The big lie — repeat it often enough and many begin to accept it as the gospel truth. Take for example this year’s Tea Party movement within the Republican Party. Who are they?
They are portrayed as frustrated folks working at the grassroots level to take America back to its founding principles. The fact is the Tea Party has been another iteration of a sophisticated marketing campaign funded by billionaires such as the Koch brothers and executed by GOP operatives with roots going back to the Nixon administration.
Instead of a Tea Party Revolution, the 2010 Republican takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives is the culmination of 30 years of coercive money politics funded by Big Coal, Big Oil and Wall Street.
Another big lie is that this year’s national election results are a defeat for progressives. If President Obama had promoted a progressive agenda and vigorously fought for it, he would have had the passion and energy of millions of us to back him. Instead, he chose to spend $1 trillion to bail out banks and another $1 trillion to escalate the occupation of Afghanistan. Instead of insisting on “Medicare for Everyone,” he chose a plan that forces 30 million people to buy health care, but puts no real restraints on rates for the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. The vast majority of Democrats that lost seats in the House were centrist (corporatist) Democrats.
Finally, the greatest big lie of all is that whoever has the most money in a race wins. In a true David and Goliath contest, California Governor-elect Jerry Brown spent less than $25 million to beat former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who spent more than $140 million. It seems a relevant message is more important than a deluge of attack ads. There is a saturation point for people and politics.
Eric Teegarden
Brier
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