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The Next Tea Party is Going to Be Much, Much Angrier
The first generation of Tea Party protests were, unlike media depictions, filled with happy warriors pushing the country towards more fiscal responsibility. It involved crowds of flag-waving Americans who cleaned up every bit of garbage they may have created in the process of protesting across the country. The next round of protests by conservatives will look nothing like the last; they will be angry, deeply angry, and you won’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out why.
Over the course of the last day, a few things have happened. First, student loan “forgiveness” plans, which are really bailouts for college-educated Americans, have been floated by progressives, including Biden himself.
Schumer saying Biden can cancel first $50,000 in student debt via executive order. And will do so in first 100 days. This will change so many lives. https://t.co/nkWZykLJVE
— Tom Winter (@WinterForMT) November 7, 2020
Biden was less bullish, however:
Asked about his plan for student loan debt, Biden promises:
• Immediate $10,000 forgiveness on federal loans
• Public colleges tuition-free for students whose family income is less than $125,000
• Lessen Public Service Loan Forgiveness requirement pic.twitter.com/7e94mJrpxh— The Recount (@therecount) November 16, 2020
There’s already a great deal of resentment from Americans who worked hard and have saved and paid for their own educations and those of their children without government bailouts, and that anger alone would fester. But factor in the fact that while the government is giving bailouts to one sector – those who took out loans on an education that they can now profit off of the rest of their lives – another sector, small businesses, are being bankrupted by government fiat across the country.
Take what’s happened in Philadelphia today:
NEW PHILADELPHIA RESTRICTIONS:
—No indoor private social gatherings.
—No indoor dining at restaurants.
—Outdoor dining limited to 4 people of same household.
—Gyms, libraries, museums closed.
—Schools to remain open.
—Retail limited to 5 ppl/ 1,000 sq. ft.— Brian Taff (@briantaff6abc) November 16, 2020
I have one question: How will the businesses and private organizations (like museums) be made whole? They are still expected to pay rent and make payroll, and yet, they have been stripped of the means to do so. This is theft, plain and simple, and it is being carried out by the government. One could argue, rather easily in my opinion, that some or even all of these measures are necessary for public health. Fine. If that’s the belief of the government, the government needs to compensate affected businesses. What is happening now, lockdown-induced bankruptcies, is eminent domain without compensation.
Imagine the anger across America for a moment. The only folks who emerge from this winter with intact finances will be white-collar workers able to work from home, predominantly college-educated ones. And the government will be giving them a bailout on an education they’ve already received and have profited off of. Meanwhile, the same government has shut down millions of small businesses and offered zero in the way of compensation for the “sacrifice” they were forced to make in the name of public health. If that’s not a recipe for incandescent rage, I’m not sure what is.
Published in General
It’s been said that the Tea Party Movement was conservatives asking nicely. Democrats and their RINO Establishment Pets destroyed it.
The election of President Trump was conservatives asking not-so-nicely. Democrats and their RINO Establishment Pets destroyed him.
What comes next?
Some people chose not to go to college but rather to start small businesses and to take out *loans* to do so.
I don’t think Biden has any thought about paying off *these* loans.
Consciously or not, the objective seems to be: a country of employees of large organizations.
“No man without a master,” as the old saying went.
Yes, as I told a friend just last night, we will be mad, bad, and dangerous to know. ;)
But we will have to hold our intensity until 2022.
Spot on. I have said that the Trump phenomena was a regathering and an escalation of the Tea Party. I like the way you phrased it.
Wait till they bail out Hollywood.
No doubt this is true.
Soapbox = Tea party
Ballot box = Trump
Cartridge box = ???????
The scale and depth of anger underlying any new movement will certainly be far greater than what we saw in the Tea Party protests, and justifiably so. (As both a co-owner of a small business impacted by Philly’s new lockdown and someone who has already paid back a significant amount of student loans, it has certainly been an interesting news day.)
What concerns me is that, as before, there will be no constructive, sustainable place for that energy to go over the long-term. Even if some of the more egregious decisions and policy outcomes driving the movement are remedied or overturned (to the extent they can be), I genuinely wonder what specific, proactive agenda keeps it together once the immediate threat has passed. Even then, can we elect enough legislators and executives with the commitment and creativity to follow-through on that agenda in ways that are difficult to undo? Mark Steyn’s recent column on this front really hit home.
A growing portion of the country shares our anger in what we oppose; how can we get them to share our enthusiasm for what we support? Only the latter will lock in generational gains.
Sabotage. We may not have anyone in Washington on our side (this much is now quite clear). But we can throw sand in the gears at every opportunity.
I heard that in D.C. after the MAGA March, that the cops forced families to pass through groups of AntiFA rather than taking a direct route to hotels. I assume this was done by some Dems that run the city. This is basically interfering with 1st Amendment right to peaceably assemble, so it seems that a happy peaceful TEA party is not possible with government sanctioned thugs bashing heads. If anyone was confused, Leftists are the fascists.
Lawsuits. Sue the administration for every single initiative they try to start. Use their own tactics against them. Venue-shop for Trump-appointed judges. We already have some organizations that are in the business of lawsuits.
I’ve said it before : I will fake my own death before one cent of my money goes to student loan forgiveness
I paid for both my kid’s tuition without taking out loans to make sure they didn’t have student debt. I guess I was a chump.
That’s a good article from Steyn. The link to the affidavit in Michigan details the step by step process that was going on, in counting the ballots and the absentee ones the day after the election (at least as outlined in an affidavit from a Republican poll observer). Y’know, the evidence filed in court proceedings that has been banned from social media, is public knowledge, and should be subject to banning from idiots like Dorsey. (Steyn labels him “weirdbeard” in the article, it’s worth the read just for that).
That’s what he called us wasn’t it?
Come on man! We already know how to take care of the Tea party. Step 1 – re enlist – Lois Lerner and a weaponized IRS. Step 2- already have BLM &Antifa goon squads assembled (along with Soros backed prosecutors who refuse to prosecute violent attacks on MAGA protesters – I mean mostly peaceful attacks). Step 3 media just continues to gaslight & demonize anyone to the right of Madame Mao. The only problem is step 4- getting Congress & the judiciary fully woke- those pesky Republicans and the rule of law ( I mean fascists and systemic racism).
Revolution . . .
City Journal documents this in “The Chump Effect”.
”But when you talk about violence, you can count me out.” The Beatles, “Revolution.”
Saying the president can unilaterally forgive debt is not the same has having the legal power to unilaterally forgive debt. I wonder what the reason is they claim a president can restructure loans like that. Does anyone know?
Student loan forgiveness is a trillion dollar transfer of wealth from blue collar workers to white collar “workers”. A similar transfer is the proposed “bailouts” deep blue cities. That is just another trillion dollar transfer from the financially responsible to the financial irresponsible. Both are moral hazards in that they punish good decision making and reward bad/corrupt decision making. That stuff makes honest people very, very angry. It was that kind of bailout of the investment banks in 2008 that inspired the TEA party.
Yeah, that sounds so nice until you realize that sometimes violence counts you in, whether you like it or not.
Because you area Tory. You would have been telling us how Washington was a madman.
But, Gary my greater point is when people feel they cannot speak and cannot win with voting, what is the next step? People like you would tell them to shut up, they don’t count because they are in a cult. Your people, Gary don’t want 70 million voters to have a say.
I want the 72 million Trump voters to have a voice, which they have in Congress. Next time, we need to nominate a candidate who does not have all of Trump’s manifest weaknesses. If we nominate Trump or his children in 2024, we will lose. If we nominate a non-Trump in 2024, we will likely win.
No you don’t.
And have told all of us that we have no idea what were doing supporting trump
How many of the 2020 Trump voters will just stay home in 2024 when our “betters” tell us to vote for another McCain after saying don’t vote for Trump??
Who is ‘we’ Kimosabe?
Interesting post, Bethany. I was involved in the earlier TEA Party movement, helping organize a local group where I lived. The misrepresentation of the movement was classic mainstream media, a shallow and slanted take on a portion of the population alien to them and so clearly worthy of drive-by vilification.
I hadn’t given much thought to what TEA Party 2.0 is going to look like. I hope, and expect, that it will retain its basic civility and decency, but I can easily imagine that the gatherings will be considerably more passionate.
You wanted to throw them out of your (increasingly tiny) party.