Why Starting a Liberal Antidote to the Tea Party Movement Isn't Going to be Easy

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Joshua Holland

Rebuilding the American Dream: Why Starting a Liberal Antidote to the Tea Party Movement Isn't Going to be Easy
The Tea Partiers' sense of shared identity is crucial to their success. Who were those gathered this weekend to kick off Van Jones' new project?

July 18, 2011 |


The latest attempt to create a liberal antidote to a Tea Party movement that's caused such a stir in American politics in recent years (there have been others) is called, “Rebuilding the American Dream.” It's the brainchild of Van Jones, a visionary and charismatic progressive who, after being victimized by a Fox News-led smear campaign, was forced to resign his position as “green jobs czar” in the Obama administration

Jones partnered with dozens of groups, including MoveOn.org, with its well developed list of Internet-savvy progressive activists and the infrastructure to coordinate hundreds of house parties nationwide that would kick off the new effort. On Sunday, I attended two of them in San Francisco, eager to see if liberals could inspire their own grassroots movement to push back against the right.

I had just finished reading veteran New York Times reporter Kate Zernicke's excellent book, Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America. As I munched on crackers and cheese at the first party, held in a nice, upper-middle-class home high in the hills overlooking the Bay, it quickly became apparent that building a progressive tea party will be no easy task.

The 15 people assembled to start a new movement were almost a mirror image of the Tea Partiers themselves. They skewed older – at 41, I was the youngest person in the room – and they were furious about what they saw happening in Washington. (Those at the second gathering, held in the Mission District, were, on average, a bit younger.) “I'm tired of just taking it,” said one participant, adding, “I'm ready to fight back.” Another said she was sickened by the fact that politicians appear to be increasingly “out of touch with the needs of ordinary American people,” and said that she had come to the party “because I want to feel empowered.” ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/vision/151691/rebuilding_the_american_dream%3A_why_starting_a_liberal_antidote_to_the_tea_party_movement_isn%27t_going_to_be_easy/

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[OHdem10]

2. When you think about it, it will be the older ones who recognize

how wrong things are going in this country. They have
lived and experienced the changes.

[BridgeTheGap]

3. Yeah, like having to work 2 or 3 jobs (if you can find them) to make ends meet. Nothing "normal"

at all about that. One factory job used to be enough to provide for an entire family.

[nevergiveup]

4. The real problem is lack of interest from the MSM.

There were 100,000 in the streets of Madison and the media did not show.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

5. Yet they are all over it like white on rice when...

...there's a 10-person tea bagger gathering.

[WingDinger]

6. "Noone expects the inquisition", nor will the start of the revolution be televised.

The ill, poor, minorities, women, lefties will band together only as last resort. When they do, we will determine what goes.

[bemildred]

7. The last thing we need to do is play the same stupid games as our opponents.

Divisive politics is not the antidote to divisive politics. Mr Obama has that right.

[NorthCarolina]

8. The MSM will cover a gaggle of 5 Tea Partiers and enhance it with stock footage of mass crowds.

Gatherings of Liberals on the other hand, even HUGE ones, not so much.

Media Blackout: CNN Fox News and MSNBC Ignore 100,000 WI Protesters http://www.politicususa.com/en/cnn-fox-msnbc-ignore-wi

Beck 9/12 Rally with 87k attendees...massive coverage in the MSM.
Progressive "March for America" with over 200k attendees...no real coverage by the MSM
Pro-choice "March for women's lives" with well over 500k attendees...no real coverage by the MSM
January 18, 2003 anti-war march on DC with over 200k attendees...no real coverage by the MSM
March on Washington for Gay and Bi Equal Rights with over 300k attendees...no real coverage by the MSM

The MSM only reports freak shows.

[johnd83]

9. I agree

There are already much larger progressive organizations, they just don't get much attention

[Fearless]

10. All parties demand conformity... conservatives branch out otherwise, we implode.

[dissidentboomer]

11. Forces much stronger than the media will

dictate the anticdote - desperation and deprivation. If the political system is not oriented away from the wealthy soon, the "media" will be swept aside like straw in a stream.