Tea and Sympathy

On NPR this morning, a Michigan Teapartier was criticizing the groundbreaking for a new plant that in 18 months or so will be manufacturing Chevy Volt batteries and employing about 400 people. What was bothering him was the fact that the government had been involved in selecting the site and had provided some of the startup money. In his view government shouldn't be doing such things, even now when so many are unemployed.

To me his criticism meant several things. First is the fundamental weakness of the Tea Party movement: members seem to want doctrinal purity that is terribly impractical and won't work in a crisis. Give 'em sympathy, but let the system work out unemployment problems. Then came the realization that this country is impossible to run, particularly in this day of continuous news, opinion and bitter partisanship. There are probably 50 people for every Teapartier who think the government should be doing something much bigger and doing it faster. The hell with doctrinal purity, just give me a job. In the same vein, this guy was no one of importance; what was he doing on NPR? These thoughts were followed by the realization that Americans are very ignorant of how our system really works, despite all the talk about sausage being made.They don't like the fact that both Republican and Democratic parties bailed out the big banks, even if the government gets most of the money back. Have they been so focused on welfare queens all these years not to know that corporate welfare has always dwarfed human welfare, disability payments, food stamps, etc.? Forget about the trillions of dollars given recently to AIG, GM, Chrysler, the big banks and brokerage houses, corporate welfare goes back forever. Just as a reference point, start with the Mining Act of 1872 whereby big mining and oil companies can use government land for $5.00 and acre, take oil and minerals and pay no royalties! Think aid to tobacco and sugar companies, just to name a couple of biggies. I won't even mention companies involved in defense work, or broadcasting, but the Savings and Loan bailout of 30 years ago caused a little kerfufel coming in around $500 billion and might have been an indicator of things to come. Is it possible, what we're seeing today is also an indicator of something even bigger? If the reform bill about to pass congress is only the beginning, I'll be happy. There's much more to be done and huge hurdles to be overcome from the usual suspects who will be fighting for their special interests with their last breathes.