressions of discontent than typical political posturing.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle are confused about the meaning and purpose behind the protest. Most of those involved in the protests are republicans or conservatives, but not all. Many independents and some democrats are joining the protest against out of control government. Nancy Pelosi thinks that she is preaching to the choir when she accuses protesters of being stooges for big-money interests;


Somehow I doubt that is going to play well among democrats concerned about the out of control spending. Democrats and Independents that took part in last Wednesday's protest may not care for Nancy's characterization of their actions. Just keep on talking Nancy.

On the republican side of the aisle there are some that would like to have it both ways. They voted for the stimulus bill and now they are going after the out of control "democrat" spending. Unfortunately (for them) people are actually paying attention. Using all the right talking points or buzzwords is apparently not enought to make everyone forget;

I guess that's more of Nancy's 'astro-turf' in action...

The media's contempt and ridicule for those taking part in the events is beyond outrageous. The disgusting innuendo from CNN's Anderson Cooper and NBC's Keith Olbermann is beneath contempt. Of course it never occurred to either of these gentlemen that members of their own audiences may be taking part in the protests. I looked briefly for a clip from one of these guys to include in this post, but I can't find anything that I'd have on my site. You can find them on Youtube if you're interested, just beware that these 'mainstream' commentators are now pornographers and set your expectations appropriately.

The hard left becomes increasingly shrill in the face of dissent. Any mask of reasonableness worn by the Pelosis and Olbermanns is beginning to slip badly. Their insults and contempt for those with whom they disagree are broad, sweeping and not even thinly veiled. These are the media and political elite, the oligogues. Hopefully their increasing boldness will allow more average americans to see them for what they are. More average Americans like the 15 year old girl that stood before the crowd on the footsteps of the Grayson county courthouse to recite Ronald Reagan's innaugural address;

Astro-turf indeed.