How could a movement possibly be categorized s “grass roots” when it is being co-opted by Fox News? When Fox News started calling them “FNC Tax Day Tea Parties”, it became obvious to anyone with half a brain that the idea that these were “grass roots” was totally bogus. When Neil Cavuto began outright lying about how many people were showing up, it became clear what a fabricated farce the whole thing was.
It is obvious to anyone who took part in a large protest movement, such as the civil rights protests in the 1960s, that there’s really nothing substantial about the Tea Parties. There’s no real leadership and no real central issue other than hatred of Democrats and hatred of President Obama. It’s basically a hodgepodge of middle-age and senior citizen right-wingers with various reactionary grievences who either took the day off or are retired. These are not the people who will drive a movement forward. The only youth that seemed to be present were young kids who were dragged along as props to hold signs that they didn’t write such as “Please don’t tax my future”.
Compare that to the hundreds of thousands of young, energetic, motivated activists who showed up day after day to protest the Iraq War, and get arrested in the process, and you’ll begin to understand how marginal and ineffectual the Tea Party movement really is.
