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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>What Carl and Chomsky have noted, in my opinion, is
that the Tea Party has (or had) some life in it. It may be a dog in many
ways, but it was noted a little while ago that a live dog has more
opportunity than a dead lion.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>It is quite unfortunate that those who could be
allies so quickly want to dismiss the "populist uprising" as "astroturf" without
any consideration of what is actually going on. Its pretty easy to make
accusations of the movement being</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>white and affluent. Most Americans are white,
and most of the Americans who have a stake in changing the system
are</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>white. So what? Its a granfalloon.
The race card is pretty flimsy, but it could be said that for many blacks,
they have a stake in keeping the system the way that it is, even though many of
us whites think they would be better off if the D/R system didnt buy them out as
it does. </FONT><FONT size=2 face=Arial>(I can anticipate tonnes of
well-earned flaming from that comment. Have at it, but it would be a
diversionary thread.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>There are some good reasons to lump the Tea Party
movement with the Liberty movement. and while one is at it, it works to lump the
progressives kicking and screaming into the same pile.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The original Tea Party movement was not
astroturfed, although it has indeed been Heavily Co-opted by the R
establishment in much the same way as the Peace Movement has been
co-opted by the D establishment. In both cases there is a remnant
that has not bowed to Baal.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The thinks that the manipulators of the Tea Party
and the manipulators of the Peace movement and the manipulators of the
Progressive movement (and yea, the manipulators of the Liberty movement) do
to diffuse away the enthusiasm and frustrate the higher ends of those movements
do not change the fact that there is indeed a potentially unifying thread
running through all of those. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>That unifying thread is that the American Democracy
(call it a Republic if that suits one's dialectical blindnesses
more comfortably) is a lousy joke and people ought to be mad as hell
about the way they are manipulated, lied to, cheated, and robbed.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The Frank Luntzes of the world and similarly sick
genii scan the mindscape of the "movements" and try to find ways to drain off
the political capital, censor the message, and give the masses a pretty lace
doily for their mind. The Dems have their Frank Luntzes and their willing
supplicants and sycophants too. The R's and the D's are quite simply two
different arms of the same octopus who want you to keep thinking that Buicks and
Oldsmobiles are somehow different and that a Lincoln is any other than a damn
Ford.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>I heard Sarah Palin give her speech in St; Paul in
2008 and I dont like her much at all. But people relate to her because
they think that she is "one of us" (wrong or right). Actually W had the
same sort of appeal. Whether she or W or any of the other cartoon
characters are real people or just electrons in a machine is irrelevant.
The people identify with the character just like the kids relate to Mighty
Mouse, Mickey Mouse, or XiYangYang. Ideology is bunk. Manipulation
of the masses is the only thing that matters.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=davegreen84@yahoo.com href="mailto:davegreen84@yahoo.com">David
Green</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=ewj@pigs.ag
href="mailto:ewj@pigs.ag">E.Wayne Johnson</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A
title=peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net
href="mailto:peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">Peace Discuss</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, May 01, 2010 5:16
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Peace-discuss] ron paul -
we can do better with peace</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<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>
<DIV> </DIV>
<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>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>An analogy might be made to MoveOn and the Democrats.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<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>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>What problems I have with the Liberty message, I wouldn't lump it with
the TPers.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>DG<BR></DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><BR>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 13px"><FONT
size=2 face=Tahoma>
<HR SIZE=1>
<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>>
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