There was just one rule I gave myself before I went: no lying. Of course, disguising my normal appearance in any way counts as lying. So I just wore what I had on that morning, which could count as some kind of liberal uniform: ancient Chuck Taylors, a head wrap made in Tibet, and a hemp purse with an ohm sign on it.
Let's make this clear: I am not a native to this land. I am an invasive species. This county is solidly red, and as an outsider I've learned to be
careful with what I say.* I didn't know what to expect from this meeting, and from the reporting I'd seen about the Tea Party, it seemed possible that I would be thrown out cold. Still, embarrassment I am used to. I couldn't stay away.
The week before I attended, Bob Cesca posted “The Tea Party Is All About Race” on The Huffington Post. I know Cesca and I are on the same team, technically, but the article really bothered me. For example, he says, “When you strip away all of the rage, all of the nonsensical loud noises and all of the contradictions, all that's left is race.” Cesca doesn't explain what's behind the rage or what kind of contradictions he's talking about in that article, but I fear it's because, like a lot of us, he's dismissed the Tea Party movement without really listening. This is a colossal mistake. Imagine saying that about Kurt Cobain's opus. Isn't the rage and the seeming contradictions exactly the thing you should be listening to?
By the time I got within sight of the middle school where the meeting was being held, I knew I could relax, because the place was mobbed. I had to park around the corner and walk to the school, and if you think nobody walks in LA, well, it's even more so out in the country. People streamed into the gymnasium from every direction, and I blended in as well as I could with the flag pins and camo jackets, entering into what my husband had joked was “enemy territory.”
The local Tea Party movement started in May 2009 with about twenty people meeting at someone's house. The numbers have grown every month, and a reported 557 other people attended this meeting with me. There were simply not enough chairs, and the organizers requested that everyone under 20 find a space on the floor.
Let's pause for a moment to think about those numbers. At the Tea Party Meeting held In Mill Valley (north of San Francisco) on Sunday, March 7, around 500 people showed up. In my rural county halfway between Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe, 535 people showed up on a Tuesday night. Now I know we're supposed to bemoan the fact that we live in a country where civic participation means voting for your favorite American Idol contestant each and every week. But here, in front of our very noses are people exercising their rights to free speech and the right to assemble, and they aren't just doing it in firmly red areas, like my town, but they are doing it in Marin County. Sean Penn lives in Marin County. It doesn't get any bluer than that.
When I read the Cesca article, part of the reason it didn't ring true to me was probably geographical. It would be naïve to claim that racism does not exist in California, but still, my spidey senses are telling me that this premise is bullshit. No doubt your mileage may vary depending on where in the country you attend one of these meetings, but I'm here to tell you that I heard no racist statements about President Obama. His name was hardly mentioned, because around these parts people enjoy throwing tomatoes at homegrown Democrats like Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi.
The guest speaker that night was Chuck DeVore, who is running against Barbara Boxer in this year's Senate race. DeVore is a Republican, and although he talks the Tea Party talk, he's not completely accepted by the local group yet, no matter what you might have read in the papers. I know this based on the amount of heckling during his speech. I actually felt like DeVore and I were in a similar position. Both of us were outsiders not exactly sure what we were dealing with. The difference? He was at the front of the crowd with the microphone putting his ass on the line with his insane jibber-jabber. I was hiding in the corner taking notes and clapping at the wrong moments. It kind of felt like the odd times I'm forced to go to church and can't even cross myself correctly. But I digress.
DeVore started with a slanted history lesson in which the founding fathers constructed the constitution in order to protect the individual rights of its citizens. This made me want to be sick, but it's probably a common side effect of reading Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Suck it, Jefferson, is what I was thinking. DeVore made sure that everyone knew what Democrats were. They are people who believe the rights of the state are more important than the rights of the individual. Hm. That doesn't sound like me.
I have to assume that at least some of the information DeVore let loose that night was accepted by the people at face value. Now before you start tsk tsking others for not educating themselves on the issues, think of the amount of information that you and I, in the course of a week, take at face value if for no other reason then just because there's no time to check it all and still tend to our basic needs. American history, economics, current events, the political system? This is really complicated stuff. The really successful presidents have been the ones who can communicate their message in effective ways to the masses (this was just covered by George Packer in The New Yorker in “Obama's Lost Year”).
For a short time I sat next to a woman who attended with her high-school-aged son. This whole area is in an uproar about more budget cuts to education, and the very next night, I'd be back here (but in a much smaller room) attending a school board meeting to discuss just that. What does a Tea Party mother think about cuts to education? Like me, this mother was pissed. But she wanted to know how the money had been managed. And where is the lotto money that was supposed to fund education in the first place? She firmly believed the money was there but was not being handled properly.
At this point, the donation can came by. The woman and her son looked at me critically as I passed it along without putting anything in there. I couldn't bring myself to do it, even in the name of research. So instead I decided to change my seat. I didn't realize I'd moved ringside for the question and answer portion of the evening. I must have missed the sign saying that the section was reserved for the hecklers and the very angry. But this was the best place for me to be, because sitting where I could hear the sidebars is where it finally clicked. Well, another reason it clicked is because earlier that day I was searching for a bumper sticker that really should exist:
Did you know, that when you go to cafepress.com and search on “Obama” what you actually find is more anti-Obama than pro-Obama? Here's a sample of what you could place on your auto:
Honk if I'm paying your mortgage
Honk if I'm buying you healthcare
A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have.
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those willing to work and give to those who would not.
At Q&A, people told stories of unemployment, illness, and the loss of their health insurance. They yelled insults at Bush. One woman bravely yelled at DeVore for not working with the other side and actually accomplishing something. In short, a lot of these people sounded like they ought to vote Democrat. But they wouldn't do that even if you subjected them to waterboarding. And although I can't claim to have all the answers after two hours at a Tea Party meeting, I think I'm starting to understand.
Picture this. You've worked your entire life at a job you might not even like for not a lot of money. Your body is probably breaking down on you, but you're used to putting up. You pay your taxes and try to stay out of financial trouble, but right now times are really hard. And you know what you see? You see the government spending money like there's no tomorrow, and you have this distinct feeling that you are going to be asked to pay for it. And you know who they are helping with your money? Illegal immigrants and deadbeats on welfare. You're the one who needs help, but you can't even get a job. You have sacrificed a lot of creature comforts to pay for a family health insurance policy, and now the government is just going to give it to everyone? And I'm going to have to pay more taxes for somebody else's Viagra? No fucking way. Not me.
Rant all you want about how this point of view isn't correct and doesn't make sense. The way I see it, it's the left's own damned fault for not communicating effectively. We've done such a horrible job at getting our message across that liberals are seen as overeducated jerks who think less of the rest of the country. There are plenty of people effectively creating a Tea Party narrative above. And they're selling a lot of bumper stickers.
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*Learned it the hard way, as a matter of fact. Shortly after delivering my eldest child, I invited a bunch of moms from my birthing class over to my house far up in the foorhills. The conversation had taken a confessional tone, and without thinking, I complained about my neighborhood and the fact that I was surrounded by conservative Christians. The yawning silence reminded me that everyone in the room, except for me, was a conservative Christian.
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I attended the Coffee Party kick off this weekend. Mixed feelings, dubious results.
Thanks for your post here. xx a
"And you know who they are helping with your money? Illegal immigrants and deadbeats on welfare."
Of course, there's no way to counter this unless you want to get into a rapidly deteriorating discussion so I never tried in earnest.
I've often wished the Tea Party would put aside partisanship and see the forest instead of the trees. Someone's helping themselves to our money, but it sure as hell isn't the most powerless among us doing it. We all have one common enemy, but right now the Tea Party excludes a whole lot of people who want the same goals but feel unwelcome because of their views on, frankly, peripheral subjects.
The Left's inability to grapple with the emotional component of populism really worries me. It has since last summer, when the Tea Party emerged and the health-care debate went into a nosedive. And the ranting of dems and lefties around the country after the Massachusetts Senate election really got to me, because there was clearly no understanding of the local politics on the ground--or the town vs. gown animosities in this state--or elsewhere now. Rated.
I am bluer than blue, but we're not going to get anywhere if we don't at least try to understand the other side (although Republicans who say no to everything just to say no are a different animal entirely. We don't have to be nice to them.)
I think of it as the real "trickle-down" effect - we can't piss up, so we piss down. Does not speak well for humanity.
Then there are the code words. Nothing new there either, Republicans have been using these dog whistles since Nixon developed the southern strategy. Welfare=lazy blacks (perceived as a majority of the black population). Illegal immigrants=dirty Mexicans. I almost fell off my chair laughing at your musings on the lack of racism in Cali. Have you been to Orange County?
I get that people feel like their world has changed and their comfort zone is being destroyed and they are pissed. I understand, but I'm not sympathetic. It's an adapt or die world. Stop whining and try to keep up.
To all the Tea Party folks, we had an election. Deal with it. There will be another in 3 yrs. Unless you plan to stage a coup, start educating yourself on the issues and the candidates, and 3 yrs from now you'll get another shot at electing someone closer to your world view. In the meantime, find a problem in your community you can actually impact, and start trying to make a real difference. The schools, retirement homes, arts organizations, all need volunteers. Positive energy changes things. Bitching and moaning doesn't.
Orange County. Feh. POINT TAKEN. Sorry friend that lives in Orange County. I lub you anyway.
Now, down to the meat. If you think these people aren't doing anything positive, than you must live near the coast. Our rural homeless population, which is nothing to sneeze at and consists of multiple outdoor encampments, is fed and served entirely by the community. And I happen to know because I serve them too, that most of the people who do it are conservatives. That's just a start. You can't swing a cat around here without disrupting a Spaghetti Feed for some kid with cancer. Oh the irony.
I know the history of civil rights in this nation and am acutely aware of the attendant language, overt and coded, used in opposition to it through the decades. I've listened to those mutations and much of it is echoed in the Tea Party folks I've encountered and witnessed. I hear it in the people around me, the colleagues and neighbors and relatives that make me feel more like an alien now than I ever have.
I also feel the timing of the Tea Party emergence curious. There has always been bitterness on the lower half of the socio-economic scale, especially when times turn bad and those hard feelings have often been exploited to foment racial discord. It keeps blame from falling on its rightful targets.
For example, you mention yourself that many are quick to point fingers at "illegal immigrants and people on welfare" when times turn tough. So then why should that correlate to racism? Because regardless of how many members in both groups have white skin – and it's vastly more than most realize – the common stereotype is of "others," people with darker skin. In other words, people believe in the archetypes of "welfare queens" and "wetbacks" because they choose to assign blame to them. They don't want complexity or nuance.
In that same light, everything the Tea Party claims to be protesting has been marching along unfettered for decades. But only now they have the motivation to do something? Why now? What's different? And why the sudden rage that didn't seem to escalate at building levels?
And all this screaming about "taking their country back," who took it and how did they do it? If you're not looking at corporate America, you're falling for sleight-of-hand.
Funny you mention corporations. There was a table at this meeting where they were pushing me hard to sign a petition that would make it illegal for unions to use dues to lobby without getting permission from the union member. I said, "Yeah, but wouldn't it be cool if this law forbade companies from shovelling money into elections?" The hostile stares forced me to move on to the next table. You'd think the downtrodden would see companies as the common enemy, but those two ladies at that table clearly didn't see things that way. And those big fingernails scared me.
Like you, I'm puzzled about why the party appeared pretty much the morning after Obama was elected. But do you think that these people are perhaps expressing some anti-Bush sentiment (which I heard at the meeting), and maybe felt so angry at the Republicans loss of the presidency and the congress that they felt that they had to split off and do things their own way? Just sayin. If we concentrate on the racism, we're risking missing everything else.
We are educating ourselves. Thanks for asking.
As a rural individualist who doesn't like labels I can say I agree with most of the things I hear from the Tea Partiers I know,
I've become accostomed to being called a "Teabagger" and I might as well identify as one. So call me a teabagger and I have enough of a sense of humor to not be bothered by it
I understand what I believe, and I wouldn't mind trying to explain it to you and anyone else interested.
I don't post much on OS, seems an excercise in futility. But, I am interested in the welfare of our nation, and I understand you are too
First thing we need to do is quit calling names and recognize the things we have in common (oddly enough, feeding the hungry is one)
And I've been around long enough to onderstand that the most important thing in solving any problem is to decide whose fault it is,
but maybe if we could put that aside for a while, we might be able to make a little more progress on actually helping people.
I enjoy a good fight, but I long ago learned not to put much faith in the mental abilities of those who use that as their sole means of verbal discourse.
I recently got to discussing and attempting to swap world views woth Dennis Loo, whose posts originally drew me to OS.
Dennis is someone with whom I often differ 180 degrees on what should be done, but he is unfailingly civil and respectful, and I do not doubt his sincerity nor the ultimate humanity of his goals. He is an honorable man, even if his experience and understanding differ from mine.
I'd like to understand how we differ and how we can work together toward common goals.
If you (or anyone) are interested feel free to stop by my blog, where I had posted comments/ruminations stemming from an invitation to comment from Old New Lefty, as a "Teabagger", on one of his posts. Post any comments or questions, and I'll try to expand, and I would be delighted to read any insights you might have.
And, not directed at angrymom, but anyone else, please keep it civil, I will delete gratuitous abuse.
Angrymon, once again thank you for having an open mind
Tea-p'ers are people who did not and do not want to listen -- ever. They are the same people who showed up at the "Town Hall Meetings" and SCREAMED at local politicians who went specifically to "get the message out" about the specifics pf health reform. I will never forget the repulsive spectacle of some of these people: red-faced and yelling, spraying spittle, and/or endlessly reading "talking points" from sheets distributed to them by the Republican Party. Remember? It was filibuster time at the old town hall. They are the same sheep who unquestioningly follow rapid conservative Christian pastors. How do I know? because I lived among them until I was in my forties. I know them, and I KNOW this mess is not the fault of liberals.
Oh, and BTW, Gloria Steinam grew up dirt poor in Ohio and worked shit jobs long before ever becoming a journalist. Why not actually read her books before you playing the stereotype of the feminist as "liberal elite?"
I've been wanting to say something like this for weeks now...but never had the time to think it through and get 'er done. You have. Brava and...here's hoping people like me (and you) read this through and ponder it. You couldn't be more right on!
The rhetoric is different too. The right-wingers have this catchy "THEY are screwing YOU" message while the Dems come across as wishy-washy. It reminds me of that Onion headline on the 1980 election:
Carter - Let's Talk Better Mileage
Reagan - Nuke the Bastards.
Which Message Will Resonate?
I wish I had a solution. All I can come up with is keep talking to folks and try to get the message out. I hope someone comes up with something more effective.
We did listen, read and educate ourselves. That is why we know that this bill is a piece of crap. With an unstoppable majority in both houses the Democrats couldn't get this piece of trash passed. Now they are talking about rule changes so they don't even have to vote on it they will just consider it passed. Give me a break.
Come on, nobody has ever told me who is going to save money with this bill, the Feds, the States or we the people. Which one is it?
The feds are going to spend Billions. They are spending money. Saving is where you don't spend money. The state governors are complaining about unfunded mandates from the feds are going to ruin their budgets. Today President Obama talked about how my insurance rates are going up, so I'm not saving it. Who?
BTW, taking money from one pocket and putting it in another is not saving money.
That's why I have trouble accepting the view that tea partiers are thoughtful and informed. If they were, then they'd be reading the economist and listening to Diane Rehm, who's done as good a job as anybody in getting actual economists on her show and dedicating huge segments of it to serious discussion about the US economy.
Yesterday, I worked at the event in Strongsville where Obama spoke. I happened to be ushering precisely where all the tea partiers (self identified as such) were congregated. You can't hear much if any of the heckling on video but believe me it was there, and it was extremely distracting to anybody trying to listen to the speech. I couldn't help but making this very specific mental observation: They weren't there to listen. They were visibly combative and simply wanted to shout out their code words (Freedom! Socialism! Jobs!) at every place they thought they would get attention. They clearly distracted the President, so if his delivery seems something less than smooth, that's why.
It was just plain rude. I'm a huge defender of free speech--more so than most people I know, actually--but the actions of these people were simply rude. I think Joe Wilson's "Liar!" was beyond the pale, and this was a mimicry of it. I would not have done such a thing to McCain or Bush, and I would not have cared for those who did. I'm not talking about robust protest. I'm talking about uncivil shouting during someone else's speech. These tea partiers I met yesterday were not a thoughtful bunch.
And to the idiot reader who wrote "Did liberals ever want to communicate with those undereducated, broke people anyway? Most of the people who call themselves "liberal" or "progressive" run like hell from those people"
That claim is complete nonsense. Just as many liberals and progressives are unemployed and broke, as retards, regressives and fascists. The GOP recession nailed everyone except the very richest.
Rated.
In this country there is the far right and far left and together they represent about 20 to 30% of the political spectrum. The rest are in the middle. Every American wants healthcare, trade, energy, and tax reform. But they don't want a benevolent Washington taking all their money. what the majority of people want is fairness. They want to work, take chances, build families and business with a level playing field. They want to keep what they earn and build their communities, schools and not see 30 or 40% of their pay go to Washington for bank bailouts or wars to protect oil company profits.
Right now the Tea party is fringe, but it may very well become the mainstream party of this country because right now it is the only party that is listening to the majority of the people. And the broader it gets the more Washington will fear it both Republicans and Democrats. But, Washington should be fearful of the people not the other way around.
Also, not a fake logon, just a new reader that likes your approach to opening a dialog. The hostility, and "us vs them" meme just isn't useful when there are so many real human problems that need our attention as citizens.
I have to say that as recent as a year ago, I did not take this approach to people on the right. I was so frustrated that going up to the election I pretty much exploded and broke off a lot of relationships. I called people names (in my head and on this blog), and had fits over it. Old dogs can learn new tricks, and reading Gandhi can do things to you.
Look, a little bit about myself before I get into the ideas that I want to explore. I find myself smack dab in the middle of the American political spectrum. I'm pro-choice, pro-gun, pro-drug decriminalization, Pro-treatment for drug offenders if that's to be the case, pro-energy independence, I'm for REAL health care reform as the families rates keep going up and anti-death penalty. I'm an eight year army combat veteran with three tours in both theatres of combat and the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. I grew up in a mom-and-pop business and am today in college majoring in Biochemistry with an eye towards becoming a brewer. I haven't earned my degree yet but I am an avid reader and can be called educated by any stretch of the word. I remain a hawk and firsthand experience has cemented this position. I am not the typical salon reader but I do have a sweet beard.
A good way to sum it up would be to say that I'm a fiscal conservative and social liberal which puts me in that strange and besieged twilight part of the political spectrum. I, and a lot of people like me, feel as though we are under attack from both sides of the aisle and that the current political environment is full of "least worst options" that will, in all likelihood, turn out to be anything but. On the other hand, I find that I have a lot of common ground with both sides. I sympathise with the small government stance of the tea parties though some of the fringe elements they attract ward me off.
Most importantly, I want to talk you guys. I want to talk to you about how you are not getting your message across and I feel the angrymom stated the exact reason why succinctly and brilliantly. A lot of us feel talked down to. We see it all the time this narrative is becoming more common as more people get fed up. For all of the commentors who offered feedback, advice or just disagreed this is not for you but I feel that there are some things that simply need to be said about how your message is sometimes conveyed.
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-Steve Klingaman.
I resent being called gullible, uninformed and angry.
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-Tangelina
Good start, bad finish. All someone is going to see is you taking a cheap shot at working Americans and that's who progressives are supposed to speak for. The same can be said of the comment right below yours.
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-Grumpyoldbitch
I had to crib your comment but don't use the R word. Nowadays, Racism is used as an accusation so much that it's lost all power. It's the boy who cried wolf of our era and when people hear it, they start to stop listening. Or if you're like me you start fact-checking the accusation as quickly as possible. As to the tone, you again made the mistake of telling working-class America that their concerns don't matter to you. I'm willing to bet that that's not what you really think.
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-pissedoffkitty
Insults do not score points in a representative government. I also resent being called confused, angry and desperate...
Actually, I'll own up to that second one. I am pretty angry.
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-Lainey
Even if they were more educated, they're still aware enough to know that something is wrong and that spending is out of control. I agree with them on this much but after that, we pretty much part ways (full disclosure). This is an unfair bar to set. The vast majority of people keep their teeth fixed, their car on the road, a roof over their heads and show up to work on time and get their kids to school. They're smart enough to be aware of what's going on. Saying that because they don't read the economist, they don't really know what's going on, again, makes you sound elitist and whether you are or not is really immaterial to the way that will be received.
All the same, angrymom, thank you for giving me something to make my first post on and I am rating this for the unabashed, dedication to DA TROOF.
I seem to be having formatting issues.