The major thing that drives my activism is a desire to see things get better for the people of the United States. The people are the nation, which is something that the Tea Party so-called patriots seem to forget. The recognition that we, as citizens, are all in this together and can’t be constantly only looking out for our own narrow interests is one that motivates me to be more than just a passive citizen.
This makes it all the tougher to say that I am not a fan of populist movements. The problem with them is they generally run on a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding of how our political system actually works.
"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"
There is nothing mysterious or difficult in learning how the system works; by which I mean getting an understanding of the way bill progress, what the various committees are and do; what the various departments of government are and do, and what the law is right now that governs it all. It merely takes some time and a little critical thinking.
The thing about populist movements is they come from the general population and right now in America; the general population does not really have a good grasp on these factors. It is why we can have a movement like the Tea Partiers, who are frothing at the mouth about a "government take over of health care" who also insist that they don’t want any cuts in Medicare. The fact that Medicaid and Medicare are federally administered programs never seems to penetrate their thinking.
I know that it is not all their fault, they are being constantly lied to by the Fox News network and the Republican leadership. It goes back to the old idea of garbage in/garbage out. If you don’t have good information, how can you possibly make a good decision? Still the inherent conflicts between what they think they want and what they think they are against has to be, in part, laid at the feet of the individuals.
The thing is that they are quite vocal and energized. This is what you get from populist movements, they are made as hell and they are not going to take it anymore. They want to change things and change them now! Being engaged is a good thing, normally, but if the people who are trying to be engaged don’t have any understanding of the facts, the real, actual, indisputable facts, then the changes they are want could be catastrophic.
A CBS poll in February found that 24% of the country thought that President Obama had raised taxes for most Americans. For those who supported the Tea Party movement, that number was 44%. Think about that for a second. A quarter of the nation, and nearly half of all folks who have even a little support for the Tea Party believe that President Obama had raised their taxes.
The fact is that there were approximately 300 billion in tax cuts for everyone but the top 2% of earners (about 1 million families in the U.S.).
None of this data is hard to find, two minutes with the Google-machine and anyone can find the figures that will show the Tea Partiers are wrong about the tax situation. The sad thing is that it is not just taxes where these right wing populists are misinformed and flatly wrong. The idea that the Congress can not mandate the purchase of health insurance using the tax code is another place where blind populism is flatly wrong.
For those who don’t know, the way it works is that if you have health insurance, either purchased yourself or through your company, you provide a proof of that and then you are not eligible to be taxed for failing to have it. It is a kin to not having the tax break for mortgage interest because you don’t own a home. Yet a baker’s dozen or so of Republican States Attorney Generals are pursuing a frivolous law suit to try to challenge this. Why are they doing it? Because a populist movement that does not know the facts are hot and heavy for them to do so.
It is the same with the repeal idea. There is exactly zero chance that this will be repealed. To even be able to have a real chance of setting the agenda the Republicans need to win 10 seats in the Senate (since we have the V.P.) and 34 in the House. Even then they would be unable to overcome a presidential veto, which is sure to happen if they were able to get repeal passed through both Houses in the first place. Yet the Tea Partiers and their enablers are making this a major issue for the Republicans.
The point here is that it is good for the people to be involved in their government, but not if they will not take the time to understand how things work and what the real facts are. I have always said that you can not argue facts with someone arguing from emotion. This is where the Tea Partiers and many other populist movements come from, an emotional surety they do not like what is going on and it has to change. The emotion is a good thing as long as it does not prevent the understanding of the real situation.
Is it elitist to think that most populist movements are not very informed? It may be, but I don’t think so. There is no problem with people who are elite being at the front of such movements. After all, what group or organization does not want its very best members leading the charge?
Becoming elite in politics does not require an Ivy League education, one of the best and most effective politicians I have ever known had left school after the 6th grade. What it does require is the understanding that politics is a learning profession and the pursuit of it means a lifetime spent learning new things and thinking about how they affect the governance of the county or the state or the nation.
This is a real problem for the Tea Party who has made a fetish of knowing nothing and a badge of honor out of protecting that ignorance. The problem for the nation is that the energy of this right-wing populist movement is attracting the attention of Republican leaders. To get these votes they will have to try to govern from the same know-nothing view of the nation.
Thomas Jefferson said :
"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government;"
This is true, but the corollary has to be that those who will not take the time to become well informed should resist the urge to take up the reins of government. The choice is always theirs but in a representative democracy the consequences of aggressive political activity without understanding can be dire.
I have great faith that my fellow citizens can be thoughtful and work for the greater good. Still just as I would not be happy to ride in a car with someone who had no idea how they worked I am leery of letting those who have not taken the time to learn the operations of government run this nation.
The floor is yours.