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[Ya-ta Boy]

Charles Johnson (Little Green Footballs) has been on a roll lately. He had two posts up today that I thought were interesting.

Tea Party Lights Fuse for Rebellion on Right
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/us/politics/16teaparty.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

"These people are part of a significant undercurrent within the Tea Party movement that has less in common with the Republican Party than with the Patriot movement, a brand of politics historically associated with libertarians, militia groups, anti-immigration advocates and those who argue for the abolition of the Federal Reserve.

Urged on by conservative commentators, waves of newly minted activists are turning to once-obscure books and Web sites and discovering a set of ideas long dismissed as the preserve of conspiracy theorists, interviews conducted across the country over several months show. In this view, Mr. Obama and many of his predecessors (including George W. Bush) have deliberately undermined the Constitution and free enterprise for the benefit of a shadowy international network of wealthy elites."

That is from a fairly lengthy article from the NYT. "Ron Paul figures prominently, as always. When I first began covering the tea parties, readers positive toward the movement vehemently resisted the idea that Ron Paul and his army of kooks were deeply involved.

No one is resisting any more. It�s become obvious to everyone that the tea party movement is a mix of Paulian paleolibertarianism, religious fanaticism, and plain old whacked out insanity.

This kind of toxic mix is fertile ground for recruitment by extremist groups, and they�re exploiting the opportunity relentlessly." That is from Johnson's commentary on the article.

Then there is this: "Maybe it�s just me, but when someone says that Jews drink the blood of gentile children, I could not possibly care less about his opinions on the Federal Reserve." That's from his commentary on obituaries written on two Ron Paul sites for Eustace Mullins.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/35793_Ron_Paul_Fans_Post_Tributes_to_Rabid_Antisemite

[.38 Special]

I'm afraid Johnson makes a pretty pitiful argument.

For one, you cannot attack Ron Paul based on what a couple of his supporters do. There are a lot of wierdoes out there on either side of the political fence.

Secondly, claiming that Tea Parties are recruitment centers for extremist groups is misleading and fear mongering. The vast majority of Tea Partiers, as is corroborated by the Times article, are regular working and middle-class folks attempting to do what conservatives do best: tap the ire of the silent majority via a grassroors organization effort. It worked in '94 following the catastrophic Assault Weapons Ban (amongst other conservative complaints, such as the handling of Waco and Ruby Ridge and Clinton's failed health care reform) -- certainly it can work again.

This is really the third major conservative uprising. The first major uprising was dissatisfaction from Johnson's Great Society that helped sweep in Reagan. With each uprising the terms of the resolve become more bold.

First it was to counter The Great Society with board-spanning tax cuts. They succeeded. Next it was to wipe Washington of Democrats viewed as anti-Civil Rights. They succeeded except for Clinton, but they weren't finished with him. Now they not only want Democrats out but many Republicans as well and they want to freeze reform that does not pass a Constitutionality litmus test and they want to begin stripping autonomous Federal agencies of their iron hold over the economy. It's an ambitious laundry list but it's not out of their reach.

Hopefully Washington is noticing the trend. As long as the silent majority is ignored or their representatives muscled out of legislation, they will become more radical, they will adopt more revolutionary posturing, and the militias will prosper. Militias exist to intimidate the government into behaving itself and their growing muscle will become harder to ignore and attempts to alienate them as "racists, extremists, and domestic terrorists" will become less convincing.

But the real, long term benefits to democracy that these Patriot movements are creating are quite real. Greater awareness of political issues, awareness of the Constitution, and agitation to deflate the two party system could have long-term effects.

Keep your powder dry, folks, this should be a good show

[Ya-ta Boy]

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