The Tea Party success is overblown. Yes, they have succeeded in taking over most of the GOP. But they are very unpopular with most Americans and seen as outside the mainstream. They have virtually guaranteed the re-election of Obama, and the possible Dems regaining the majority in the House with their idiotic scheme to destroy Medicare. And now they are bringing back the Bush privatization scheme for social security.

While the Tea Party has an apocalyptic pessimism about present American history(some of whom actually want to help bring the apocalypse, and they may get their wish if they push the country into credit default), to be a coherent movement Progressives must united around an optimistic vision of progress, with an emphasis on the narrative of the American Dream and opportunity for all, the public interest of regular folks over powerful special corporate interest.

Great idea.

Wouldn't the Pacific Green Party work as the organization envisioned here?

"the American Dream" could be the preamble made concrete and more specific: "to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity ..." Doesn't overlap much with the Tea Party or present-day conservative mantra, but could work for Democrats.

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While Jack is right about the grass roots conservative activists working together, it is only when they are out of power that it really works. As Bill mentioned, they are only 20%+ of the U.S. population and they turn off the majority. The reason they have power is that they are the majority of the Republican party. However, they cost the party votes, think Delaware, Alaska, and Nevada in 2010. I also expect that they will splinter the Republican vote in 2012. Maybe it is wishful thinking, but I see a scenario where Romney wins the nomination, but a sizable splinter of the Tea Party defects and tries to run a 3rd party candidate.

We all know what Will Rogers said about the Democratic Party. It is a coalition and that is frustrating, but it also is how we get to a majority.

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The idea of a meta-brand must start with a "meta-theme", a kind of mission statement. I believe the best starting point for that conversation is "The definition of freedom" or "real freedom". The Right has done a great job of building a box for the Left called "anti-freedom" and we obediently crawl in and sulk. I think expanding the concept of freedom to fit the real world in an intuitive way can crack the code. Is a man truly free to pursue his dreams in today's world without an education? Are people who have gotten cancer from an unsafe, unregulated product "free"? Are folks who can't eat because of shocks to the food system caused by climate change "free" to be anything other than hungry? Can a minority woman with no real access to capital "free" to start a business? In a complex and constantly changing new world some regulation and broad access to opportunity are the foundations of real freedom, not the end of it. This is a truth that folks can understand in their gut, this is how we sculpt out a vision that enforces people's American identity instead of challenge it.

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Google Agenda 21 and tell us what you think.

Agenda 21 will surely bring out the paranoia mongers and enhance the standing of Glenn Beck. "Black helicopters" will be back in style.

I'm not excited by these principles for two reasons (I think). First, what they aspire to seems more like the past than a good guide to the future. And second, I find them playing more to mainstream Democratic constituencies (some good, some not so good, I'd argue) than articulating a clear governing vision for the future.

The opportunity for inter-generational socioeconomic mobility is part of the American Dream that has helped make this country great. Dems can get the narrative back on that and tie it into the meta-branding efforts for rediscovering the American Dream but I would not seek to cast this as the left's answer to the tea party. If done right, rediscovering the American Dream will be much bigger than what the tea party has done and not be such a let down either, like some feel of the president's first term has been.

It's not about privilege, fantasy or greed. What I read ya'll talking about is much deeper than just being concerned with one's own monetary wealth or even that of your families'. What I read is, we are in this thing together and with our dreams, anything is possible.

I'd vote for that (again) in 2012.

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FYI, I've updated the post so that the video clip is just Van's speech, not the 18 minutes of introductory comments.

So you're saying that the Coffee Party movement isn't the answer?

I know, how about we take the agenda of the movement that I am most active in, and make that the meta brand of the Democratic party?!? After all, as an activist and campaigner for my organization and my movement, that is my job: To get "everyone" to adopt my agenda ((especially Democrats and the Democratic party)...but I'm not supposed to say that officially)).

What about the Apollo Alliance? Remember that? Clean Energy and Good Jobs. Wasn't that supposed to be an over arching organizing meta brand for the Democratic Party?

The Tea Party is just the latest incarnation of the libertarian wing of the Republican coalition. Like any good movement or interest group, they've done a good job increasing their influence within their coalition. I'm not so sure they are as headless and bottom up as they are given credit for. Dick Army's Freedomworks and Glen Beck deserve a lot of the credit. But I'm nitpicking.

The Democratic coalition certainly does need a meta brand that isn't based on the charisma of one person, and that isn't just an eloquent listing of every coalition member's top priority, or a clever re-packaging of one coalition member's agenda.

And it needs to be less vague and more substantial than a presidential campaign slogan such as "Building a Bridge to the 21st Century" or "Winning the Future."

Republicans always have "lower taxes, less government" as a very simple, easy to understand meta brand that unifies the vast majority of the Republican coalition. Four words.

Democrats have nothing to compete with that. The closest competitor is something like the seven bullet points Kari listed above. But that doesn't quite roll off the tongue and galvanize passion the same way the Republicans' four words do.

I challenge anyone to come up with four words that capture and unify what the Democratic coalition stands for, the same way that "lower taxes, less government" captures and unifies the Republican coalition. How about one bullet point? One sentence?

Democrats need a new 10 second elevator pitch. Will Van Jone's Rebuilding the Dream end up being the new unifying meta brand for the Democratic coalition?

Will it be something that endures and lasts decades, well past this election cycle? Or is it just a slogan for this election cycle's organizing effort?

We will see what happens.

I love Van Jones and I hope he succeeds.

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Oh, we're all impressed at the deep understanding and force of argument when you replay the Cold War and call the people you disagree with as "communists." The teabaggers seem to be intent on creating a new "Red Scare". Name calling and fear mongering are pretty passe' and a thin cover for an agenda to take away from govt. what the American people love best. John Birch will rise again...

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Hiding a agenda of Tax and Spend behind a new label you want to call "The American Dream" will fool no one but those already indoctrinated into the Progressive mindset. But please do give it a try... exposing the lies of the Progressive Socialist Democrats has become so easy these days due to the internet and vast information about your movement at every persons fingertips.

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The fact that Van Jones uses the word "collectivist" to describe the Tea Party is proof positive that you progressives wouldn't get the point if we poked you in the eye with it. You lose this debate, because we are not even having the same conversation. The Tea Party movement has grown so exponentially because millions of motivated, disgusted individual Americans are uniting behind the cause of righting the ship of state and getting back to basics, as in, the constitutional strictures on what a federal government shall or shall not have the power to do. All you have are the same tired, shopworn progressive platitudes that have never worked, and are failing in spectacular public fashion as we speak. As for "meta-brand," jeez... (barnyard expletive deleted) Here's Bill Hicks on what we think of you tagging the Tea Party as a "meta-brand." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo

Besides, dear comrades, you are horribly, horribly mistaken if you frame the salvation of our republic as left/right, Dem/GOP. It is US and THEM, and all you true-blue types are US, along with the Tea Party. You are being taken for a ride by the naked emperor, who is MORE OF THE SAME. Witness the revolving door between the White House and Wall Street that has been spinning madly since at least Kennedy. The executive branch is loaded with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley mercenaries who all went to the same schools, as it has been my entire life. By focusing your anger and rage at individuals who merely want to return this country to the timeless principles of individual liberty and limited government and improve YOUR life in the process, you never feel the gentle pressure of their hands on your wallet. They are dividing and conquering, and if you believe it's all because The Other Guy From That Other Party screwed everything up, and that Our Guy will fix everything, then YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM. And please go back and read some writings by the Founders; they predicted with astonishing, laser-like accuracy exactly how our then-young republic would be bastardized and bankrupted. I would say they're rolling over in their graves, but they're merely shaking their heads and tsking at how prescient they were. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

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"...to be a coherent movement..."

"...we can seize back the media narrative - and re-align the public interest with the levers of power..."

"...What really sells the Tea Party is the branding... first order of business is to get a good brand."

"The idea of a meta-brand must start with a "meta-theme", a kind of mission statement."

"Dems can get the narrative back on that and tie it into the meta-branding efforts for rediscovering the American Dream..."

"The Democratic coalition certainly does need a meta brand..."

If you do not understand why such tripe as the aforementioned makes us howl in uncontrollable laughter, then you do not even understand the basic nature of the Tea Party enough to ever mount an effective effort against it. Just keep on sucking that big finger, kids, while we examine which way it POINTS.

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Rather than state your positions and defend them in open debate with facts, which is indefensible failed progressive socialism, you tend to state what you're not or incorrectly what our positions are when we are right here, and all you have to do is listen if you want the truth.......but let's play it your way: here's what the American Tea Party Movement isn't.......we aren't Marxist like you hiding behind the name progressive democracy, and here's why: Marxism: The economic, social, political, pseudo-scientific philosophy, theory, belief, or system based on the works of Karl Marx of Germany. The theory seeks the elimination of the notion of private property in order to gain control of the economic "means of production" by taking it from the bourgeois (the wealthy or propertied class) for the benefit of the proletariat (working class.) His philosophy of history was called "historical materialism" in which his goal was to bring about the end of history, by means of an eventual perfect, classless, utopian society he called Communism.

Marxist notions of collectivization and redistribution of the property of the bourgeois puts it on a collision course with the economic philosophy of Capitalism and free markets, and also with the social-governmental philosophies related to Democracy, in the oldest, pre-Marxism sense of that word.

Marxism seeks to promote class warfare or, today, at least, class strife, and succeeds best where clear, major delineations exist between classes. Since the USA has an enormous natural "middle class" and little or no obvious delineation between classes, Marxism has only made inroads there among the Secularist Liberal Intellectual Media Complex., which represents a very small but vocal minority that has a very high visibility, and a lot of influence. At the moment, the majority still rules in the USA. (Except when representative law is overruled and when new unrepresentative law is established by the unrepresentative courts.)

In the intermediary phase between Marxism – the conquest of Capitalist-exploiter Bourgeoisie and “The State” – and Communism, which is called, alternatively, Socialism or the "dictatorship of the proletariat", the "Party" rules. Marx referred to this Socialism, or Dictatorship of the Proletariat, as an unpleasant but necessary phase until the population and the workers were “perfected” and ready for the next phase, the worker’s paradise of Communism.

As a point of historical fact no nation that ever entered the “temporary phase” of Socialism ever got out of it on their own. There is no next phase. Socialism is, in reality, almost definitively, dictatorship, pure and simple. It is the death of representative government. No Marxist will ever admit it, but permanent dictatorship is the true but hidden ultimate goal of the Marxist movement. A devout Marxist is necessarily a Marxist Ends-Justify-The-Means Liar, who must and who will promote the great Communist Lie to others.

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Perfection is not of this world, but the next, and so a perfect or "pure" Socialism is quite unlikely to exist. Under the definition of Marxism, Socialism, remember, is a mere stepping stone leading to Communist Utopia. Communism – in which history stops and everyone is perpetually happy in a worldly worker’s paradise - is, of course, nothing but a silly pipe dream.

And so is the false notion that Marx presented to the world a system of “Natural Social Evolution” in which Capitalism is a mere stepping-stone or link “species” along the evolutionary way into Socialism and eventually Communism. America became the recognized America she is not by gradual evolution, but by violent revolution. It started July 4 1776, and it was a very big deal at the time. It was even in all the newspapers. Most Marxists missed it completely, or pretend it didn’t happen.

The false Utopian claim that Communism will eventually “feed all the people” and eliminate hunger from the world is the seemingly moral bait that draws in the young, the idealistic, the naive and the inexperienced. Communism does not exist, and Socialism is among the most closed, menacing, inhospitable, uncharitable and impoverishing government systems in existence.

Marxism, is so antagonistic to the American Constitution as to render them mutually exclusive ideas and ideals. One may serve Marxism or the American Constitution, but not both. Constitutional America and Marxism cannot be merged and cannot coexist. Only one may survive; the other must die. It is not possible for any Marxist to swear any oath to uphold the American Constitution without giving a false oath. Not an oath of office; not an oath of American military service; not an oath of naturalized citizenship; not any oath to support, protect or defend the US Constitution. A Marxist may not honestly profess the pledge of allegiance to our flag. But then, Marxists are not honest.

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The American Tea Party Movement on the other hand, represents the will of the American People, the best of our American heritage, & the finest liberating philosophy the world has ever known....... and that confuses you folks here on BlueOregon. We stole your claim to legitmately represent the will of the American people. You've all become nothing more than lackeys for special interests and the unions with a beggar thy neighbor philosophy, unbecoming class warfare, ie marxism, although you call it "progressive democracy".....and it's failing the world over, and you have no new ideas. We on the other hand, own all new ideas and innovation because we know innovation, growth, jobs, and prosperity comes from the private sector, us. Sadly, you all sound ridiculously silly to all of us. We have a job problem, caused by a debt problem, caused by a unsustainable government spending problem, and your idea is to TAX a private sector that is suffering and should be the only concern of our leaders. Instead all your solutions are to increase spending, increase taxes, increase the debt, and exaserbate the problem, rather than address the root cause, irresponsible wasteful government spending, a mistaken belief in central planning, and a now structural lack of private sector jobs, growth, and a future for our children.

We are the future. We are America. We believe in Constitutionally Limited, fiscally responsible Government, and economic Liberty.......all the ideas I hear expounded here on BlueOregon are of a failed european progressive socialist variety.

Our message is consistent and true, your's rings hollow and unsure, and that is why our movement is growing in spite of a constant barrage of hypocrisy & establishment attacks......it actually rallies people to our cause. Anything you do makes us stronger. Your best bet is to attempt to marginalize our Movement.......but then that would mean a slow surrender as you abandon the field to us. We'll win either way. The only way to confront the growing Tea Party Movement is to legitimately beat us on the field of ideas.....and we've already won that one too. :)

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So you Tea Party trolls, put aside the ideological blather and show us some real cases -- Democratic Socialism inevitably leading to dictatorship? Where? Modern day Germany? Sweden? Denmark? Countries that not only have much more vibrant and effective democratic institutions than we do, but have much lower poverty rates, a much more stable middle class, and where upward economic mobility (that old American Dream again) is now more prevalent than here in the US? And those small government, low tax, market paradises? Pakistan? Somalia? Or how about that mythical American past the Tea Party seems to be invoking--but its so hard to pin down. It seems to be the 1950s --but then you had the strongest unions in American history, and 90% marginal tax rates on the wealthiest, so that can't be it. OR maybe pre-New Deal America? When the average worker made poverty wages, child labor was the way that most families made ends meet, and the middle class as we know it (since the New Deal) didn't exist? The truth is that the "tax and spend" "big government" policies that you decry gave us the best economy and the most vibrant democracy we ever had in the country, and are still the basis of the most broadly prosperous democratic societies today.

Now that the teabaggers and their troll buddies are more unmasked in their true intent, how's that plan for getting rid of medicare, social security, Medicaid, environmental protection, and more tax breaks for Donald Trump working out for you? It seems like the American people even want to keep the Affordable Health Care Act long enough to see how it's going to work, 62% that is. (today's poll) Fear mongering has its limitations. Maybe folks aren't that anxious to have that apocalypse that your Glenn Beck is craving so badly.

Oh, Elizabeth, I’m going to say “trolls” is a little harsh considering I’m a Former U.S. Congressional Candidate and the Chairman of the Oregon Tea Party, Geoff Ludt is the Founder of OTP, Steve Buckstien is the Founder of the Cascade Policy Institute, and Jack Roberts is a State Legislator.....and this blog post was on what the self-professed Communist Van Jones thinks about matching the Tea Party’s organization, legitimacy, and therefore our principles . Since most of us, myself included possess at a minum a degree in economics or finance, or a Masters or higher, I think we can say we are more than competent to comment on the socio-political and economic condition of our nation, and the nature of the American Tea Party Movement. No apologies for messing up your one party circle jerk here on BlueOregon. So let analyze your comments and attempt to shed some much needed light on your ignorance, shall we?

(and Jack you're an idiot. I don't listen to Glenn Beck, and Rasmussen, the most accurate polling company in the last twenty years puts support for unconstitutional socialized Obamacare in the 30's, with between 51-60% of America against it) Now back to Elizabeth.........

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• So you Tea Party trolls, put aside the ideological blather [SO IDEOLOGY IS BLATHER? ISN’T THAT WHAT YOU BASE YOUR WORLD VIEW ON, AND ISN’T THAT AT THE CORE OF YOUR MISSUNDERSTANDING OF THE TEA PARTY, WOULD YOU LIKE TO DEBATE IDEOLOGY? YOU’D ACTUALLY HAVE TO START BY DEFINING YOURS, & SO FAR YOU SEEM TO BE SUPPORTING SOCIALISM, WHICH IS A FAILURE] and show us some real cases -- Democratic Socialism inevitably leading to dictatorship? Where? Modern day Germany? Sweden? Denmark?[I’M GLAD YOU PICKED THOSE COUNTRIES, AS EVERY ONE OF THEM IS A FAILED SOCIALIST EXPERIMENT. YOU SHOW YOUR IGNORANCE. WITHOUT THE U.S. SACRIFICING 400,000 MEN AND MILLIONS FIGHTING ALL OF THEM WOULD BE UNDER TOTALITARIAN NAZI RULE(National Socialist workers Party, by the way), AND WOULD NO LONGER EXIST, LEST YOU FORGET. NONE OF THEM COULD OF HAD A MODICUM OF SUCCESS SINCE, WITHOUT THE MASSIVE OFF-SET OF THE U.S. MILITARY PROVIDING THE BULKWARD AGAINST THE TOTALITARIAN SOCIALIST AND NOW DEFEATED SOVIET UNION, ANOTHER SHINING EXAMPLE OF SOCIALISM’S SUCCESS. YOU CAN THANK THE CAPITALISTIC EXCESSES OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FOR THAT, AS WE PROVIDED THE MILTARY, ALLOWING THEM TO SQUANDER ON OTHERWISE FAILED SOCIALISM. GERMANY TODAY IS ONE OF THE MOST CAPITALISTIC OUT OF ALL OF EUROPE AND HAS THE MOST VIBRANT PRIVATE SECTOR. THE MOST SOCIALIST, LIKE SPAIN & GREECE ARE THE BIGGEST FAILURES] Countries that not only have much more vibrant and effective democratic institutions than we do[WE ARE NOT A DEMOCRACY, WE ARE A REPESENTATIVE REPUBLIC], but have much lower poverty rates, a much more stable middle class[LOL, WE HAVE THE LARGEST, MOST UPWARDLY MOBILE MIDDLE CLASS AND THE HIGHEST STANDARD OF LIVING IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD. SOCIALISM IS THE ONLY THING BRINGING IT DOWN], and where upward economic mobility (that old American Dream again) is now more prevalent than here in the US? [LIE, TRY TO BACK IT UP WITH FACT] And those small government, low tax, market paradises? Pakistan? Somalia? [HUH, YOU SOUND LIKE AN IDIOT, AS SOMOLIA IS LAWLESS, AND PAKISTAN? LOL, YEAH, US TEA PARTY FOLKS HOLD PAKISTAN UP AS A LIMITED GOVERNMENT FREE MARKET PARADISE, THAT’S THE FUNNIEST STRAWMAN I’VE EVER HEARD.......DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT MEANS, DO YOU UNDERSTAND RULE OF LAW, YA DUMB SOCIALIST, LOL]

Or how about that mythical American past the Tea Party seems to be invoking[PAST? I’M RIGHT HERE.....WE ARE ABOUT THE FUTURE, WE ARE ABOUT THE PRIVATE SECTOR WHERE PROGRESS AND INNOVATION COMES FROM, WE ARE ABOUT THE IDEALS AND PRINCIPLES LAID OUT BY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS THAT SET IN MOTION THE MOST FORWARD THINKING, GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THOUGHT, SCIENCE, PRODUCTIVITY, AND ADVANCEMENT UNMATCHED IN HUMAN HISTORY.....PULLING BILLIONS OUT OF UNTOLD POVERTY. IT’S AN IDEOLOGY THAT ALWAYS LOOKS AHEAD, BUT I KNOW THAT KIND OF HISTORICALLY SUCCESSFUL IDEOLOGY IS BLATHER TO YOU, LOL]--but its so hard to pin down. It seems to be the 1950s[WHERE’D YOU COME UP WITH THAT? I WAS BORN IN 1968 AND HAVE NO INTENTION GOING BACK TO THE 1950’s] --but then you had the strongest unions in American history, and 90% marginal tax rates on the wealthiest,[SOUNDS LIKE YOUR PARADISE NOT MINE] so that can't be it. OR maybe pre-New Deal America? [PRE-NEW DEAL WAS THE ROARING 2O’s WHERE WE HAD AN EXPLOSION OF PRODUCTS AND INNVENTION NEARLY UNMATCHED, PROVIDING RELIEVE FROM THE DRUDGERY OF DAILY LIFE WITH NEARLY EVERY MODERN APPLIANCE AND CONVIENCE USED TODAY. IT WAS THE UNFETTERED RESULT OF OUR FREE MARKET PRIVATE SECTOR BOUNCE BACK FROM A SHORT BUT SEVERE DEPRESSION, UNLIKE THE GREAT DEPRESSION WHICH WAS EXACERBATED BY THE SOCIALIST FOOLISHNESS OF THE NEW DEAL. YOU SOUND HISTORICALLY IGNORANT...PLUS YOU JUST TRIED TO KNOCK DOWN AN IMAGINARY STRAWMAN THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE TEA PARTY, BUT I THOUGHT I’D GIVE YOU A HISTORY LESSON]When the average worker made poverty wages,[COMPARED TO WHAT? POVERTY OR LIFE’S STRUGGLES WAS NOT CAUSED BY CAPITALISM, CAPITALISM INHERITED IT, AND THEN IMPROVED THE STANDARD OF LIVING, INFANT MORTALITY, AND LIFE EXPECTANCY OF THE ENTIRE NATION, & THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE MOVED TO THE CITIES? THAT’S WHERE BETTER OPPORTUNITIES WERE. MOST PEOPLE WORKED THEIR CHILDREN THEMSELVES PRIOR TO THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. YOU SHOW AN ASTOUNDING IGNORANCE OF HISTORY] child labor was the way that most families made ends meet, and the middle class as we know it (since the New Deal) didn't exist?[WRONG, MUCH OF AMERICA WAS AGRARIAN, THE MIDDLE CLASS YOU ARE COMPARING IT TO DIDN’T EXIST ANYWHERE. YOUR COMPARISON IS TO AN IMAGINARY STANDARD THAT DIDN’T EXIST THEN. THE CONCEPT OF ‘MIDDLE CLASS’ CAN NOT BE COMPARED TO TODAY’S STANDARDS]

The truth is that the "tax and spend" "big government" policies that you decry gave us the best economy and the most vibrant democracy we ever had in the country, [YES, AS THEY BORROWED FOR DECADES AT THE EXPENSE OF OUR CHILDREN AND OUR FUTURE PROSPERITY.THE BILL FOR LIVING BEYOND OUR MEANS IS NOW DUE, AND YOUR IGNORANT SELF CAN’T IMAGINE THE ECONOMIC SCALES THAT SPAN A LIFETIME CAN BE AT AN END. YOU REMIND ME OF THE PEOPLE IN THE STREETS OF TODAY’S GREECE. YOU SADLY THINK BECAUSE WE LIVED BEYOND OUR MEANS FOR DECADES, WE CAN CONTINUE TO DO SO. DO YOU READ THE NEWS? I MEAN BESIDES WHAT YOUR IDIOT CIRCLE WRITES, BECAUSE WE HAVE A UNSUSTAINABLE GOVERNMENT SPENDING PROBLEM, A MASSIVE DEBT PROBLEM, AND IT’S ALL CAUSED BY MAKING POLITICAL PROMISES THAT ARE NOT SUSTAINABLE, AND GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IN THE FREE MARKETS. WHEN UNSUSTAINABLE SPENDING & CRIPPLING DEBT, MASSIVE STRUCTURAL UNEMPLOYMENT, INFLATION, CNETRAL PLANNING, RECORD BANKRUPCIES, FORECLOSURES, AND FOOD STAMPS COMBINED WITH AMERICANS SEEING THIER HOME VALUES PLUMMET MORE THAN THE GREAT DEPRESSION, WIPING OUT TRILLIONS IN AMERICAN WEALTH, YOUR SOLUTION IS MORE OF THE POISON AND TO PILE ON TAXES, INCREASE UNSUSTAINABLE SPENDING, AND EXPAND THE DEBT, DEVALUING ALL WE HAVE LEFT PUNISHING FRUGALITY, DESTROYING THE VALUE OF OUR PAYCHECKS, SAVINGS, AND OUR OPPORTUNITY] ....YOU SOUND LIKE A FOOL. LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU WANT TO TALK IDEOLOGY] and are still the basis of the most broadly prosperous democratic societies today.[WRONG, WE ARE A REPUBLIC] I like to do the caps thing, mostly to give you folks a chance to disparagingly comment on it, as I know it irritates you, and you usually need something innocous to reference and criticize, as you are afraid of actual honest discourse, but it serves another purpose...........it highlights the important relevent part of an otherwise worthless dialog, allowing a few observers to learn something.

LIMIT THE GOVERMENT, TO MAXIMIZE THE FREEDOM.

Communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism - by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.

LOTS OF LOVE, FROM THE AMERICAN TEA PARTY MOVEMENT!

Some of the lengthiest, most contempt-laden rants I've seen here in a long time. Doesn't take much to get the tea-bagger-bot, Ayn Rand worshipers all stirred up. I can tell they really miss the Cold War and having that old demon Communism to whip on when you don't have a real program of governance that is salable, or enactable, then that's all you have. Rock on, Birchers, if that's what floats your boat.

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Are you against freedom, individual rights, and liberty, Bill? LoL

LIMIT THE GOVERMENT, TO MAXIMIZE THE FREEDOM.

Communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism - by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.

LOTS OF LOVE, FROM THE AMERICAN TEA PARTY MOVEMENT!

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza has Rachel Weiner write in The Fix, today:

Can liberals start their own tea party?

Discusses some interesting viewpoints about past efforts.

Interestingly, when Mr. K finally wears down, his real intentions--or those of the Koch brothers that he is mimicking--become clear. "Socialism by vote - . . . suicide." Likewise, Nixon and Kissinger claimed that the Chilean people could not be permitted to "irresponsibly" vote in socialist president Allende. And so they engineered the bloody coup that killed Allende and installed the murderous dictator General Pinochet, who in turn fostered state capitalism in Chile, which in Europe is known as fascism.

And so now we can discern Mr. W's contempt for a democratic election if he happens to disagree with the outcome.

Unregulated capitalism will destroy itself quickly. That's why government is needed to moderate the capitalist form of economics. FDR saved capitalism in America.

But I'm not so sure the biosphere can stand "An American Dream", government-moderated, successful capitalist economy, when the model is projected out to the entire population of the planet.

So, I think we need Gandhian economics. Keep it local; keep it austere (less consumptive). "Cultivate poverty like a garden herb".

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Calling for re-distribution of wealth I$ NOT in the constitution and I$ NOT an American ideal.

@Randy Probasco: Warren Buffet favors progressive taxation. Is he not American, in your opinion?

Hey,

The Koch Bros. just sent me an update......you progressives/Marxists are losing every single political engagement.

After having a super majority in Congress & the White House, no budget has been passed in nearly 800 days, the wars continue, the patriot act has been re-signed, Gitmo is still open, unconstitutional Socialized Medicine is a complete failure that not one Democrat ran on in 2010, immigration reform wasn't touched, Obama's entire Cabinet besides the tax cheat Geithner & the loser Jarrett have abandoned ship, "recovery summer" was even more stupid than "mission accomplished", debunked Keyesian economic stimulus stimulated nothing but the unions, the unions, pitted against all the tax payers are losing everywhere, we are now structurally stuck at an extremely high unemployment rate, unsustainable entitlement programs are bankrupting the government causing a break down, government subsidized choo choo trains, electric cars, and windmills are a complete joke, green shoots never were, the public education system is abyssmal, inflation is crushing the middle class with high gas and food prices, housing, the root cause of the financial crisis is still declining & a chaotic mess, and all your progressive solutions are laughable, as all they offer is more of the same....more unsustainable spending, which causes more crippling debt, which causes more FED money printing, which causes more inflation, which punishes the lowest on the economic ladder the most. We have record numbers of bankrupties, forelosures, food stamps, debt, instablity, uncertainty, job loss, pain and suffering, and it's all the fault of progressive policies that all of history have shown to be utter failures...........and the funny part is, you folks continue like a pack of lemmings to repeat the same failed progressive/marxist mantra as the rest of America looks at you like you’re speaking Greek. The reality.........no one is buying any of it, and it makes you look stupid, as you ignore the fact that the entire nation abandoned the Democrat Party last November, 2010.

You lost everything. The independents left, the middle class left you, middle America sees you as liberal elitists that have no clue about economic realities, you lost Congress in a historic election, and you are doing nothing but securing yourselves a permanent minority status as you've already lost the hearts and minds of the majority of America, and are set to lose the White House and the Senate. You offer no real world solutions. The American Tea Party Movement, in the finest of Independent American traditions, takes on all the problems sincerely, and that is something you can not emulate, because what you believe in regardless of the name you give it, is Marxism, and Marxism is a lie, and a failure every time it’s tried. It’s a time for Choosing................Marxism or Capitalism, the STATE or the individual, oppression or liberty. Economic slavery or freedom. The only way you’re going to win this fight is by abandoning your failed progressive ideas, and joining the American Tea Party Movement..........anything else just makes us stronger. Limited Government, fiscal repsonsiblity, & free market economic Liberty >>CAPITALISM 

While you fight strawmen and look silly, We are winning every debate.

Let me know if you weant to talk about progressive left's hypocrisy...........we can gladly get into April 15th at Pioneer Square. www.OregonTeaParty.org

Portland's LEFT at it's best:

Racist, homophobic, astroturf, violent, anti-american, with no respect for the 1st Amendment rights of others while being massive hypocritical extremists

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7l-pEBYeLI