This post by Evan McMorris-Santoro captures exactly the lovely hypocrisies of radical small-government activists:
A group of Michigan tea partiers successfully shut down a protest of the Detroit Auto Show arranged by the National Tax Payer's Union today on the grounds that it was more important to protect American jobs than it was to condemn the government bailout of the auto industry. The AP was on the scene at the protest and found just two tea partiers in attendance. That's despite a national call for a rally at the show by the National Tax Day Tea Party last week.
... As the Messenger reported, [ex-GM employee Joan] Fabiano, like most tea partiers, is opposed to the government bailouts of banks and the so-called "out of control spending" in D.C.. But when it comes to General Motors and Chrysler -- two companies bought out by the government in the depths of the economic downturn -- Fabiano said the protest could hurt the business climate in the one of the worst states for unemployment in the country.
Why, it's almost as if government intervention in the economy is OK when it helps you but not OK when it helps others, as the Michgian Messenger observes. Equally ironic, though the auto bailout provided more direct help to American workers and was better executed by the government, taxpayers stand to lose more of their money in that deal than in the bank rescues, which were also needed to protect the economy but were executed shoddily and without proper restriction. I also wonder what Fabiano and her ilk think of all of the unemployment aid in the stimulus package -- is that "out of control spending" or help for people like them?
This is why we see tea party-type protests so often associated with racist and xenophobic sentiments: It's much easier to complain about government help for 'the Other' than you or your co-workers. Ideally, of course, we won't have the government owning shares in any private businesses, be they banks or automakers. But in a time of economic emergency it would be nice to see less blatant self-interest from these conservatives and more of an understanding that we're all in this together.
In fact, this view echoes the "lemon socialism" of the financial industry -- private profit, social loss -- putting these tea partiers in the same camp as the free marketeers at the banks, who enjoy their own bailouts while complaining about the U.S. deficit and interest rates.
-- Tim Fernholz
