Forum Post: The TEA party had the same complaints as OWS. The media distorted this fact
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 25, 2011, 5:05 p.m. EST by fabianmockian
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this video shows that the TEA party (if not all, some of those protesting in 2009) thought the only thing that was bi-partisan in Washington D.C. was the corruption of our elected officials and the destruction of our Democracy. Watch this clip that proves the media distorted the demands of the TEA party. http://youtu.be/6CtldHzRQE8
The key word here is "had", the same complaints.
Once some got elected, they became as bad or worse than the republicans.
In fact they all became republicans.
That can only be a bad thing.
If any are left that still believe what they did.
Let them join occupy, not the other way around.
I wasn't implying that OWS should be co-opted by the Tea Party or the other way round. i was simply making an observation about the media
Tea party was co-opted like Occupy was co-opted and the media abused both. The basic points are the same. Do you think they want either group to get their message across? hell no, so paint the TP as racists and OWS as radicals and hope no one listens. Having been involved in TP and then OWS, both original messages were nearly identical, but have gotten lost..TP through a reputation made bad by the media, and OWS the same thing.
It would be formidable power if both groups realized they have the same major issues, that they are all just people, no more fringe than the other, but full of normal people...both movements..imagine what could be done with OWS passion combined with TP organization.
It would probly be a good idea to come up with some bullet points that OWS and Tea party could agree on. The big money doesn't want any agreement for sure.
When the Tea Party protests started up I was excited that people might finally be waking up. But to my dismay I watched as it was quickly co-opted by special interests to further their own platforms. Instead of addressing corruption, the rich and powerful changed the message to ''less taxes and government involvement," just the things they need to further the "crony-capitalism" we have now. Here's my 2 cents:
For the sake our our children and future generations of Americans, we need to take back our democracy from the rich and powerful who are using their vast sums of money to "speak" as if they represent millions of Americans. They are twisting our laws and manipulating our policies in their favor at the expense of the average American. The $50 or $100 a normal American may give to a political campaign becomes meaningless when corporations or other special interests are handing our millions to buy political access to the decision making process.
For decades now the corporations and special interests have had our "representatives" bought and paid for (both on the right and the left). Don't get distracted by the symptoms - we need to address the root cause. Concentrating our efforts on getting the money out of our politics is the best way we can create an environment in which further reforms can be realized. Until we end the current system of legalized bribery (campaign donations) and paid lobbying our politicians will continue to be the LAP DOGS of the corporations and special interests. What we need first and foremost is real, loop-hole free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM!!!! If the corruption is not dealt with first, the chance of any other meaningful reforms becoming a reality is almost zero - the special interests will just use their money to buy votes and put forward bills that create loop-holes or otherwise twist the law in their favor. If we want our children to live in a country where there vote matters, we need to get the money out of our politics, otherwise they will increasingly become the 21st century version of the "landless peasant." Spread the word - End the LEGALIZED BRIBERY!!! CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM needs to be THE main goal of the protests!!!
Here is a proposal that came to me from an unlikely and quite evil source, but one that could proof useful in the fight against corporate control of campaigns: OWS should start a campaign of finding independents to run against both the republicans and democrats and get the populace to vote only for the independent candidate. With the internet, these independent candidates could express their views to the people without too great of an expense and whichever candidate won the pseudo primary would be the one placed on the ballot to run in the general election. Let the corporations and the immoral amongst the elite spend all of their money trying to get their puppets elected. Hopefully they'll spend all of their ill-gotten gains and have to live on medicare and Social Security or better still take a job at McDonald's next to our grandmothers and grandfathers.
Instead of focusing on campaign finance reform what if we cut government to the point that the elites had nothing to get from government and thus no incentive to buy favors.
i agree we need a clearly defined separation of the state and the financial influence wielded by corporations and the finance industry. i think this is what most ows supporters can agree on.