America’s French Revolution

The radical Tea Party in the United States attacks both the Right and the Left.

In his election campaign, Barack Obama promised America “change” — a new political direction. He has kept that promise — but not in the way we imagined it would be kept. The brutal backlash to his presidency has turned Conservatives into radical warriors against him. Obama single-handedly created a populist American opposition — but on the right.

“This is our Woodstock,” cried young political activist Jason Mattera at a Washington meeting last week, “except that, unlike the last gathering, our women are beautiful, we speak in complete sentences and our notion of freedom doesn’t consist of snorting cocaine,” he said, “which is certainly one thing that separates us from Barack Obama.” Mattera is author of the book “Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation.” Speaker after speaker echoed Mattera’s contempt for Obama, Liberals in general and wasteful government. Their calls for a revolution to topple politicians and end social programs made [German Foreign Minister] Guido Westerwelle look positively prissy.

Rep. Steve King of Iowa quoted Sun Tzu, saying that Conservatives had to know their enemy: “I want to define that enemy. They are: Liberals, they are Progressives, they are Che Guevareans, they are Castroites, they’re Socialists. More enemies on this list: Gramsciites — ring anybody’s bell? — Trotskyites, Maoists, Stalinists, Leninists, Marxists. They’re all our enemies.” Former presidential candidate Ron Paul, who wants to do away with the Federal Reserve, said that “it sounds to me like the revolution is alive and well. Government is the enemy of liberty and should be restrained.” Eighty prominent Conservatives gathered at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s family estate. Among them was Edwin Meese III, Ronald Reagen’s attorney general, who used the venue to call for a reduction of the federal government to the size it was in the 18th century.

The Republican Party is veering further to the right in order to counter the growing rise of the so-called Tea Party that sees Obama as a radical Socialist, even a Bolshevik who wants to turn America into a dictatorship by enlarging government. The Tea Party is a true expression of democracy — embracing people, young and old alike — who had never been politically engaged, but who now find themselves polarized by the economic collapse and Obama’s elaborate and expensive health care reform policies. The Tea Party promotes its own candidates and competes with Republicans who are seen as being too centrist.

In many respects, the situation is more reminiscent of the French Revolution than it is of the American. Calling this movement “conservative” possibly misses the point. Conservatives wish to preserve the status quo. This is a movement of right-wing radicals. To them, Barack Obama is a creature of Wall Street and has always been at its service. What they fear is that America is on the road to becoming another Weimar Republic, because the rising deficit will lead to the same massive inflationary result.

At the same time, they see Obama as dangerously unconcerned about national security. They consider universities and the liberal elite as fundamental enemies of the United States and of liberty. The basic myths underpinning their movement claim that treasonous Democrats under Bill Clinton enabled the 9/11 attack on America and that Clinton was soft on terrorism — the same “stab in the back” accusations made in Germany in the 1930s. The biggest challenge Obama now faces doesn’t come from Afghanistan, but from his own country. Up until now, he hasn’t responded in any way except to raise the white flag.