As Occupy Wall Street blossoms, and protests sprout up across the nation, political pundits, and most recently, Vice President Joe Biden, have sought to define it in some way. One current theme compares OWS with the Republican Tea Party movement.
On the surface, it's easy to make comparisons between the two movements. Seen through the lens of the current political spectrum, it may seem an apt comparison. Both movements, on the surface, consist of political outsiders demanding fundamental change in the way that government operates.
Jonathan Capehart has a piece out arguing that lessons learned from the beginnings of the Tea Party Republican movement are instructive to OWS. In addition to Capehart, other political analysts have attempted to define OWS by comparing it to the Tea Party.
I, however, disagree with this comparison.
Capehart writes:
Both Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party are organic movements. They rose up from everyday people who got tired of being pushed around or ignored by powers they believe are beyond their control. Both movements eschew having one or a crew of recognized leaders who speak for everyone.
And....wrong.
On April 15th 2009, Jane Hamsher, in an article on Huffington Post, presented a timeline outlining the creation of the Republican Tea Party movement. The information provided is instructive in light of current comparisons of the OWS movement with the Tea Party movement.
Hamsher details the beginnings of the movement. At the start, it was not given the title of Tea Party, It was called a "porkulus protest".
Hamsher writes:
[The] first rally organized on a three week-old blog with help from folks from Fox News Radio, the Young Republicans, The Young Americans Foundation (CPAC), and a GOP House candidate who works for an internet marketing firm.
Further, Hamsher details the connection with the Koch's and their Americans for Prosperity, Coors and it's Independence Institute, and former Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo.
It's worth checking out Hamsher's entire piece on the beginnings of the Tea Party.
Hardly a grassroots movement.
The involvement of top Republican political operatives, and the timing of the "movement", which began less than a month after President Obama's inauguration, makes it clear that the Republican Tea Party "movement" was and is simply an anti-Obama movement.
Occupy Wall Street and Occupy events across the nation - the 99% - do not share a similar connection to a political party or to monied interests seeking to use their money to influence our democracy. Interviews of protesters show - with notable nuanced understanding of current policy - that many do not support the policies President Obama has championed.
From an organizational and funding standpoint the two movements couldn't be more different. But most importantly from the standpoint of inclusivity the two movements are light years apart. OWS has adopted the moniker "The 99%." There are about 312 million people in the United States. That makes the OWS movement a movement of about 308 million people.
The Tea Party isn't as inclusive. A May 2010 University of Washington poll found that self identifying Tea Party members do not want most of the 99% in their movement. It found that: 74% do not believe in affirmative action; 73% disagree with President Obama's "policy of engaging with Muslim countries"; 63% believe that it's okay to profile people of Middle Eastern decent; 54% believe that "immigration is changing the culture of the U.S. for the worse"; only 18% believe that "gay and lesbian couples should have the same legal right to marry as straight couples."
Full results of the poll here (.pdf)
Based on this data, as well as on what I've seen of the turn out for Tea Party rallies, they represent what, 6-8%?
While it's convenient to characterize the Occupy Wall Street protests, and the larger Occupy movement, as the Left's version of the Tea Party, a comparison shows a marked difference.
OWS started out as a few students and DFH protesting Wall Street's economic terrorism on the American economy, but it has clearly become far more. In contrast, the Tea Party "movement" was created by political operatives at the highest levels of the Republican party and enjoys unlimited funding.
The Tea Party has had an undeniable influence on elections over the past cycle. What will be interesting to watch is how the OWS movement matures and what influence the 99% have on the 2012 election cycle.