On Mon, 22 Feb 2010, SA wrote:
> http://www.themonkeycage.org/2010/02/the_democrats_are_gonna_get_ha.html
>
> the Republicans' advantage on the generic ballot has been literally
> unprecedented. Conclusion: The numbers say the Democrats are likely to
> lose control of the House.
>
> The Tea Party is surely pushing the GOP to the right, but that doesn't
> seem to be hurting them.
Wow. That makes it seem like the holy grail.
So, if I've got this right, the Tea Party isn't a party in the sense that it's seeking a separate party line on the ballot. Instead it's a kind of unique combination of:
1) A DSOC type grouping within the Republican party that gives itself more independent sound by calling itself a party (and thus always an implicit threat); and
2) A labor party type group, that is interested in all kinds of grass roots organizing allying with other groups that has nothing to do with the republicans or elections but rather with anything that they feel might change the country for the better.
Is the political form we've be looking for? Is that what the left ought to do? Start a Medicare-for-All Party inside and outside the Dems? And have meetups and see what happens?
On the face of it, such a move would be considered every bit as unreasonable the TP (since health care is supposedly on the cusp of passing and here we would come out hating it). Which would be part of its appeal.
But unlike the TP, it would be "unreasonable" without being irrational.
Michael