Thursday, April 30, 2009

Tea Parties Really Getting Under Lib/Dem Skin II

If it were me, I'd get a shrinkoligist and a new cd of Pete Seeger' Greatest Hits (Happy 140th dead-birthday Pete!) just to deal with the denial and pain.

Stages of Denial
Take pity on the left as it grapples with the tea party revolt

According to Pajamas Media, 700,873 people attended some 883 tea party protests on April 15. It was a remarkable day, a tangible expression of public outrage that I have not experienced in my 25 years of advocacy and grassroots organizing on behalf of free-market principles.Judging from the left's hysterical reaction, something really big must have happened. But the only way to really understand the left's misinformed and paranoid attacks is to realize that the protests represent tangible proof that basic libertarian values continue to resonate with the American electorate. That, apparently, is a difficult thing for some to accept.

Judging from the left's hysterical reaction, something really big must have happened. But the only way to really understand the left's misinformed and paranoid attacks is to realize that the protests represent tangible proof that basic libertarian values continue to resonate with the American electorate. That, apparently, is a difficult thing for some to accept.

Some tried to diminish the tea parties as misguided tax protests. In reality, the protestors demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of economics that went well beyond objections to higher tax rates. You can't spend money you don't have, the tea party attendees understood, and government spending above current revenues must be paid for with higher taxes, more borrowing (to be paid for with higher taxes in the future), or artificial government expansion of money and credit, which can only debase the currency and make everyone poorer through inflation.

So how did the media miss the real story? Perhaps the question itself is silly because it assumes that left-of-center reporters were actually trying to "report." Some were, though most simply regurgitated the talking points supplied by partisans in the blogosphere.