_What you need to know about the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street — two powerful, yet opposing movements that struck the nation and continue to move with force. _
Occupy Wall Street
Back in the spring of 2009 a political activist group named the Tea Party started to hold rallies. Since then, the Tea Party has gained national attention and shifted some political races.
Just last week the Occupy movement celebrated its two-month anniversary with a reported 30,000 people gathered in protest in New York City. The impact politically of the Occupy activism is still unknown.
“In many respects Occupy Wall Street is indeed a mirror image of the Tea Party,” wrote David Morris of Colorado Springs Independent. “To the Tea Party, government is the enemy. To OWS, the huge corporation is the enemy.”
The Boston Herald had an article a week ago also suggesting the movements have a lot in common. The article highlights the point both movements are fed up with government and could have impacts on the political process in the future.
“Both enliven the political process … increasing the participation,” said Arnold Fleischmann, the political science department head at Eastern Michigan University. “A lot people look at participation as voting, but participation is not just voting.”
After getting past these types of similarities, the Occupy and Tea Party movements are quite different. Take a look at each movement’s voting stance. Occupy protesters want to decrease the money spent on political campaigns and increase voter turnout.
The Tea Party
The Tea Party takes the opposite position in voting, attempting to restrict people from voting.
“Since Republicans won control of many statehouses last November, more than a dozen states have passed laws requiring voters to show photo identification at polls, cutting back early voting periods or imposing new restrictions on voter registration
drives,” the New York Times reported recently.
Occupy wants not to just to get rid of bailouts but also to cut military spending. The Tea Party is for cutting government spending, as long as it is not military spending.
“Occupy is operating in a different venue. Shifting public policy, trying to highlight certain issues not necessarily elections, and its primary focus being inequality,” Fleischmann said. “Tea party is very different … It flexes its muscle against republications that can’t be conservative enough.”
The Tea Party is of a conservative mindset, favoring Republican ideals. The Occupy movement is liberal-based, favoring more democratic ideals. Occupy protestors are more independent-based, whereas Tea Party protesters are in a more conservative mindset then moderate Republicans.
The Tea Party movement involves people who are wealthier than those at Occupy movement. People at the Occupy movement are found to have a higher level of education.
The Tea Party people are an older crowd then Occupy people. That is due to a higher retirement age, leading to fewer Tea Party people having jobs then Occupy protestors.
The largest single protest in U.S. for Occupy movement is at 100,000 people, contrasted with largest Tea Party protest at 30,000 people. Occupy protests have had more than 1,500 arrests in two months’ time, while Tea Party protests have had less than 50 arrests during almost a 3-year period.
The Occupy movement has 23 percent of public opinion against the movement; the Tea Party movement has 40 percent of the public against it.
When looking at the protesters during each movement another difference is the amount of American spirit.
At Tea Party rally you will see a lot of positive symbols for the U.S. American flags waving, people clad in the colors of U.S., the singing of the national anthem and signs supporting American troops. Conversely, the Occupy movement focuses on negative symbols of the U.S. Signs opposed to capitalism, lack of American flags and anti-American paraphernalia are present.
“Too early to tell which one’s impact will be on the next year’s election,” Fleischmann said. “Long way from knowing the political impacts of both [movements].”
Both movements have begun to reshape how people think about politics and the policies of the government. They are providing outlets for political activism. Will this lead to EMU students getting engaged in political activism?
