BP Tars and Feathers the Tea Party

In a stunning reversal of fortune from 1773, it appears the British are defeating the Tea Party. Josh Green at The Atlantic:

The Tea Party movement, animated by intense disapproval of government activism, has smacked up against an unprecedented environmental disaster that is providing a vivid daily illustration of why an activist government is sometimes necessary. There is little doubt about which force is prevailing. According to a recent CBS News poll, a majority of Americans now oppose offshore drilling, and nearly two-thirds say Obama should be doing more to stop the spill. This desire for more aggressive government action is the antithesis of the Tea Party ethos, and poses a problem for a movement that had recently been gaining steam.

The addled response to the disaster from the Tea Party’s icons hasn’t helped. Rand Paul, the GOP Senate nominee in Kentucky, implied that the spill was no big deal – “sometimes accidents happen” – and called Obama  ”un-American” for taking a hard line against BP. Sarah Palin, who popularized the phrase “Drill, Baby, Drill,” claimed that Obama’s response had been too slow because he was in the pocket of the oil companies (harebrained even by her standards). Sharron Angle, who upset the establishment candidate on Tuesday to become Nevada’s GOP Senate nominee, wants to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency. No surprise, then, that a Washington Post/ABC News poll this week revealed that half of Americans hold an ”unfavorable impression” of the Tea Party, up from 39 percent in March.

The oil spill has been the dominant narrative of late sparking some, including my colleague Amy Westervelt, to wonder if we are seeing a burgeoning new environmental movement. Amy is right, conditions are ripe for a newly invigorated environmental movement – and more activist government in general.

As a wise man once said, reality has a well known liberal bias. And in the last several years conservative orthodoxy has run dead on into that reality. From Wall Street, to the mines of West Virginia, to the Gulf of Mexico we’re witnessing the results of 30 years of bi-partisan anti-government orthodoxy.

I’d urge my friends on the left though not to sit around waiting for President Obama to come and place a reassuring hand on your shoulder. It’s an election year and now is the time to press your local, state and Federal candidates about their views on the proper role of government. Remember last August when Congressional town hall meetings were infested with angry Tea Party protesters? This summer those town halls and candidate forums should be filled with fierce advocates for the environment, for worker safety and for increased scrutiny on Wall Street. Candidates need to be asked – do they support the Environmental Protection Agency? Do they have a plan for rescuing our regulatory bodies from the clutches of industry?

No candidate for any public office should be allowed to skate by on these issues. It’s time for liberals to mount a counter-offensive against the Tea Partiers.

Photo by Noah Scalin