Thomas Frank, author of What's the Matter with Kansas?, made the drive-by observation that politics is quite often about people getting their fundamental interests wrong. That is certainly the case with tea-partiers, who, for the most part, are middle-class and lower middle-class, but seem to think their interests are served when the rich do well.
Tea partiers generally opposed TARP, which is understandable, though, curiously, they tend to blame Pres. Obama for it rather than Pres. Bush on whose watch the economy melted down and who first proposed TARP. They purport not to like banks, but overwhelmingly support the political party most supportive of big banks.
Tea partiers also opposed the stimulus, which very likely saved at least some of their jobs. They generally favor making permanent the Bush tax cuts for the rich, which may make sense tribally--both tea partiers and rich people are white--but not economically. What's in it for the average Joe if Bill Gates makes out like a bandit on his tax bill?
In the recent New Yorker, we learn further that the bilionaire Koch brothers have been helping to finance the tea partiers. The Koch brothers are staunch conservatives, to be sure, but their true interest is not the promotion of the middle class. They hope to use the tea party as advocates on behalf of their true interest, which is lowering taxes on the rich and reducing regulation. The tea party is being played, in other words.
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