[lbo-talk] Tea Party: less than meets the eye

Somebody Somebody philos_case at yahoo.com
Wed Nov 3 08:39:50 PDT 2010


Wojtek: A logical conclusion from your observation is that in these times electoral politics is pretty much a professional wresting show - pure posturing, a lot of smoke but no fire, a circus to keep the masses happy. It makes no real difference to the great majority of the population - other than giving them a sense of symbolic victory of the kind sports fan enjoy when "their" team wins.

Somebody: This feels good to say, but it's just false. TARP was a joint Republican-Democratic initiative, but nothing approaching the size of the Obama stimulus would have been passed under a McCain presidency, which means that unemployment would probably have peaked at over 12%. A percentage point here or a percentage point there of unemployment may not mean much on an internet mailing list, but it makes a difference to millions of workers and their families in this country.

There aren't many General Motors autoworkers on this list, I daresay, but if there were, they'd likely still have their jobs thanks to this administration's bailout of their company - a bailout I might add that was opposed by the Republican Party, and indeed, by the conservative wing of the Democrats as well, and was a close decision in the Obama White House.

Is there an enormous difference in the parties from a grand world-historical perspective? Maybe not. But people don't live their lives on a world-historical level. Saying that that American politics is the equivalent of Hulk Hogan versus the Macho Man is cute, but a bit hyperbolic.



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