North Carolina Political Economist Offers Analysis of the Commonalities Between The Tea Party and Some of the Occupy Wall Street Protestors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) November 1, 2011 -- Raleigh, N. C. North Carolina political economist, Thomas Vass, offered an analysis today of the commonalities between the message of the Tea Party and some of the protestors at Occupy Wall Street rallies.

“I agree with Erick Erickson, the leader of the blog Red State,” said Vass, “that there is some shared ground between the Tea Party message and a minority of the protestors at Occupy Wall Street events.

Vass noted that Erickson had recently written that it would be a mistake for Tea Party members to dismiss all of the OWS protestors as merely socialists who are beyond the reach of reason. Erickson said that it was time for a Republican candidate to take up the cause of populism against Wall Street.

In his analysis, Vass described the origins of the values of populism in America, citing both Leonidas LaFayette Polk, the North Carolina leader of the Southern Agrarian Alliance, and Thomas Jefferson, who Vass described as the most important authentic Southern Agrarian Populist.

The message of the Tea Party connects, not to left-wing socialists, but to those in the OWS who are angry, unemployed people who just think the deck is stacked against them,” said Vass. “The common philosophical ground between the Tea Party and some of the protestors at OWS is an agreement that the common enemy is the slavery of collectivism, and that the shared goal is a society that promotes Equal Rights For All and Special Privileges For None.

Vass also cited the recent line of editorials by Peggy Noonan, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, who has been writing since the OWS protests began about the increasing hard polarization in the nation. She wrote recently about the “potential coming apart of the country.”

“I think Obama’s rhetoric of class hatred, and continued use of the politics of race, has the potential for starting a civil war in America, dividing those who believe in individual liberty fighting against those who believe in socialist collectivism,” said Vass.

“If it comes to civil war,” said Vass, “it will be the responsibility of Obama for dividing the nation, and the fault of the Democratic Party, who chose to tear the country apart for political gain in order to impose their vision of a socialist America.”

The pathway of understanding between the Tea Party and the angry unemployed Americans who believe the deck is stacked against them is for the Tea Party to admit and acknowledge the current economic and political system is not based on free competitive markets and does not provide fair access to financial success for all citizens.

“The current economic problems in America,” said Vass, “is just like what Noonan wrote about when she cited the work of Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner in “Reckless Endangerment.” They wrote that the political elites in Washington rigged the system for themselves and their friends, became rich and powerful, caused the great catering, and then slipped quietly form the scene.”

“The reckless endangerment to the American financial and political system is promoted by Establishment Republicans, who use crony capitalism as a tool for advancing their financial interests,” said Vass.

“The Tea Party needs to eliminate this part of the Republican Party if American Patriots hope to make the Populist connection with some of those who occupy Wall Street,” Vass wrote.

About Thomas E. Vass: Vass is an investment portfolio manager and business insurance advisor, based in Raleigh, North Carolina. He writes about the relationship between populism and economics, and is the author of Reclaiming The American Democratic Impulse (2007).

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