By Mr. Curmudgeon
With the nation becoming ever more disgusted with our dysfunctional two party system, disaffected Americans became a clenched fist of populist anger. Barack Obama and the Democrats were the first to tap into the rage, unseating a twelve-year Republican majority in Congress and electing a Democratic president who promised a “post partisan” style of governance designed to “unite, not divide” the nation.
Drunk with power and possessing the arrogance of pre-revolutionary French aristocrats, Democrats rewarded their constituents (like ACORN and the United Auto Workers) with taxpayer payoffs and unprecedented multi-trillion dollar stimulus pork. But the totalitarian health care program was the final injury that galvanized populist anger, which found expression in the form of the Tea Party, whose activists voiced their concern and anger at health care town hall meetings across the country. Tea Party activist used anti-ObamaCare anger to coordinate a stunning come-from-behind campaign victory for Republican Scott Brown in bluest of blue states.
The Brown Massachusetts victory rattled King Obama, who finally gazed out the window of his throne room to see an approaching peasant army with pitchforks and catapults. He now views his upcoming State of the Union address as a platform to make a desperate plea to the peasants for mercy and to say he will throw a few federal crumbs to targeted constituencies. According to administration mouthpieces, Obama will use his address to – what else – blame George W. Bush for the economic mess his government can’t fix. This is odd, considering Obama tapped W. to help coordinate relief efforts in earthquake-stricken Haiti. Republicans – the ever-faithful bipartisan dogs – can be counted on to help no matter how often they are kicked.
The Tea Party camp attempts to marshal populist angst in an effort to restrain government power, maximize individual freedom and return a lion’s share of the fruits of our labors to the laborer. The Obama camp, on the other hand, wants to channel populist rage away from the king and his court and focus it on bankers. Never mind that some of Obama’s biggest campaign contributors included: Goldman Sachs, $994,795; Citigroup Inc., $701,290; and Morgan Stanley, $514,881. It was this cynical misdirection of the populist mind that allowed a crooked Chicago huckster into the White House.
The challenge for the Tea Party is to calm that populist anger, focusing it instead into a crusade that appeals, as Abraham Lincoln said, to the “better angels of our nature.” Otherwise, Obama’s Chicago style populism will initiate a gladiatorial spectacle that will have us at each other’s throats.
