<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><DIV>I think Paul Street and Anthony DiMaggio have done pretty well in explaining that the Tea Party, as an organized phenomenon, is a Republican creation</DIV>
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<DIV><A href="http://www.zcommunications.org/what-populist-uprising-part-ii-further-reflections-on-an-astroturf-movement-by-anthony-dimaggio">http://www.zcommunications.org/what-populist-uprising-part-ii-further-reflections-on-an-astroturf-movement-by-anthony-dimaggio</A></DIV>
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<DIV>An analogy might be made to MoveOn and the Democrats.</DIV>
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<DIV>The purpose of both is to avoid the fundamental issues--war, the economy, etc. There's a synergy--the Republican base gets aroused, and the Democrats look left and point right--"See what you'd have if you didn't have us?" </DIV>
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<DIV>What problems I have with the Liberty message, I wouldn't lump it with the TPers.</DIV>
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<DIV>DG<BR></DIV>
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<B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> E.Wayne Johnson <ewj@pigs.ag><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> Stuart Levy <slevy@ncsa.uiuc.edu>; peace-discuss <peace-discuss@anti-war.net><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Fri, April 30, 2010 1:57:56 PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> Re: [Peace-discuss] ron paul - we can do better with peace<BR></FONT><BR>There are a lot of what I would call "peripheral" issues that get mingled in <BR>with the Tea Party/Liberty message,<BR>and it is too often at the expense of the core issues. For me, the war has <BR>always been a core issue, and the inability of the people to overcome the <BR>ruling class's insistence on imperialism around the world is a major <BR>frustration with the system.<BR><BR>We had invited Cindy Sheehan and Bill Kauffman to the Liberty Fest but Cindy <BR>was unavailable and Bill had a family-based
commitment to keep after <BR>initially saying he would be there.<BR><BR>I see the healthcare issue as being one of an undersupply of medical care <BR>persons and an unreasonable "standard of care" that isnt really a standard <BR>of care ideology but rather an ideology of greed. The US doesnt make enough <BR>health care providers to meet the needs of its population.<BR><BR>----- Original Message ----- <BR>From: "Stuart Levy" <<A href="mailto:slevy@ncsa.uiuc.edu" ymailto="mailto:slevy@ncsa.uiuc.edu">slevy@ncsa.uiuc.edu</A>><BR>To: "E.Wayne Johnson" <<A href="mailto:ewj@pigs.ag" ymailto="mailto:ewj@pigs.ag">ewj@pigs.ag</A>>; "peace-discuss" <BR><<A href="mailto:peace-discuss@anti-war.net" ymailto="mailto:peace-discuss@anti-war.net">peace-discuss@anti-war.net</A>><BR>Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 3:03 PM<BR>Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] ron paul - we can do better with peace<BR><BR><BR>> On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 08:17:45AM +0800,
E.Wayne Johnson wrote:<BR>>> interesting video clip with some joker from Indiana and disturbing <BR>>> message and response,<BR>>> followed by Ron Paul.<BR>>><BR>>> <A href="http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/04/ron-paul-we-can-do-better-with-peace.html" target=_blank>http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/04/ron-paul-we-can-do-better-with-peace.html</A><BR>><BR>> Yes. "We stand with Israel", says Rep. Mike Pence of Muncie, IN,<BR>> to resounding cheers. Ron Paul, talking about military bases around the<BR>> world and other good stuff, got cheers too though not so resounding.<BR>><BR>><BR>> Definitely not all, but a fair part of Mike Shedlock's written commentary<BR>> on the above page could have been heard at an AWARE meeting --<BR>> "The US cannot afford to waste trillions of dollars keeping<BR>> troops in 140 countries around the world." or "The reason '95%
of the<BR>> Political Class support Obama' over Ron Paul is the political class<BR>> in both parties are mostly war mongers. Enough already!" or<BR>> "[T]he military complex has a vested interest in perpetual war."<BR>> Encouraging to see.<BR>><BR>> Also very interesting is the Rasmussen poll linked-to from that page:<BR>> <BR>> <A href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2012/election_2012_barack_obama_42_ron_paul_41" target=_blank>http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2012/election_2012_barack_obama_42_ron_paul_41</A><BR>> Don't just read the headline.<BR>><BR>> We read, for example, that *almost a quarter* of likely US voters now<BR>> consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement. That's a lot.<BR>><BR>> Of those, almost all believe that Americans are overtaxed, and trust<BR>> the opinions of the
American people more than their political leaders.<BR>> (Gary Trudeau said it: "We want to take our country back! -- From who?<BR>> -- From the people we elected to lead us! Will you join us?")<BR>><BR>> When Tea-Party-identified voters were asked about a<BR>> hypothetical Republican-vs-Democrat (two-way) race for President,<BR>> most said they'd vote Republican.<BR>><BR>> But if the Tea Party were a party and ran in a hypothetical three-way<BR>> Tea-Democrat-Republican presidential race, and asking *all* (not just TP)<BR>> voters this time, the Democrat would win, but a Tea Party candidate would<BR>> draw almost a fifth of (hypothetical) votes.<BR>><BR>> Just over half of Republican voters say the average Republican congressman<BR>> is *more liberal* than they are. Just 20% believe the average Republican<BR>> congressman is more conservative than the average Republican voter.<BR>> That's
a frightening thought.<BR>><BR>> Of Republican voters, most (59%) think Sarah Palin shares the values<BR>> of most Republican voters. 19% of all voters think that Ron Paul<BR>> shares the values of most Republican voters (but about half of all<BR>> voters weren't sure whether he did or not).<BR>><BR>><BR>> So: if the Tea Party were a party and did run a candidate,<BR>> would it prefer a Palin (or a Pence), or a Paul?<BR>><BR>><BR>> Some questions would be easy. Little need for social spending.<BR>> Equalizing inequality isn't something the government should have<BR>> a role in, I expect they'd comfortably agree.<BR>><BR>> No "amnesty" for "illegal" immigrants -- even though, as one<BR>> immigration rights activist has pointed out, the history of this<BR>> country is *all about* amnesty, about escaping the shackles of the<BR>> past and heading freely into someplace new.<BR>><BR>>
But, what portion of the Tea Party's soul is anti-war and <BR>> anti-imperialist?<BR>><BR>> At last fall's Liberty Fest (thanks, Wayne!) I talked briefly with<BR>> the manager for IVAW member Adam Kokesh's run for US Congress,<BR>> hoping to gauge how important the anti-war message was for his campaign.<BR>> Even though I spoke admiringly of his IVAW connection, and mentioned<BR>> being happy about our Tim Johnson's turn against the war, it sounded as <BR>> though<BR>> Kokesh's opposition to war was something they felt the New Mexico campaign<BR>> had to downplay.<BR>><BR>> Altogether I heard very little at that meeting about opposition to war<BR>> (though I did miss the gubernatorial debate on the first day).<BR>> Some did raise it, and not only the Green-party candidates,<BR>> but war and US empire seemed low on the lists of most speakers I heard.<BR>><BR>> This despite the fact that the $trillion
we've spent, and trillions<BR>> we've committed, in Iraq and Afghanistan, are at least comparable to the<BR>> total cost (additional $1T over 10 years) of the health insurance bill<BR>> that's been the object of so much of the Tea Partiers' fury.<BR>><BR>> Where's the fury over our violent pursuit of power around the world?<BR>> Was it there in the Tax Day tea parties, above the level of whispers?<BR>><BR>> Stuart<BR>> <BR><BR><BR>-- <BR>This message has been scanned for viruses and<BR>dangerous content by MailScanner, and is<BR>believed to be clean.<BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Peace-discuss mailing list<BR><A href="mailto:Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net" ymailto="mailto:Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</A><BR><A href="http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss"
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