Tea Partiers, True Conservatives

Read what Charles Postel has to say about the Tea Party movement's parallels to the John Birch Society and other "true conservatives."

Some tea partiers, especially the Democrats and Independents, might be surprised to be counted among the "radical right."

Racism, of course, figures into Postel's analysis of what fuels the tea partiers -- not a surprise but no less offensive.

The Populist Coxey started a tradition of marching on Washington for economic and social justice. Consider the 1932 Bonus March of jobless veterans. And Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of his dream at the 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom. The focus of that march, often forgotten, was both civil rights and government action to create jobs.

Not all marches on Washington, however, have pursued populist goals of economic justice. In 1925 and 1926, members of the Ku Klux Klan marched down Pennsylvania Avenue. They protested threats to the Protestant religion and the white race posed by communism and immigration. These echoes seem to resonate in the current tea party slogans about birth certificates, immigrants and Muslims.

The tea party leaders disavow any racist appeals from their ranks. But historically, whether it was the JBS or Goldwater, the radical right has often had a soft spot for bigots.

I suppose one could say the radial Left has often had a soft spot for cavorting with the enemy, providing aid and comfort. The radical Left has often had a soft spot for the violent overthrow of the government. The radical Left has often had a soft spot for socialist dictators, tyrants, and terrorists; and bombing the Pentagon.

When the tea partiers say they are true conservatives, there is no reason to doubt them. They stand in the conservative tradition of the radical right — a movement of the haves and the well-protected who, since the time of FDR, have feared that their freedom will be lost if the government extends a hand to the have-nots and the unprotected.

Another smear job.