The following are talking points that I recently used when calling in to the radio show "WakeUp AM" on
Portsmouth, NH Community Radio.
Fostering people on the left and right to work together on common interests....
It's a strategy of recognizing the power in numbers that is within grasp of "principled" people on the Left and on the right to challenge the power of the minority establishment to bring about a more perfect democracy.
This is NOT about political party politics, creating a third party, or seeking more "bi-partisanship" in Washington, which we know is hopeless. This is about populist-level advocacy, a true grass-roots demand for the ideals of democracy, ideal that are common to principled people the left and the right.
Tea Party is generally NOT where you find these principled people; they too often follow the lead of corporate-funded groups like American for Prosperity. They too often parrot the message of "government is bad," rather than the message of "Make the 'government of the people' work FOR the people" and not for the get-rich-quick crowd of Wall Street, and so-called "corporate America," with their corporate headquarters located off-shore in the Bahamas showing no allegiance to the Country.
There are exceptions in the Tea Party, of course, like the woman interviewed at a tea party rally who said she feels the government should help the less fortunate and not to cut the salaries of teachers.
There is common ground on Important subjects like protection of our privacy and civil liberties in general, solving the "too big to fail" problem that leads to tax payer bailouts of banks and insurance corporations... concerns about the excessive power of the Federal Reserve and the fiat money banking system in general... concerns about politicians and regulatory agencies that are effectively controlled by lobbyists who steer policies and campaign money while making big bucks as Washington lobbyists.
We can cite real examples of this union between populist left & right working:
- the 2003 push back against the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, attempting to allow more consolidation of media ownership among the monolithic corporations.
- the recent Senate unanimous vote for Bernie Sanders' amendment to audit the Federal Reserve Bank.
- And recently, on your last show, you mentioned the conservative bloggers, military guys I think, who are supporting the repeal of don't ask, don't tell policies regarding gays in the military.
So, this isn't simply strategic theory...