The right-wing mobilized nationally today by calling demonstrations with an anti-government tea party theme. These protests were designed to appear as grassroots events with populist messaging aimed at attacking the Obama administration, the bailouts, people who want or expect government to do more in times of crises and the left and center. The decentralized nature of the protests and their well-funded coordination and staging didn't work as many of the events appeared as incoherent tirades by marginal groups. Media coverage was a mixed bag.
True enough, the right was able to pull out more people than, say, have attended recent antiwar rallies in many locations. They did this by appropriating populist rhetoric and by attempting to appear as non-partisan as possible. This strategy no doubt alienated sections of their base and gave liberals an easy target. Their rallying point calling for an end to taxation without representation, for instance, deliberately forgot the Bush and Reagen years and ignored the recent and promised tax cuts while speaking volumes about right wing paranoia.
These were not spontaneous demonstrations moved at the grassroots. These were not populist events putting forward popular demands. The right wing is incapable of leading and mobilizing in these ways and has no unified program or message.
These were well-funded attacks on the political center that used red-baiting and conveyed not-so-subtle racist and political threats. They were as much an attempt to intimidate progressives, people of color, gays and others as they were an opportunity for right wing extremists to blow off steam and deal with the depression they have been living with since November. These extremists generally looked like fools when all was said and done today, but this lack of coherence may fuel and deepen right wing frustration and make it more volatile. We now have some idea of this movement's weak points, but we also should have an enhanced sense of the considerable danger that it represents.
The right wing is threatening revolution with these tea parties. The shrill voices of Victoria Taft and Lars Larson echo in the air over an audience of thousands, some carrying pitchforks, with messages of hate. The left and progressive forces can win some of these people over and the new administration can neutralize some of the more dramatic extremism with a truly populist program that works in the short run, but the far right will ramp up their actions until a united and effective response arises from the left and is taken up by all progressives. The people the right wing blamed today--immigrants, gays, women, union members and others--are most likely to be their first victims if they gain momentum.
We can best fight this danger with conscious anti-fascist organizing and by building unity between the groups targeted by these tea parties. Unity and an offensive organizing strategy from the left are needed now--not just in reaction to today's events, but in order to take to new levels the work being done by the left, labor, gays, women, people of color, immigrants and other forces of good will. The right will gain momentum if unity and progress on the left stalls.
May Day 2009 will be a real test for all of us. A fight-the-right-get-into-the-streets message should be made part of every public event between now and May 1.
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From Steve Novick:
On Wednesday Russ Walker, Oregon Director of a national right-wing group called "FreedomWorks" and vice chair of the State Republican Party, helped lead an anti-government rally in Salem. Walker said that if the Legislature made any effort to help address the state's budget deficit by raising revenue, his group would gather signatures to force a public vote on the measure.
I am writing to ask you to write or call your state legislators and Governor Kulongoski, to urge them not to be intimidated by Russ Walker. Tell them that you know that they have to make very tough choices to balance the budget, and you will support responsible efforts to raise revenue.
The Legislature and the Governor are in a terrible fix. The so-called discretionary part of the state budget, the part funded by income taxes, goes almost entirely to three things: education (about 54%), health care and related services (over 20%) and public safety (about 16%). That means that income taxes pay for teachers, child protective service investigators, home care workers who look after seniors and people with disabilities, prison guards, school bus drivers, financial aid for college students, assisted living care for seniors and people with disabilities who can no longer stay in their own homes, drug and alcohol treatment, health insurance for poor children and families, the state police, the state courts, prison guards, and so forth.
When the economy goes south, income taxes (both personal and corporate – but in Oregon, corporate income taxes are a small sliver of total revenues) drop. Revenues are dropping so fast that schools have been asked to prepare budgets based on the assumption that they will have $1 billion less than the $6.4 billion the Governor originally proposed for 2009-11 – and educators said that even the $6.4 billion was inadequate. The Governor's original budget cut home care and assisted living care for thousands of seniors, and slashed funding for drug and alcohol treatment; even bigger cuts to so-called 'human services' and public safety are on the horizon now. Yes, the Federal stimulus money helped – things would be even worse without it – but the outlook is still very grim.
The only options the Legislature has are: make ever-deeper cuts in vital services, or raise revenue. There are not any simple, obvious ways to 'solve' the crisis, but there are some ways to alleviate it. For example, adopting a temporary extra 2% tax on incomes exceeding $250,000 for single people, and $500,000 for couples, or equalizing the tax rate on corporate profits (currently 6.6%) with the rate that applies to most of the incomes of most individuals (9%), are two steps that would raise a few hundred million dollars apiece.
I urge you to write, call or e-mail your legislators, legislative leaders and the Governor to say something to the effect of: "We know you face a terrible budget crisis. If you take responsible steps to raise revenue, we've got your back."
Thank you very much … and while you're at it, you might write U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Arlen Specter to complain about their insisting on cutting in half the aid to schools that was originally envisioned in the stimulus bill, as the price for their votes for the bill. That cost Oregon schools about $400 million.
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