WHO would persuade you better: a person calmly explaining his evidence or someone calling you an idiot for disagreeing with him? Given how important persuasion is in democracies, you might think this would be well understood by now. Sadly, such common sense rhetorical knowledge has been disregarded by liberals and Democrats in their approach toward Tea Party protesters.
Outreach and dialogue has taken a permanent backseat to mockery and dismissal. Tea Partiers are called gun nuts, lunatics, racists and even "terrorists." A terrible myopia has led to a desperate, alienated audience being branded as irredeemably insane, stupid or evil. This strategy was tested in the 2010 midterm elections and it resulted in huge Democratic losses.
Media depictions create an image of a Tea Party that is palpably ignorant and clinging madly to its beliefs. The person holding the "Keep the government out of Medicare" sign is, of course, clearly out of step with reality. But does that make him evil? No. Perhaps if he were kindly presented with evidence that his Medicare coverage is being threatened by austerity hawks - that is, Tea Party Republicans - who are keen on slashing budgets, he would vote differently come election time. But why educate when we can point and laugh at how scared, misinformed people cannot spell "socialism" correctly on signs?
In fact, Tea Party protesters air some legitimate grievances. Look at the economic situation that has affected the nation's poorest half for the last three decades. Noam Chomsky has observed that wages have stagnated and inflation has continued to rise, a doubly painful phenomenon summed up by the remarkably ugly word "stagflation." Jobs that used to exist in small towns are vanishing overseas. Corporate profits continue to soar. Meanwhile, almost half of Americans are now "financially fragile" and thus unlikely or unable to come up with $2,000 in 30 days if it were needed.
There is good reason for these people to fear the future, but for the most part they have been distracted by right-wing propagandists who have them worrying about invisible monsters. Blame your problems on the lurking Mexican immigrants who will destroy our nation, just like the Chinese and the Irish did. Or perhaps all the problems are caused by that Marxist president who socializes everything, creating unemployment. Wait a moment: In reality, corporate profits have grown massively during President Obama's term in office.
Would a Republican president want it any other way? Odd, but it seems conservative policies have a tendency to hinder just the sort of people who come out to Tea Party protests.
Some, like veteran journalist Christopher Hitchens, argue that one of the movement's major motivations seems to be fear that demographic shifts are a threat to a social order that grants whites great privilege. The manipulation of racial tensions by those who influence the Tea Partiers is unacceptable, but all signs indicate that racism does flourish among the poorer, less educated portion of the protesters.
Perhaps some Tea Party sympathizers will not change their beliefs about race even in the face of overwhelming evidence, but it is a diverse group. Many Tea Party protesters would be glad to consider and confront the true origins of their hardships - if they could only find out what they are.
Does any of this imply the Tea Party's policy demands are the right ones? Of course not. So many of their recommendations and demands are founded on huge political and macroeconomic misunderstandings that it makes one wonder if they are talking about the real world. This does not nullify the fact that they also are voters with a right to participate in the electoral process and the ability to cancel out well-reasoned votes if they buy into fabrications.
Liberals must make a choice. They can do the easy thing and laugh about the way Tea Party protesters continue accepting right-wing distortions. Or they can roll up their sleeves and take on the civic challenge of speaking candidly to their fellow citizens. If they do the latter, they might see that Tea Partiers, armed with real facts about the political landscape, do not seem so crazy after all.
Sam Carrigan is a Viewpoint writer for The Cavalier Daily.
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