The so-called “Tea Party Movement” has made a lot of noise, has been fairly vicious, and has been effectively destructive. However, it is just the latest anti-intellectual, racist, populist movement that pops up from time-to-time in the U.S. This current version of mob hatred in the political process has been made more potent by a dedicated cable channel (i.e. Fox News), right-wing billionaire benefactors, and a lack of push back by the mainstream media as well as by moderate and liberal politicians. It won’t be around very long.
Unfortunately, it won’t be liberal organizing and political activism that will overcome this ill-informed, misguided mass of government haters with a fantasy view of the framers of the U.S. Constitution. Much bigger forces, already in motion, will determine the role of government in the decades ahead.
As I write this, the population of the U.S., as well as the population of the Planet, is growing rapidly. The U.S. population will increase by 38% – from 312 million to 430 million – by 2050. The environment, the infrastructure, and the education system cannot handle this increase. But no one is talking about it. All we hear is that “baby boomers” will be fiscally overwhelming, which is scapegoating, pure and simple. The baby boom generation peaked in 1964 at 70 million children. Today we are approaching 80 million children and will have 101 million citizens under age 18 in the U.S. population by 2050.
The World population will grow from its current 6.8 billion to at least 9 billion by 2050. With economic systems based on growth and consumption, the earth cannot sustain this population. In fact, in terms of global warming and other environmental disasters, we are beyond the point of no return now. Environmental catastrophes will begin recurring at an accelerating pace with increasingly severe consequences. If you think the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is disastrous, you haven’t seen anything yet.
Furthermore, without a massive government infusion of public funded jobs and higher education assistance, the U.S. economy will not be able to provide jobs and education to a huge segment of the U.S. population. These jobs must come in the health care, construction (of infrastructure), and environmental sectors. Otherwise we will have to learn to live with much higher unemployment and lack of access to college for all but the wealthy.
The Tea Party will be put out of business by Mother Nature and human selfishness but I am not optimistic that its disappearance as a viable political force will result in an enlightened democracy. Liberals and moderates have a tendency to sit on their hands and hope that things will get better. If you don’t believe me, attend environmental demonstrations, liberal political meetings, and other liberal to leftist events and see how many people show up.
Capitalist elites, through lobbying and payoffs, along with the U.S. Supreme Court (e.g. United Citizens case) have been setting up conditions for continued oppression of middle and lower socio-economic strata. The ability of the wealthy top few percent to control the legislative process and manipulate the media cannot be underestimated. The question is, “what kind of democracy do we have when the rich expropriate the mass media along with legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government for the purpose of enriching themselves at the expense of the masses?”