April 15 comes this week, and with it another round of Tea Party protests. It is hard to believe that the first nationwide protest took place just one year ago, on the same day. Now the Tea Party almost seems like a regular part of the political landscape. It is my guess that a lot of people in power were hoping that it would just go away. That is not happening because there is a widespread feeling in the country that the federal government is out of control.
That it serves itself and the giant corporations that feed it, not mainstream America.
The folks organizing this year’s Tea Party protest in Rogers were kind enough to ask me to be one of the speakers. The event is in old downtown Rogers in the pavilion by the railroad tracks.
It goes from 4 to 6 p.m. Bring your lawn chairs and signs. I plan to be there by 5:15 p.m.
If those of you who are kind enough read this column have not heard enough from me already, I invite you to attend.
Rasmussen took a poll last week asking voters if theyconsidered their own views closer to that of President Barack Hussein Obama or to the Tea Party. By a 48 to 44 percent margin, the voters said the Tea Party was more closely aligned with their views.
The movement is not just a subset of the Republican Party. Many of them are upset with both D.C. parties. Still, Republicans made up a good chunk of those siding with the Tea Party, and the Democrats made up a larger chunk of those who lined up behind Obama. Independents choose the Tea Party by a margin of 50 to 38 percent. Not bad considering I heard that the major corporate media has been working overtime trying to portray the Tea Party movement as a pack of hateful, violent bigots. Maybe nobody listens to them anymore. I know I don’t.
Though Obama’s numbers are not good, he fared much better than the poll last week where the same question was asked relative to Congress.
The Tea Party beat Congress by a whopping 47 to 26 percent margin in that one.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the poll was how it broke out among voters who tested as “mainstream” vs. “political class”. Eightyseven percent of the political class, regardless of whether they were Republicans or Democrats, said that their views were closer to Obama’s than those of the Tea Party.
Sixty-three percent of Mainstream Americans sided with the Tea Party.
You may wonder how Rasmussen determined who the “Political Class” respondents were and who the “Mainstream” respondents were.
The key was how they answered three questions which revealed where they put their faith.
Here was one question: “Generally speaking, when it comes to important national issues, whose judgment do you trust more - the American people or America’s political leaders?” Another question was “Some people believe that the federal government has become a special interest group that looks out primarily for its own interests. Has the federal government become a special interest group?” The third question was, “Do government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors?”
The political class trusts government leaders more than they do the people, deny that the Federal government has become self-serving, and see nothing wrong with the way government and big business (like Wall Street Bankers) have been operating together. Mainstream respondents see it differently.
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Mark Moore is the lead writer for an Internet blog on matters pertaining to Arkansas culture and government, Arkansas Watch, and on Tuesday nights is the host of an Internet-based radio program, Patriots on Watch. He can be reached through The Times at [email protected].
Opinion, Pages 4 on 04/14/2010