Rebelion. El caso del "Tea Party"
Fascism in America??
The case of the "Tea Party"
Digital System
There is a widespread perception in the largest Spanish media that the Tea Party in the U.S. is a social movement that emerged libertarian sensitivity in response to what was perceived by large sectors of the U.S. population as increased federal state interventionism USA under President Barack Obama. The correspondent Antonio Cano of El Pais in the U.S. has been a promoter of this view, which is also promoted by this movement and liberal and ultra conservative media sympathetic to him.
The reality, however, is quite different. Both its origins and its current practice indicate another type of movement, which aims to defend the economic and financial interests of specific business groups (ranging from tobacco companies to insurance companies, banks and oil companies). It is a movement whose social base is middle class and high-income sectors of the wealthy classes who believe their taxes are going to sustain the country's poor minorities. It is extremely well funded, with a wealth of resources from economic and financial groups who enjoy great political and media resources. Their political power that are derived from controlling the electoral system by redefining the constituencies that are designed by the legislatures of the states controlled by the Republican Party, favoring the choice of ultra-liberal politicians, of no democratic sensibility.
Its members are national characteristics with Spanish Catholicism. Are considered part of a country chosen by God, extreme nationalism which also has a mission to save the U.S. from "anti-American ideologies", freeing federal government now controlled by an anti-Christ. 62% of Tea Party members (according to Public Policy Polling) think President Obama wants to establish socialism in the U.S., 42% believe President Obama is Muslim and wants to impose Islamic law in the American judicial system, the 21% believe the federal government is killing people to stimulate fear of weapons (yes, you read that phrase) and a long list of obvious falsehoods, borne by a vast system of indoctrination, like having 20 Losantos-in prime time - over U.S. territory: Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and Fox News. The amount of money that these devices have available is enormous. Is the extreme right movement closer to European fascism, even though it has its own characteristics that distinguish.
His power derives from its control of large resources (funded by these business groups) and large number of legislatures of the States which are, as I indicated earlier, defining the constituencies of federal elections. This explains why, even when the Democratic Party won the last election to Congress (more than one and half million more votes than the Republicans), now Congress is in the hands of the Republican Party, controlled by the Tea Party.
Its effectiveness is also due to his deep sense of membership and active participation in the electoral process. Since abstention is huge in congressional elections (one of the most discredited institutions in the U.S.), a very minority, like the Tea Party can win the election easily. In congressional elections, only 30% of the electorate vote (in the presidential elections, which coincide with the Congress, did the 52%), thus, a very mobilized can finish (with 16% of the vote) controlling the legislative branches of the State and Congress. His motivation is very marked, as they have a religious fanaticism that holds the belief that they are fighting against the anti-Christ, being highly manipulated by economic groups that fund. His fanaticism is complemented by a huge ignorance, believing, for example, that the federal government paralysis and impossibility of paying the debt will improve the U.S. economy. Hence, their control of Congress, via the Republican Party represents a threat to the U.S. economic system, even for the world economic system. The situation regarding public debt is an example of this, as they are trying to blackmail to President Obama to stop health reform Democratic Administration and public pensions in that country. His speech is similar to that used by European and Spanish establishments which, under the guise of reducing the public deficit is eliminating the welfare state, imposing policies that are benefiting the business world and the wealthy classes.
Vicente Navarro is Professor of Public Policy at the Pompeu Fabra University, and Professor of Public Policy at The Johns Hopkins University.
