Ever considered joining the Tea Party?

It was bound to happen. A liberal/radical friend told me recently that he is seriously considering joining the Tea Party.

“That’s where the energy is,” he said. True, but I think he was mostly saying that the Democratic Party is where the energy isn’t. But I took him at his word. How about joining the Tea Party?

We talked...

About populism, third parties and exploring common ground with the Tea Party.

I even brought up my occasional musings about Cascadia, a secessionist nation bounded by the Pacific and the Cascades and running from the Canadian border to Point Reyes in Northern California. (I quickly add that the boundaries are negotiable, and Ernest Callenbach’s “Ecotopia” may or may not provide a guidance.)

I confess I have given thought to finding common ground with the Tea Party. Where does the party overlap with my own brand of populism?

Could some Tea Party-ers be peeled off into a broader populist movement? Is the Tea Party interested in this country actually being at peace? Have party members considered that our economy may be welded to war? What would America at perpetual peace with the world actually look like?

Imagine!

Are folks in the Tea Party interested in cutting the bloated military budget? Talk about deficit reduction!

Would any of them be interested in putting a lid on obscene CEO salaries via the "T" word? Do they think it is good for political and economic power to be in the hands of the certifiably greedy?

Do they really want to eliminate the estate tax?

Are all taxes bad? (There's a "wedge" question!)

Are any in the Tea Party beginning to suspect that they are being used by the rich to further the cause of gross inequity? Have they considered that issues such as abortion might resolve themselves in a society committed to employment opportunity, excellent education and health care?

Where are they on corporations exporting jobs abroad? Where are they with corporations that evade taxes and the laws that allow them to do so?

How comfortable are they with the corporate control of the Republican Party and its agenda? Likewise the Democratic Party? Could the same "wizard" be behind the curtain of both parties?

Do they feel the need for profound changes in our constitution in order to establish a truly democratic nation?

Do they really agree with the faith-based agenda of social conservatives?

Where are they on Gay rights? On human rights?

Do they believe in supporting human rights abroad? Do the believe we should end our dependence on Middle Eastern oil? Do they realize that the dependence compromises our support for human rights?

Where is the Tea Party on spending billions to support the militaries of Saudi Arabia and Israel — to say nothing of Iraq and Afghanistan? How about trade with thug-run China and Russia?

You get the picture.

Populists and Tea Party members need to talk.

Not yell, but talk — and listen.

If that means joining the Tea Party, however briefly, it might well be worth the time.

One thing is for sure: we are getting nowhere fast in the Democratic Party. And my suspicion is that a lot of folks in the Tea Party are thinking the same way about the Republican Party.

The more we realize the present two-party political system is rigged to favor the rich and powerful few, the more energetic, strategic disaffection will increase.

Reciting Iraq War toll; writing Sen. Smith

Ruth Atkins, who is organizing the peace vigils in Hillsdale, has given me the "Iraq Coalition Casualties" web site that lists the names of Americans killed in Iraq.

The site provides sobering statistics about the killed and wounded, from all quarters in this war.

A link on the site lists fatalities by state.

So far 47 Oregonians have died. Count to 47 slowly, take a breath, in and out for each number...then read each name, with deliberation, breathe in and out for a life lost.

Those at future Hillsdale vigils plan to do it again and again.

Tragically, the list will grow until our protestations here and around the country succeed.

A key legislator to touch with the message is Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith, who is up for re-election next year. He's no Oregon maverick of the Wayne Morse tradition, but he is making a mark.

We must not let Smith, a Republican, shy away from the position he took on the Senate floor last month when he called the Bush Administration's Iraq policies "absurd" and perhaps "criminal." He needs to expand his new awareness to include a new energy policy, one that allows us to cut our oil umbilical to the Middle East...and to let its people go.

Protest reflections: The war and its lubricant

The candle-light protest/vigil held at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Capitol Highway Thursday evening certainly won't sway the president, but it is part of a national effort that is changing the minds and building the resolve of others.

Particularly hearting was the participation of high school students.

When Ruth Atkins, the protest organizer, invited me to read aloud the name of one of our fallen Oregon soldiers, David Weisenburg of Portland, a sudden grief and a renewed resolve welled up in my voice.

The broad public is finally getting it about this war and this president. The large majority seems set on holding the new Congress, peace's new power player, to the November mandate for change.

What the public still doesn't get—at its peril—is the real, one-word cause of the war: oil.

We need to make the oil connection crystal clear—particularly to this young generation. Today's youth will be living with the consequences the oil cartel's connection to the war and to myriad other Bush disasters. Some of those consequences, like global warming, are major and obvious threats to them (and us) now, but will deepen over their lifetimes.

The war is already taking its toll on their generation.

All the Bush/Cheney justifications for the war—WMDs, Saddam, terrorist links, growing democracy—were bogus. This invasion made no sense—and the continued war makes no sense either—unless you follow the oil pipelines. They lead directly to Big Oil and Bush/Cheney-Halliburton. And now we see the Iraq government fall into line, as reported in the British press.

Significantly the American mainstream press has uttered hardly a word about oil's role in the Iraqi conflict. It is as though the three letters, O-I-L, are a political taboo. Look in vain for the word "oil" in corporate media's voluminous analyses of Bush's speech Wednesday. Indeed, look in vain for any Democratic legislator uttering the word "oil."

It's not enough for the new Democratic congressional majorities to oppose the Bush/Cheney escalation. It's time for Democrats to expose the Big Oil/Bush/Cheney/Republican cabal that has dictated this administration's policies on everything from corporate tax loopholes and tax cuts for the wealthy, to uncollected off-shore oil lease revenues to global warming denial and military intervention.

As we protest in the weeks ahead in Hillsdale and thousands of other American communities, we must understand fully what we are protesting.