Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party need to work together

Yes, that's right. What we need is some form of collaboration between the Occupy movement and the Tea Party. That seems to me to be the best way--perhaps the only way--to have a good chance of fixing the status quo of dysfunctional partisan politics.

At first glance, Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party seem like the Hatfields and the McCoys--no way would they ever work together. But they actually have quite a lot in common. Both are vehemently against the status quo. Both argue that the American people are being screwed over by a small minority of powerful people at the top. Both have widespread popular support. And in my view, both of their main points are extremely valid.

For the Occupiers, the enemy is the so called "1 percent," Wall Street in particular. For the Tea Party, the enemy is a different 1 percent: politicians and lobbyists and their ilk. They're both kind of right. Wall Street took lots of foolish risks that led to the 2008 financial crisis--but did so in large part because government gave them huge incentives to do just that. The government gave Wall Street massive bailouts and refuses to pass meaningful financial regulation, in large part because so many people in Congress and in the Obama cabinet are either bankrolled by Wall Street or former Wall Street employees.

Unfortunately, both movements have a tendency to go off the deep end as well. Occupiers tend to view government as the solution to the problem rather than a co-conspirator in the plot. In an era where trust in the government is as low as during Vietnam and Watergate, calls for more government are not going to be well-received by the majority of the people. Besides, given the government played a big part in causing the problem, more government will almost certainly make things worse. The Occupy movement also tends to have a negative view of business in general, also counterproductive during an unemployment crisis.

On the other hand, I am baffled and a bit disturbed by how often GOP candidates have railed against the so-called "47% of Americans who don't pay taxes," and by the continued support for Cain's 9-9-9 plan even though analysis has shown it will raise taxes significantly on lower-income people. I don't really know how much this is attributable to the Tea Party, but given the significant Tea Party influence in recent GOP politics, and the popularity of the 9-9-9 plan among GOP voters, I have to think there is a connection. Calling for more taxes on the poor is an almost surefire way to turn off large swaths of American voters. For two years I made less than $14,000, which put me among those despised 47% who paid no federal income tax. But payroll tax and sales tax still ate up about 7-8% of my income. That's quite a bit.

I really think that the Occupy movement and the Tea Party could find a common cause and become a considerable force for real reform in Washington that limits the power of both government and their Wall Street cronies. Given the polarized partisan nature of politics today, though, it probably won't happen.

A second Gilded Age?

For those unfamiliar with the Gilded Age, it was an era of government dysfunction that lasted from about 1877 to 1900. The gap between rich and poor was enormous. Partisan gridlock in Congress was the norm. Powerful political organizations got out the vote for their candidate and were rewarded with generous favors once the candidate was elected. Large monopolies or near-monopolies wielded enormous power over the government and were said to have bought certain senators. And corruption and crony capitalism were rampant and bipartisan. In fact, as Pittsburgh Tribune-Review columnist Salena Zito argues, it was very much like the political situation today.

In this 1890's political cartoon, a number of bloated figures--representing the "Iron Trust," "Standard Oil Trust," "Copper Trust," "Steel Trust," and various other monopolies--have taken over the Senate. Today the cartoon is just as true; all that needs to change are the names on the figures' bellies. Instead of the Oil Trust and the Steel Trust, we have Giant Banks, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, the Military-Industrial Complex, Public Employee Unions, Giant Hedge Funds, Trial Lawyers, et cetera.

In response to the corrupt excesses of the Gilded Age, a populist movement--the Progressive movement--formed in the 1900's. This movement was the driving force behind several important changes: antitrust legislation, direct election of senators, state-level referendums, and (somewhat unfortunately) the income tax. The people largely blamed local and state-based political machines for the corruption, and thus enacted reforms that strengthened the federal government and made all levels of government more responsive to the people.

Similarly, the Tea Party is a populist response to the partisan bitterness and special-interest power that characterize today's politics. In contrast to the Progressives of the 1900's, the Tea Party blames most political problems on the federal government, and thus their goal is to weaken the federal government and give more power to the states and the people. Even outside of the Tea Party, independents in general are fed up with government (as shown by the record-low approval rating for Congress). In 2006 and 2008, independents angrily threw Republicans out of office. Since 2010, the voters have turned their anger towards the Democrats. One has to wonder how long this political ping-pong will continue before someone finally enacts meaningful reform.