Who are you: Some background on a political movement

I try to avoid politics on this blog, but want to cover how the media reports about politics, rarely. As this is a recent and realatively large movement.read about the Seattle woman credited with being the first Tea Party protester, she held a rally before the Tea Party started forming up.

Refreshing to read some background on the news instead of some sort of personalized projected reality. I have seen Tea Parties and many media accounts do not accurately characterize the tone, makeup, and attitudes of those attending.

I saw one Tea Party rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin and it as made up of all sorts of people, farmers, small business owners, men and women. And people seemed to be ripping equally on both parties for spending too much money.My best explanation is that those in the Tea Party want to reign in waste, pork barrel spending, and make the public sector more productive.

It is ironic that while businesses to survive have cut staff and maintained or increased productivity over the past 30 years I do not know of any governments that have not grown in size while  reducing their services. Maybe we are past the point of no return when a cap or reduction in public sector spending and an increase in services and productivity is not expected or demanded. 

Chart - 50 years of government spending

The computer and network have allowed most businesses to carve out many mid-level management positions and entire careers, typists and secretaries for example are mostly gone in the private sector. What has the public sector done to control costs, eliminate or re-purpose  redundant staff and increase value?

Unlikely Activist Who Got to the Tea Party Early

“I basically thought to myself: ‘I have two courses. I can give up, go home, crawl into bed and be really depressed and let it happen,’ ” she said this month while driving home from a protest at the State Capitol in Olympia. “Or I can do something different, and I can find a new avenue to have my voice get out.”

This weekend, as Tea Party members observe the anniversary of the first mass protests nationwide, Ms. Carender’s path to activism offers a lens into how the movement has grown, taking many people who were not politically active — it is not uncommon to meet Tea Party advocates who say they have never voted — and turning them into a force that is rattling both parties as they look toward the midterm elections in the fall.