Writing at Salon yesterday, Gary Kamiya very ably mocked and dismantled the internet sensation that is Rick Santelli’s 15 minutes of YouTube fame and those who sympathize with him. Santelli represents the people who spent the last decade jumping from one short term gain to another (Kamiya likens them to “acid heads who had somehow made it to the finals of the World Monopoly Championship”) and now feel justified in pointing self righteous fingers at lesser mortals (“losers“) who can no longer afford their mortgages. Kamiya quite correctly paints Santelli, Rush Limbaugh (whom he quotes), and their ilk as massive hypocrites, but his focus on those standout media luminaries obscures the larger herd in which they spawned.
Santelli, Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and pretty much every other prominent “conservative” are populist poseurs. They live in very big cities, wear very expensive clothes and make a lot of money and while there’s nothing wrong with any of that it places them pretty high up on the totem pole and makes it that much sillier when they try and claim common man credibility. The entertaining absurdity of all this can be seen at the “Chicago Tea Party” website that was inspired by Santelli. It is a testament to people who feel that democracy itself is under threat from the results of the last two elections; while there they can plan meetings, read talking points and get slogan ideas.
The page with the slogans is a comedy gold mine and well worth the click. They range from being woefully ignorant of 180 year old history (Andrew Jackson was Right: No to Bank Nationalization) to being woefully ignorant three year old history (Sleep? I’ll Sleep When Conservatives Run Congress). From banal right winger stuff (The Very Small List: Things Government Does Well) to panicky right winger stuff (220 Years to Build the Republic, 1 Month to Destroy It) to the downright bizarre (No Spending Without Deliberative Representation). That last one is a true head scratcher until one considers it within the context in which it was created. These are the denizens of the uppermost tiers of American society and they are very upset that the government is no longer doing their bidding exclusively.
The idea that a great silent majority of Americans are rending their garments over the coming Obama led socialist revolution is nothing more than myopic fantasy, particularly in light of last night’s speech from the Socialist-in-Chief. Obama himself went on national television, in front of a joint session of Congress, and gutted the idea that ordinary working Americans are about to see their wages garnished to fund la revolucion. Taxes are indeed going up, but only on households that bring in more than a quarter of a million per year; almost everybody else, “95% of working families” according to Comrade Obama, are getting theirs cut.
You can respond to that kind of a plan with charges of “class warfare” but it isn’t like the hard working 45% of the country is being robbed to support the lazy lifestyles of the other 55%. 2% of Americans are getting their tax rates restored to their pre-Bush levels, everybody else gets a break. However much they might imagine themselves as speaking for the great masses, guys like Santelli and Limbaugh are part of that 2%. They have an understandable reason to be upset, their taxes are being raised by a guy they voted against, but that doesn’t mean a damn thing to most people.
To illustrate just how absurd this faux populist crusade is, here’s some very simple and very conservative math. Imagine a family earns exactly $250,000 per year. They take no deductions, do not hire someone to do their returns, and pay as much as possible in federal income taxes. This is the worst case scenario for being negatively affected by Obama’s plan. Today these very wealthy (and very stupid) people would have $167,500 as their after tax income; under Obama’s plan that number plummets all the way down to . . . wait for it . . . $160,000. Populist revolts are not built upon outrages as minor as someone earning a quarter of a million dollars having to give up an extra 7,500 bucks. Do the organizers of these laughable “tea parties” honestly believe that there are large numbers of people out there willing to scuff up the leather of their luxury vehicles with torches and pitchforks?
Just because everyone personally known to Rick Santelli (which is to say everyone he interacts with who isn’t some kind of servant) agrees that Obama is implementing the socialist revolution doesn’t make it true; it doesn’t even make it the popular opinion. Let’s not forget that even massively unpopular things in this country still have millions of supporters and people tend to hang out with other people like them. These particular people are out of touch with the economic and political realities of the country to such a degree that it would (almost) be funnier if they weren’t so serious. Humorously, they appear to be quite sincere.
That is what’s missing from Kamiya’s otherwise excellent piece. He concludes that the GOP is going to get thrown overboard, and he’s probably correct, but in the meantime people like Limbaugh and Santelli are fighting a losing battle to avoid being exposed for what they are: a populist head on an elitist body.
[Edit: 5 March 09 - I realized yesterday that my tax example is ridiculously stupid and ignorant. What can I say? Mistakes happen. I think the rest of the piece stands.]
