The United States raised its debt ceiling eighteen times under Reagan, seven times under George W. Bush, and in total it has been raised forty nine times by Republicans and just twenty nine times by Democrats. This time our entire nation was held hostage by the 55 Tea Party Caucus members out of the total 435 House members during July of 2011 and for the first time ever our sovereign debt was downgraded from AAA.
While they are too smooth to actually write "nigger" in any of the propaganda behind this incredibly dangerous game they play with our national well being, racism is one of their primary motivations. The other is a radical, extreme interpretation of the corporate agenda that lead to the creation of this fake grassroots movement in the first place.
The economic downturn that started in the week before the downgrade debacle is a classic double dip recession. People immediately began using #teacession to describe this situation, and The Great Teacession, an effort to both label and chronicle the mess made by radical corporatists and racists was born.
As I write this the official unemployment rate is 9.4% and the less cooked U6 number is nearly 20%. This is revolution territory for a society long accustom to 4% unemployment when things are good and 6% when times are tough. One American in ten eats thanks to the USDA's food stamps program and one in five toddlers seen in emergency rooms are found to be malnourished. We are the wealthiest country in the world, but with a health care system worthy of a banana republic and income inequality to match.
The racists who triggered this immediately began blaming President Obama for the mischief they have done. This message will resonate with their aging, shrinking, 98% Caucasian demographic. The rest of the country senses something wrong and needs only a snappy label to define the source of their suffering. As I write about The Great Teacession I hope this name, a play on The Great Depression of my parents' lives, takes root and spreads.
I chose Tumblr as the venue for The Great Teacession for a variety of reasons, but the foremost is that people half to a third of my age, those who are just awakening politically, have flocked to this place. I hope to both reach them and feature well done reporting from among their ranks.
