Explaining the Tea Party Movement and the Bewilderment of the Political Class

It is apparently a mystery to a lot political insiders why the Tea Parties have become so popular with so many Americans in state after state across the nation.

Many have simply tried to dismiss the phenomena as the ranting of a relatively small number of angry right-wing zealots. They are dead wrong but one gets the feeling the political class finds this easy dismissal far more comforting than the unsettling truths driving angry and vocal dissatisfaction by people from across the political spectrum.

“Real people” like me resonate in politics right now because of the growing chasm between what the political elites of both parties see as the best course for the nation—and for themselves– and the hopes and fears of the average American man and woman. In China that difference might mean very little to government as we saw in Tiananmen Square but, according to the Founding Fathers, such a division should not even exist here in the United States.

Those who are passionately protesting at Tea Parties and making themselves felt at the polls have rightly detected more than a hint of contempt for the average citizen. If everything were going well such elitist arrogance might be accepted, as it has been in the past. But things are not going well for our nation and more and more people are challenging the performance, ideas and motivations of those who hold themselves out as smarter and better than the rest of us.

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Tags: Christmas terror attack, DC school vouchers, Fair Tax, Hurricane Katrina, Janet Napolitano
Posted Jan 25th 2010 at 10:43 am in Congress, Culture, Featured Story, Healthcare, Obama, Politics, State Politics, Tax Reform, Tea Party, federal spending | 64930180 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jwurzelbacher/2010/01/25/explaining-the-tea-party-movement-and-the-bewilderment-of-the-political-class/Explaining+the+Tea+Party+Movement+and+the+Bewilderment+of+the+Political+Class2010-01-25+18%3A43%3A22Joe+%26%2339%3BThe+Plumber%26%2339%3B+Wurzelbacher

Pork Report, January 22, 2009: Bureaucrats Gone Wild Edition

Bureaucrats gone wild! Taxpayers charged for international trysts, golf, skiing, and other government junkets

Military officials bought thousands of dollars worth of alcohol, food and other amenities for congressional overseas junkets

Delaware airport that “hardly ever sees a paying passenger” has received $12.3 million from the federal Airport Improvement Program for a runway construction project

Tennessee library pays for Rock Band video game session and Monday Night Football with a $5,000 federal Community Building Through Video Games in Libraries grant

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Tags: congressional junkets, Defense Appropriations, Earmarks, federal spending, Hurricane Katrina
Posted Jan 22nd 2010 at 6:50 pm in Pork Report | 6414257 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2010/01/22/pork-report-january-22-2009-bureaucrats-gone-wild-edition/Pork+Report%2C+January+22%2C+2009%3A+Bureaucrats+Gone+Wild+Edition2010-01-23+02%3A50%3A04The+Pork+Report

Avoiding a Long American Occupation of Haiti: Lessons Learned

In December 1908, the President of Haiti, Nord Alexis, attempted one last, desperate, act before leaving office; spiriting his family away to the safety of Jamaica, then New Orleans, to escape the rising tumult in the Haitian capital of  Port-au-Prince.  I give thanks that he was successful, for Nord Alexis was my ancestor.  His foresight, in getting his family out of Haiti and into the U.S., made my life, with the freedom, opportunity, and prosperity that only America can offer, possible.   My story is just one of many strange incidents connecting Haiti and the United States over the past hundred years.  With the devastation wreaked by the recent earthquake, it is clear that a new chapter in Haitian-U.S. relations is about to be written.

Americans should be proud of our quick response to the devastating earthquake that has wiped out virtually all services, businesses, schools, and institutions in Port-au-Prince.   Our President, Barack Obama, has moved government resources and emergency management experts to the area without hesitation, debate or delay.

Within hours, the US Air Force had reestablished air control and the long line of aid and assistance began to flow.   The Army’s 82, All-American Division,  is already on the ground helping to reassert law and order, as well as assist in the difficult job of distribution of relief aid.   Each day more planes arrive in Haiti, with even more assistance.

More impressively, American citizens and private companies have already raised millions in relief with more on the way.   Dozens of organizations such as the American Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services,  and Salvation Army, have already mobilized their resources and are on the ground providing relief efforts in a hundred different ways.

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Tags: 1900s, 82nd Airborne Division, American occupation, Barack Obama, Catholic Relief Services
Posted Jan 15th 2010 at 11:17 am in History, News, Obama | 60230129 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ldoan/2010/01/15/avoiding-a-long-american-occupation-of-haiti-lessons-learned/Avoiding+a+Long+American+Occupation+of+Haiti%3A+Lessons+Learned2010-01-15+19%3A17%3A30Lurita+Doan

Sunday Open Thread: Katrina Edition

Who knew that this was the beginning of government health care in this country?

We may never fully appreciate the full costs of Hurricane Katrina.

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Tags: government health care, Hurricane Katrina, Mary Landrieu, public option
Posted Nov 22nd 2009 at 7:45 am in Open Threads | 3523875 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/22/sunday-open-thread-katrina-edition/Sunday+Open+Thread%3A+Katrina+Edition2009-11-22+14%3A45%3A00Publius

The Pork Report: October 13, 2009

Trendiness of baby names being studied by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Science Foundation

Federal government spends millions of dollars on a floating canal museum, a Corvette museum, the National Packard Museum, and other museums of questionable merit

Costly AIDS vaccine study touted as a breakthrough may actually be a bust or boondoggle

Streetcar to nowhere: Stimulus funds may pay to construct an Atlanta streetcar but city may not even have the funds to operate it once it is built

$181 million stimulus project wasn’t shovel ready after all and local residents applaud decision to withdraw it from the state’s list of stimulus projects

Funding to assist rebuilding projects after Hurricane Katrina spent on sod for a stadium

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Tags: AIDS vaccine, Atlanta, Corvette Museum, Hurricane Katrina, National Institute of Mental Health
Posted Oct 13th 2009 at 8:50 pm in Congress, News, Politics | 161185 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2009/10/13/the-pork-report-october-13-2009/The+Pork+Report%3A+October+13%2C+20092009-10-14+03%3A50%3A51The+Pork+Report

Inadequate Record-Keeping Cost Acorn Housing $130K

From Steve Beatty, Pelican Institute’s investigative reporter:

More than two years before an ersatz pimp and prostitute raised troubling questions about Acorn Housing Corp.’s financial advice, Louisiana officials criticized the organization’s bookkeeping as it denied the group tens of thousands of dollars from a potential $1.5 million state contract.

The office overseeing the contract recommended against rehiring Acorn Housing in part because it couldn’t document its work.  The contract was designed to inform low-income residents about the Road Home program and help them apply for post-hurricane benefits.

A much smaller $53,000 contract that Acorn Community Land Association had with the state attorney general’s office also was criticized for thin financial justification, though the group got its full payment and was recommended for future work. The contract was to tell hurricane victims of non-discriminatory housing policies as they sought temporary rentals.

In both contracts, the state files contain promotional materials extolling the virtues of paying for an ACORN membership – a solicitation expressly forbidden under the contracts.

“If you are not rich, you need to join your ACORN community group and work on the problems affecting you,” reads one flier in the attorney general’s file.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN Community Land Association, ACORN Housing, Belinda Kennedy, Bobby Jindal
Posted Oct 8th 2009 at 5:54 am in ACORN, Featured Story, Politics, State Politics | 1435030 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kkane/2009/10/08/inadequate-record-keeping-cost-acorn-housing-130k/Inadequate+Record-Keeping+Cost+Acorn+Housing+%24130K2009-10-08+12%3A54%3A47Kevin+Kane

ACORN’s Tax Problems

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN Housing, Attorney General, Buddy Caldwell, Hurricane Katrina
Posted Oct 1st 2009 at 4:09 pm in ACORN, Politics, State Politics | 1127855 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kkane/2009/10/01/acorns-tax-problems/ACORN%27s+Tax+Problems2009-10-01+23%3A09%3A40Kevin+Kane