In The Tea Party Movement: A Populist Potential, I first explored the possibility of a cooperative effort by activists from the Left and Tea Party activists on the Right. I made the argument that something like that happening may not be as far fetched as it might sound. The Poli-Tea blog took the question further in a series of posts and a fascinating discussion ensued in the comments section.
My belief in the likelihood of such an alliance has gotten tempered, however, by recent events. This Philadelphia Inquirer report on the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh says it all:
Government officials decided a massive, preemptive police presence was necessary to avoid the raucous demonstrations that marred past economic summits. They established a virtual police state that quickly extinguished any spark of dissent, and a federal court ruling gave them free rein to do so.
To begin with, there was an oxymoronic requirement that groups get permits to march and demonstrate during the summit. Requiring citizens to obtain permission to gather, let alone speak, violates the spirit of the First Amendment.
But even demonstrators who had permission faced zealous intimidation. It started during the first demonstrations of the week, before the summit commenced. Police delayed one properly credentialed march and denied another group access to a public bypass…
Upholding the city’s right to employ such tactics in this early legal challenge set an unfortunate tone for the summit. While the judge’s ruling may not have been the final word on possible constitutional violations, it gave the police a pass to do as they pleased in handling the larger planned and unplanned demonstrations later in the week.
The police did just that, arresting, gassing, jailing, and dispersing protesters at will. Thousands of riot-gear-clad police and National Guard troops employed an arsenal of ear-piercing sound effects, rubber bullets, clubs, and chemicals to herd and corral marchers. Protesters and their messages were penned safely into nooks far away from the eyes and ears of the summit participants.
The Tea Party movement decries statism and encroachment on civil liberties but there wasn’t a big outcry — not even a peep — among Tea Party activists about police abuses of protesters at the G-20 summit. Also, despite being highly vocal and critical about economic issues and economic problems, the Tea Party movement is pretty much absent when it comes to protesting against the G-20, WTO, World Bank, NAFTA, CAFTA, and “Free Trade” Agreements. The latter three especially — actual policies pursued by both Republicans and Democrats — have been the cause of the US’s shift from a manufacturing to a service-sector economy. The economic decline that resulted is supposed to be a main source of anger among the Tea Party movement.
Common Ground
There are a lot of things where Left and progressive activists and sympathizers share common ground with Tea Party activists. For example, if you implement a large-scale survey on “big picture”questions to both populations, I bet you will find a lot of overlap between the Left and Right. Examples of such questions might be:
- Do ordinary people have a strong voice and power in American democracy? Should they?
- Do the two major parties actually represent the interests of ordinary people? Should they?
- Is the country is being led effectively by our elected leaders from either of the major parties?
- Should a wider spectrum of perspectives, viewpoints and solutions be represented in public discourse and institutions than just Republican or Democrat?
- Do the mainstream political parties care more for their own internal interests rather than the interests of the country as a whole?
- Will you be willing to join a third political party or vote for a third party or independent candidate in an election?
- Will you be willing to participate in political activities and actions that are designed to address the issues above?
My belief on that overlap is where my hopes for a Left-Right alliance comes from. But when actual events such as the G-20 Summit reveal when push, literally, comes to shove on issues that should matter to them, the Tea Party movement and conservatives in general are nowhere to be found, I have no choice but temper my enthusiasm.
I am still a believer on the prospects of such an alliance happening in the future. After all, political efforts that function outside the purview of the Democrat and Republican parties are effectively marginalized in American politics. It’s not a big stretch to then ask the question: why can’t marginalized groups from both Left and Right combine forces and work towards opening up the American political system? It will take having each other’s backs for such a cooperative effort to happen between Left and Right. We’re not there yet.
