What exactly is “grassroots”, or “decentralized” about the Tea Party?
Author: Jesus Sargent
Question by : What exactly is “grassroots”, or “decentralized” about the Tea Party?
http://www.newsweek.com/2009/08/19/the-browning-of-grassroots.html
“A case in point: earlier this year, when groups across the country staged “tea party” protests against the administration’s stimulus spending, it appeared at first to be an organic, populist movement. But the money and organization trail led back to two Washington-based think tanks, Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, that had funneled funds and detailed logistical information to local organizers (some of whom were being paid) about how to make the demonstrations look homegrown. Similarly, the protests and town-hall disruptions for and against health-care reform that have arisen in recent weeks have been linked back to insurance companies and interest groups hoping to shape the debate without appearing like meddlers trying to buy policy with buckets of money. After hosting several town-hall meetings, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin remarked that he felt as though the raucous emotions were being “orchestrated.” A spokesman for anti-reform group Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, responding to those and similar Democratic accusations, asserted that no anger or concern had to be manufactured.”
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=2
“The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry—especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers’ corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a “kingpin of climate science denial.” The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies—from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program—that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.”
Think Outside the Ballot Box, I know that, they come based on their own stupidity.
I am just pointing out that the movement clearly isn’t decentralized or grassroots, but heavily funded and heavily organized (which was obvious from the start).
Best answer:
Answer by The BoogeyMan
Ron Paul started the tea party
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The fact the majority of Tea Party attendees are not paid.
If you think the Tea Party is well organized, than you must think the Lord of Flies was a well-established parliament.
So what the left has been ASTRO-TURFING for decades with big labor union money.
There is more grass-roots in the TEA Party then all of the democrat party combined.
Do a search on Craigslist for “Activist” and look at all the paid democrat protester jobs.
Any large gathering for such a protest is going to find money backing it. You don’t think those Iraq war protestors all randomly convened in DC, do you? Do you think MoveOn.org is poor?
Neither of these sources is credibly objective.
It is not grassroots. They call that kind of grass astroturf — “The Tea Party” astroturf PR Campaign is funded by the Rich.
Here’s what astrotufing is all about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing
Astroturfing denotes political, advertising, or public relations campaigns that are formally planned by an organization, but are disguised as spontaneous, popular “grassroots” behavior. The term refers to AstroTurf, a brand of synthetic carpeting designed to look like natural grass.
“The goal of [Astroturfing Campaigns] is to disguise the efforts of a political or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some political entity—a politician, political group, product, service or event. Astroturfers attempt to orchestrate the actions of apparently diverse and geographically distributed individuals, by both overt (“outreach”, “awareness”, etc.) and covert (disinformation) means. Astroturfing may be undertaken by an individual promoting a personal agenda, or highly organized professional groups with money from large corporations, unions, non-profits, or activist organizations. Very often, the efforts are conducted by political consultants who also specialize in opposition research.” (same source as link above)
Oh nothing, they just like to pretend they are. They are staying purposefully ignorant and stubbornly refuse to admit they are not a grass roots movement. I just laugh at that about them.
Those terms mean that it was created from the bottom to the top and built up, exactly opposite of the way Government does things from the top down. It’s basically the phrase, We the People in action. It is what it is and all your attempts at “transforming” it to be able to call it what you want to makes us stronger day by day…and makes you look stupider and more dangerous…the numbers show it.
Please continue by all means….the clock is ticking.
BS Americans are the Tea Party unlike 0bama claiming that he and the Democratic party were. 0bama is sick and his followers cretins.
the GOP establishment has been trying to hijack the Tea Party movement to steal it’s strength. Sarah Palin was one of the GOP trojan horses to the Tea Party movement. The true Tea parties were started by Ron Paul supporters and are more of a libertarian movement than the GOP dog and pony show that GOP funded organizations are trying to make it.
NOTHING since fox news channel is their main sponsor.
Execellent question. Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works are actually chaired by Dick Armey. They are both conservative advocacy groups who have spread right-wing propaganda without regard for the truth.
From Widipedia:
“In 2008, FreedomWorks was behind the creation of a fake grassroots web site called Angryrenter.com which rallied opposition to “the Obama Housing Bailout”; the site claimed to represent “Renters and responsible homeowners against a government mortgage bailout”, and urged people to oppose bailing out mortgage companies. Michael M. Phillips of the Wall Street Journal investigated AngryRenter.com and reported:
“AngryRenter.com looks a bit like a digital ransom note, with irregular fonts, exclamation points and big red arrows — all emphasizing prudent renters’ outrage over a proposed government bailout for irresponsible homeowners. “It seems like America’s renters may NEVER be able to afford a home,” AngryRenter.com laments. The Web site urges like-minded tenants to let Congress feel their fury by signing an online petition. “We are millions of renters standing up for our rights!” Angry they may be, but the people behind AngryRenter.com are certainly not renters. Though it purports to be a spontaneous uprising, AngryRenter.com is actually a product of an inside-the-Beltway conservative advocacy organization led by Dick Armey (once again!), the former House majority leader, and publishing magnate Steve Forbes, a fellow Republican. It’s a fake grass-roots effort — what politicos call an AstroTurf campaign — that provides a window into the sleight-of-hand ways of Washington.”
AND
“FreedomWorks is chaired by former U.S. House Majority Leader, Republican Dick Armey. In a 2005 article, Joe Conason noted:
[Republicans] who have controlled Congress since 1995 long ago proved eager to grease their friends with federal money [ in contrast to their rhetoric about limited government.] … Asked once why his revolutionary Republican comrades were consuming so much more federal pork than the Democrats ever did, …[ Dick Armey ] replied smugly: ‘To the victors go the spoils.’ (He now leads FreedomWorks, a national organization advocating limited government and lower taxes.)”
Things read and heard on right-wing news sites are not to be trusted. Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works are known to skew the facts to suit their purpose. No, while perhaps some of the Tea Bags think they are really a grass roots organization, the truth is that they are being manipulated by those running the Tea Parties. Despite denials to the contrary, many of those determined to make Tea Parties appear as grass roots campaigns are being paid. So are those that are hired to agitate the masses as were many in the “town hall” rallies. Yes, some admitted to it too which only proves that some people would do anything for money, politics or right and wrong, be damned.