Filed under: Politics | Tags: Congress, Democratic Party, Election, Mid-term, Mitch McConnell, Politics, Republican, Senate, Tax, Tea, Tea Party
Image via Wikipedia
It has become clear that, no matter which party you ascribe to, when something popular in the political world comes along, everyone jumps on board to try to get votes.
Bring out the Tea Party. When it first arrived on the political scene as a response to the ‘tyranny’ of the Obama administration, it wasn’t seen as much more than a bunch of unorganized people gathering in the streets dressed as revolutionary-era orators and soldiers. They shouted about tyranny and taxes, unfair majorities, and abundant wastes of tax-payer dollars by the federal government. Most importantly, the pundits and politicians didn’t seem to take them seriously.
Flash forward a year to fall of 2010. The mid-term elections are upon us and it seems that the only thing people can talk about is the Tea Party. They have suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, become the strongest movement in this election. Obama is trying to assuage the largest part of the Tea Party, the middle class, by proposing to extend what Marlene Y. Satter describes as “Bush-era tax cuts for those making under $200,000 (individuals)/$250,000 (families), while allowing the tax cuts for those in higher income brackets to expire at the end of the year.”
The GOP seems to see right through the gimmick, however, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said that a Republican vote for this tax increase for the wealthy was out of the question. Additionally, The Washington Post reports that “House Democrats remain deeply divided over the issue, with a raft of vulnerable Democrats signalling growing resistance to raising taxes in an election year.” So, the president’s last-minute attempt to win some Tea Party votes appears more transparent than he promised his presidency would be.
It is obvious from the above that both sides are trying to use the latest political fad to their advantage this fall. We will have to wait and see whether the most recent political movement has the power to drastically change congress, although I doubt it will be the landslide many pundits are predicting.
Sources:
The Washington Post
Investment Advisor
Related Articles
- Tea Party Rallies Across US Mobilize for November Elections (waronterrornews.typepad.com)
- Coast to Coast, Tea Partiers Promote Their Cause (politics.usnews.com)
- Video: Tea Party Takes Aim (thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com)
- A year later, tea party marches on (politico.com)
Politics, Plain and Simple 