Written by Don Washington   

Every day I have to hear some member of our “crack” mainstream press corps tell me that the Tea Party and the Occupy Movement are two sides of the same coin. This could be because they are suffering from collective brain damage but we’re not that lucky. Nope, our problem is that of all the institutions that have let us down so hard we have society-wide concussion syndrome the media is among the worst.

These people missed the dot.com bubble, the housing bubble, played cheerleader for the financial bubble, supported tax cuts, rode shotgun on not one but two illegal wars and cover twenty people in tri-corner hats with helicopters and sixty-banks of cameras but think that 5,000 people is enough to shut down one of the busiest ports in the world. To call our media inept, lazy and biased is an understatement of biblical proportions. So the fact that they can’t tell the difference between the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street is not surprising, that the President can’t is just plain sad.

“I understand the frustrations expressed by those protests. In some ways, they’re not that different from the protests that we saw coming from the Tea Party. Both on the left and the right, I think people feel separated from their government. They feel that their institutions aren’t looking out for them.”

No the difference between the Tea Party and the Occupy Movement is the dividing line between hope and fear. The Tea Party is a predominantly Christian, white, working and middle class movement that is as much a reaction to Barack Obama’s election as it was an intense fear of the massive economic displacement we’re all experiencing. It was born on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange out of a monstrous lie told by CNBC commentator Rick Santelli. http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=1039849853. It was nurtured with millions; from billionaires like the Koch brothers and Dick Armey.

The Occupy Movement is not a collection of college kids; it looks like America, every color, creed and orientation. It was born from the frustration of watching the President we elected opt on saving the financial criminals that are still preying on all of us instead of saving our houses and investing in jobs, infrastructure and our futures. It is a principled opponent to the very forces that gave the Tea Party birth. It is not the other side of some political coin, it is a challenge to not only how they wield their power but the fact that they have it. The Occupy Movement is who we will be if we survive this and the Tea Party is what we will become if the forces of fear devour the harbingers of hope.

The Tea Party is a movement of resentment and fear. The fear of demographics, from Pat Buchannan’s new book to the anti-immigrant to the hatred and its fear of Muslims it is a movement afraid of the other. It is a movement that is afraid of changing sexual hierarchies; so it is opposed to both gay rights and women’s rights. The Tea Party exists to defend unequal power and privilege and is powered by its members’ combined terror at the economic stability, political control and social certainty they used to have.

The Occupy Movement exists because the government it believes in has failed and is failing and it wants that government to respond to the will and circumstances of ordinary citizens. The battle cry of the Occupy Movement is equality and accountability… the Tea Party’s rallying cry for the end of government and all things connected to it.

To understand what the Tea Party is you have to embrace the fact that it is a movement driven by Libertarian elites who hate government that they are not in control of and a white nationalist base that is genuinely angry and frightened enough to shake their fists at those above them but choosing to smash in the faces of scapegoats the Libertarian elite tells them they can reach. They carried guns into town hall meetings and they assaulted their opponents in that public space.

To understand the Occupy Movement you have to know that they are modeling what democratic dissent looks like. It is civil disobedience and a willingness to face the consequences for that disobedience. It is a demand for the system to work for its citizens not a cry for the system’s destruction. The Tea Party wants to water the tree of “liberty” with the blood of patriots. The Occupy Movement to provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty.

The Tea Party is a dynamic movement that is both safe haven and recruiting ground for more violent and insurrectionist white nationalist and militia movements. The Occupy Movement is every bit as dynamic but there is no place in it for violent insurrection. It isn’t recruiting to overthrow a government. It is attracting people who want the government to reflect the values of our Constitution and Declaration of Independence. It should be noted that the Tea Party is not a fascist movement but it could become one and a recruiting ground for them.

It should be noted that the Occupy Movement unlike the Tea Party isn’t negotiating for political power at all. It is using movement power to tell the powers that be what they need to do restore order and it is growing because the demands are as clear as they are just. In the end we should be mindful of who both these movements are. The Tea Party is the descendant of the frightened middle class and working class white Christians who were for segregation and against Civil Rights. They are toxic to democracy and allergic to civil society.

The Occupy Movement is the latest demand that the powers that be treat its citizens with dignity. This time is it not a benighted minority. This time it is the abandoned majority; the 99%. We need our elected leaders to get clear on the differences between the Tea Party and the Occupy Movement because the stakes are high and this is what history looks like.