Follow the Money

Saturday, August 28, 2010
It's no secret that I think that as a organization, the Tea Party is basically a Mob of Racists and Homophobes. Nor should it be a surprise that I think "Big L" libertarians are emotional and developmental retards - there's just no moral excuse for their "fuck you, I've got mine" mentality.

So imagine my (un)surprise when a recent article in The New Yorker revealed that the Tea Party movement has, in large part, been financed and organized by the infamous Koch Brothers, the same ka-billionaire Libertarians that finance the Cato Institute and other AstroTurf organizations.

I had a political science professor who used to say, "Follow the money." Her implication, of course, is that finding the true motivations behind a political movement or candidate requires some digging to determine who will benefit most from the goals of the movement or the candidate. I find it extremely ironic that the Tea Baggers are being financed and promoted by 1) Right-wing demagogues whose interests are limited to ratings and book sales and 2) Secretive billionaires who appear to be motivated by the deregulation of the oil industry and the elimination of social programs (which they've never needed, being, you know, born and bred billionaires).

It makes me wonder - do the tea-baggers themselves have any idea how they're being used to line the pockets of millionaire media personalities and billionaire oil barons, or do they still believe their movement is all about them?

Seriously - read Amy Davidson's article. You'll find it most enlightening. The Koch brothers' level of wing-nuttery, combined with their incredible wealth and lack of a discernible moral compass on social issues makes Dick Cheney look like the moral center of the universe by comparison.

Scary times, children.

2 comments:

Tom said...

Janiece, thanks for pointing out the article. It is very scary stuff!

Do the members of the Tea Part realize they are being manipulated by billionaires? Of course not! But if you showed them proof that they are, well, it's just propaganda, made up by the left.

They're so sure that they have it right, they know what the truth is, all the while being fed falsehoods, and gobbling them up.

Very, very scary!

Steve Buchheit said...

They believe they are on the side of rightousness.

Although, I keep remembering a quote (can't remember where it's from) that the right will always have more adherents because of the unique American belief that we will all be rich, instead of the realization that most of us will die poor. So with that in mind, even poor people support tax breaks for the rich, because they want to be protected when they get there.

Or, nobody plays the lottery to win the $2 prize.