Bad economy and the politics of anger

Filed in archive risk on July 14, 2010

A bad economy is reshaping American politics and it's deeply unsettling.

First we have news reports of an Iowa Tea Party group putting up a billboard that compares Obama to Hitler to Lenin. While their compatriots have condemned it as a waste of money, the Iowa brethren still made their point.

It;s all part of a disturbing trend we are now seeing in the US. Writing in the New Republic, Michelle Cottle talks about the Sarah Palin effect on US politics. "Her byline pops up now and again in the opinion pages (supporting McCain, bashing enviros). She periodically hits the campaign trail with favored candidates. She is a prolific and passionate tweeter. Her Facebook page overflows with thoughts on global events both past (DDay, Reagan's Brandenburg Gate speech) and present (Israel, border security, the need to drill, baby, drill); news of upcoming appearances (a rally at the Lincoln Memorial with Glenn Beck, a possible U.K. jaunt to meet Margaret Thatcher); the latest media atrocities committed against her; and her rolling endorsements of "commonsense conservative" candidates who tickle her fancy. And, any day now, filming is scheduled to start on the docu-travelogue series in which Palin will "bring the wonder and majesty of Alaska" to TLC viewers … Her perky, quirky tweets and chatty Facebook items make her fans feel as though they have a direct line to her-despite the oft-voiced assumption that Palin (like so many pols) does not write most (if any) of her own Facebook posts. Such is the beauty of social networking: It allows a public figure to avoid direct interaction with the public while promoting the illusion of personal connection and involvement."

The point here is that the Iowa Tea Party and Palin are getting their point across bypassing the mainstream media which is dying anyway. And that's creating more dissent and unrest in the US.

The economy is driving this trend. In his blog, political commentator Robert Reich says rising US unemployment, stagnant wages and the gap between ordinary people and Wall Street is creating the politics of anger. The traditional demarcations between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, is becoming irrelevant.

Reich writes: "What we get from widening inequality is not only a more fragile economy but also an angrier politics. When virtually all the gains from growth go to a small minority at the top - and the broad middle class can no longer pretend it's richer than it is by using homes as collateral for deepening indebtedness - the result is deep-seated anxiety and frustration. This is an open invitation to demagogues who misconnect the dots and direct the anger toward immigrants, the poor, foreign nations, big government, "socialists," "intellectual elites," or even big business and Wall Street. The major fault line in American politics is no longer between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, but between the "establishment" and an increasingly mad-as-hell populace determined to 'take back America' from it."

Even if the recovery comes, there's no going back. The economic fallout could reshape America permanently.