Europe's Invitation to a Tea Party by: Joshua Grant
BAD AMERICA! It's no surprise, after the election of President Obama, excitement swept through Europe. Barack Obama was a symbol of hope and fervent prayers for a new direction in American policy after eight years of war and resentment toward George W. Bush's style and policies. All of the insidious antiAmericanism and biases that had been validated under the Bush administration, quickly started to dissipate with Obama's inauguration. At the end of President Barack Obama's speech to a mostly young European audience in 2009, it would have been impossible not to to detect an overwhelming sense of hopefulness and awe in the crowd. Those French and German students had witnessed a historic fundamental shift in American Foreign Policy before their very eyes, the admittance of American misbehavior. Despite objections and criticism by conservative commentators, President Obama in many ways apologized for America showing arrogance, being derisive, and failing to “ appreciate Europe's leading role in the world.” This new, young, and intelligent president was realization for Europeans, that America was not simply a country of aggressive ignorance as it is often depicted to be. The world was granting the United States a second chance. Obama declared that “ America is changing “ he's right. America is changing, but for the better? After Tuesday's midterm elections, Europeans may not be so sure.
WHERE IS MY JOB OBAMA!
Now at the end of 2010, two days after mid-term elections, it is understandable why Europeans are now scratching their heads, perplexed asking how the same country who made such a historic leap politically by electing Obama two years ago, could have been so determined to boot his party out of office on election day. When Europeans examine the first two years of Obama's leadership, they see a stimulus package which offset another Great Depression, a banking bailout preventing a Wall Street meltdown, and a health care plan providing nearly 30 million citizens access to medical treatment, and the end of the divisive war in Iraq. How can a man who , in fact, brought “change� to American politics now be on such a downward spiral?
At the time of Obama's election campaign, his story connected to many people, because he was the embodiment of the American Dream. Americans looked to him, almost like a Messiah, who would deliver them from the oppressions of an untrustworthy government. Obama made profound promises. Proclaiming the end of a federal government who ignores the voices of its' people. He called for a change that would ensure a more transparent and modern way of policy making, but in office he failed to find this same inspiring narrative. There was now little to link him to the Americans whose jobs were disappearing and whose houses were being foreclosed. For some, Obama seemed too distant, too cerebral, and far too Zen. One of the president's major focuses was on the system of health care, which he campaigned heavily on and implemented successfully. However, health care was not on the top of the list of things most Americans were worried about.
For them, worrying about staying employed or finding a job
were paramount, leaving them with a sense of a gap between themselves and the Obama agenda. Fortunately those who felt disconnected, there was a Tea Party to fill in the gap.
THE TEA PARTY OF DREAMS
The Tea Party believes the future lies in the past. Party members insist America is on the wrong track. Candidates guarantee, if elected, federal accountability, decreased spending, and the protection of individual liberties (the right to bear arms). The movement calls for the return to old values, selfreliance, small government, and low taxes. One nation under God. According to Tea Party candidates, the last two years under the Obama administration saw an increase in America's debt, moved dangerously close to socialism, and lost the connection with the working middle class.
It is also interesting to point out there were 138 candidates from the Tea Party running for congress., and despite their strong refutation of being affiliated with either the Republican or Democratic parties, all 138 candidates ran on the Republican ticket. Europeans and American liberals war with the idea of a how a party that claims to be a populist grass roots movement are not Democrats. Voting Republican would be against the “common man's� economic interest. Republicans still favor the Bush tax cuts for the rich, which are set to expire soon. They also are against a deficit commission that the president requested, and hope to overturn a deficit neutral health care bill. Europeans cannot reconcile how the Tea Party members complain of out-of- control spending and government being too much in their lives, when the so called spending was done for their own long term benefit. The idea of a country refusing to pay higher taxes in order to form a system of solidarity to protect its poorer citizens seems utterly ridiculous. One might ask, what's the matter with these people? The truth is nothing is the matter. Tea Party
members see themselves as being deeply American, therefore one must look no further than the American Dream to understand their voting behavior.
What Europeans fail to realize is Americans, unlike themselves, do not vote on economic interest. We vote our values and dreams. Therefore, efforts to appeal to alleged material interests are unlikely to bring working class voters back to the democratic side. America remains deeply aspirational country that has long been committed to greatness rather than charity. The reality is that many Americans, regardless of current economic situation, believe they will one day become rich. For many Tea Party members America is a completely free country where anything is possible, if one works hard and abides by biblical principles. This concept leads to a strong belief in self-sufficiency, hence the lack of compassion for the less fortunate. Unlike most European countries who align with the notion of the collective, America is a country very much about the power of the individual. Americans support candidates and policy proposals based on whether they resonate with their core and there consciously (or unconsciously) held values and outlook on life.
Watching the phenomenal rise of the Sarah Palins and Christine O'Donnells , foreigners begin to ask questions and make assumptions in order to confirm their desire to paint America as a country lacking sophistication, xenophobic, and unintelligent. Crazy Americans who are overly patriotic and extremely religious ,who consistently choose God over science and ignorance over information. The emergence of the Tea Party, and the Republican victory on Tuesday may have perhaps solidified those claims, giving the Europeans satisfaction of being right all along.