At the risk of alienating my liberal, progressive and occupy friends and associates, I have a confession to make. In 2009, I almost joined the Tea Party. Well, at least I was considering it. I was attracted to their desire to reign in the power of the federal government and restore our rights which they believe are being taken away. This was before the Tea Party was co-opted by right-wing extremists and the Republican Party. Early on in my stint at Occupy Freedom Plaza in D.C., I met a leader of one of the Tea Party groups from Texas. He told me that he agreed with much of what the Occupation Movement was saying. He came to Washington, D.C. to talk with his congressional representative and national Tea Party leaders about returning the party to its roots, which is not where it was headed in his view. What got me thinking about this again was this short video of D.C occupiers and Tea Party members talking in a bar.
Although not a really comprehensive discussion, what did you think of it?
After living at an occupation for three months and participating in a variety of actions and discussions, I believe our first priority is to find common ground and unite the people. Without sufficient numbers of people who actively participate, we will not change much in this country. Regardless of our personal positions on moral, environmental, educational or health care issues, a dysfunctional government that is corrupted and run by the corporate elite will never serve the People. Consequently, the restoration and/or creation of a true representative democracy should be our focus no matter what we believe.