Van Jones’ Tea Party Envy

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There is a small measure of truth in this. Much of the Tea Party’s success has come from its independence, its adamant refusal to be co-opted by establishment politicians. It is true, too, that effective organization has turned the Tea Party into a potent political force, one capable of swaying elections. What Van Jones and others on the Left miss, however, is that these are as much the products as the causes of the Tea Party’s success, which hinges on a far more critical point: a political platform with genuine and widespread appeal.

No comparably energizing agenda can be found on the Left. To the extent that progressives have a cause, it is a reactionary one. While the Tea Party has pushed for meaningful and popular reform – an end to fiscal recklessness decades in the making, for instance – the Left stands mostly for keeping things the same. Hence its main objectives of protecting entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, raising taxes on corporations and the rich, and helping the re-election of an unpopular president who has already implemented much of their agenda. Dressing up this platform in the inspirational language of the American dream does not disguise the fact that is utterly conventional, a continuation of left-wing politics as usual. It is surely no coincidence that beyond some platitudes about aiding the beleaguered middle class, Van Jones’s group, Rebuilding the American Dream, offers no new or compelling ideas to bring the country out of its current economic malaise.

The staleness of this agenda is notable because Van Jones is said to represent the best and brightest of the Left’s new leadership. If true, that would argue against a left-wing rival to the Tea Party emerging any time soon. So far from inspiring, Van Jones is a prophet of doom who in his book The Green Collar Economy counseled Americans to accept that “the very notion of economic growth” is “something human society will someday be forced to abandon.” Indeed, for all his appeals to the American dream, Van Jones is remarkably tone deaf about what that dream entails. Where the Tea Party calls for less government and freer markets to revitalize entrepreneurship and revive job growth, Van Jones and the Left’s would-be movement leaders channel their energies into condemning capitalism and corporate America. Referring to the Occupy Wall Street protestors, Jones tellingly applauded them for going to the “scene of the crime.”

Whatever Americans’  frustrations with Wall Street, it’s difficult to imagine the country rallying around the cause of class warfare and anti-capitalism. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but is not a substitute for substance. For Van Jones and others on the Left who covet the Tea Party’s clout, that’s a lesson that has yet to be learned.

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  • UCSPanther

    I think the Liberals miss the '60s (Their glory days) and the '90s (When they finally did get to rule, and made one hell of a mess in the process).

    I predicted that Obama's election may be a last gasp for late 20th century Liberalism some time back, and I wager that will be more accurate than I expected.

    • StephenD

      You are 99% correct! The only issue is your use of the term LIBERAL. There is nothing liberal about espousing a Totalitarian system of government. I only use the term LEFT.

    • Anti-BertramScud

      From your lips to God's ears. One hundred years of 20th century progressivism is more than enough demonstration that socialism doesn't work. Everything they control now is a mess, in particular, education. It's amazing the U.S. survived it. The boomerang effect created by so many American finally fully awake is going to hit progressives so hard, they won't know what happened or how. They will never recover. There will be no "reinventing themselves" this time around, because no disguise will conceal who they really are. Everyone knows. They've ruined enough lives. Let's stick to the plan until the job is done! Charlie Mike until Mike Charlie!

    • Jim

      Whatchu been smokin, Obama has been Bush 3; he extended taxes for the wealthy, he expanded the Dick Cheney Halliburton profiteering war, he bailed out Wall Strreet and the banks. What else does the right wing want?

      • coyote3

        I can't speak for everyone, but repeal of any statute that was not enacted pursuant to a power enumerted and delgated to congress to start with. We can begin with the NFA, the 1964 Civil Rights Act Bill (to the extent it regulates private conduct on private property), Obamacare, the list goes on, but this is a good start.

  • BS61

    Ah, it's nice being in the majority!

  • elihew

    Brother Van is nothing but a rabble-rousing racist.

  • Chezwick_mac

    Funny how the Tea Party changed overnight from "a bunch of racists" to the imprimatur that this bunch of anarchists seek to be compared with in order to derive legitimacy.

  • StephenD

    I heard this morning a report that the largest gathering of these mobs thus far has been a couple thousand at best with 143 news outlets covering it. The TEA Party had rallies that boasted 80,000 in attendance and was hard pressed to get 87 news reports in total for all their rallies, and then only for the fringe signs and allegations (spitting, racist remarks ~ none of which were ever substantiated). Even with this obvious bias, the TEA Party is recognized as a force to be reckoned with.

  • Spider

    The "occupy wall street" mob are nothing but nihilists. They have no plan other that to tear down the current order not knowing or caring what will be its replacement. It is only moral to tear something down if you have something better to put in its place. But they don't and everyone knows it.

  • RAS

    Thanks to Obama and cronies, like Van Jones, the curtain has been pulled back exposing the Left's real anti-America agenda and waking the sleeping giant. The silly radicals and "useful idiots" protesting in the streets of our major cities are only serving to solidify the resolve of the giant to put an end to this nonsense. The Tea Party is just one manifestation of this awakening; there will be more to come. Establishment politicians also need to heed the angry roar of the giant less they become part of the unemployed.

  • Brujo Blanco

    I believe we need to use the proper terminology regarding who is trying to year the USA down. The terms I feel are accurate are communists and socialists. We see them attempting to control every aspect of our lives. They are concerned for example with how health care is provided or how it is withheld. Control health care and they literally control who lives and who dies. These commies want to control the media. Recently a journalist was screamed at for disclosing the truth regarding the Fast and Furious problem. We have an administration that wants to control the flow of information. We are in danger of having the constitution totally disregarded.

  • mrbean

    Van Jones and his ilk are just the 2nd generation useful idiot indoctrinates of the useful idiot indoctrinates of the long dead four horseman of The Frankfurt school leading the lumphen proliteriat in 2011.

  • Fred Dawes

    The race war has been going on for years and not just words but in Bodies this week one black murdered 3 whites and almost killed 7 other whites we had a new freeway shooter who is hispanic killed 1 shot 8 others all white or white hispanic the list is endless of how many whites killed and VAN Is a killer as many of his people are. its not about political ideals that is only a cover

  • tagalog

    I have doubts that a manufactured grass-roots movement like Occupy Wall Street will ever earn the authenticity that a real, self-generated, organic rising like the Tea Party has brought to itself.

  • Sound&Fury

    The left has been organizing street protests for years while "Tea Partiers" have watched quietly from the sidelines. Finally, Tea Partiers have had enough to stage their own protests, and the Left is envious. Why? Because Tea Party rallies are composed of normal Americans, while leftists rallies are composed of kooks. The left knows that it can organize, but it cannot make itself look respectable.

    • http://www.nightmist.us/study/ Axe

      Not anymore. Because the media is much more open, and it is impossible to control the message.

      See zombie.

  • mrbean

    Van Jones is one of those who believe in “social justice” and I am one of those who believe in economic opportunity. He is one of those who believe in taking from others by initiating force and I am one of those who believe in the individual's right to keep wealth gained from their own production.

  • http://www.contextflexed.com Flipside

    This cobbled together article is really just another attempt by a Zionist to vent his spleen at the Center for American Progress. Amid all the other articles this FPM managing editor manages to edit about the alleged rising tide of Muslim extremism it would be nice to find the rebuttal to his attack on Kevin MacDonald who rightly pegged the nature of these coordinated efforts to dictate US policy: http://www.kevinmacdonald.net/laksin.htm

    • astra

      Yeah, but blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah.
      That page you're directing us to needs to be laid out better. Half a sentence in I got a headache from the formatting.

  • BS77

    I love how all these demonstrators who are attacking Wall St., capitalism, the wealthy, the entrepreneur, are ALL using I phones, I pads, Nike shoes, cars, food, energy etc etc etc all created by and sustained by the very companies and system they condemn. Just exactly what kind of "system" do they propose?

  • deyeah23

    You know how the TeaParty is supposed to be mostly white? I'm looking at pics of Van Jones' Occupy movement and darned if they aren't mostly white too. Even in my hometown which is at least 60% black in the city, I counted 5 black people out of 500. Two were "organizers", two were kids who looked like they were there to pick pockets and 1 guy was just marching like everyone else.

    Does that make Occupy racist?

  • http://www.hotexchangerates.com/ exchangerates

    you guys are awesome. 8 years of massive government growth under GOP leadership and suddenly it's, Oh dear the government is too big. meanwhile, with the support of Tea Party money (the billions of the Koch Bros, who are the real Tea Party movement), state governments in WI, MI, FL, PA, NJ & elsewhere are growing larger, more intrusive, and more restricting of rights. but you keep on tooting your little horn. it's so adorable how you continue to play your role in this farce.

  • BS77

    what do the leftists propose as a better system? They hate Wall St. while continuing to use I pads, I phones, Sony TVs, Nike footwear; they drive cars, eat in capitalist restaurants and shop at capitalist malls and market franchise chains while screaming they hate the system….what is the plan, lefties???? North Korean model? Maybe you leftist twits should go live in Zimbabwe or Burma for awhile to get a taste of dictatorial Animal Farm style socialism..see how you like it.

  • alexander

    Democraps already saying: "NO MO ELECTIONS" – so they will keep their "sure loss" positions….Poor FuBAR…acks

  • Ben

    Left propaganda is always based on the deception (their real goals are frightening),so any political success they see as the usual deceit ,that worth learning.

  • Rogue100

    Sorry Van, comparing the TEA Party vs the Profitable Enough Already (PEA) Party you'll easily see ours is bigger than yours.

  • Carol Cox

    This is TEA-NESS envy, pure and simple