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We should set our sights beyond just primary challenges and reshaping the Democratic Party; this is an opportunity to build a movement that can challenge capital and corporate power.

The Women's March in Washington, DC on Jan. 21, 2017. (Photo by Liz Lemon/ flickr CC 2.0)

This post originally appeared at In These Times.

On Feb. 19, 2009, just 30 days after President Obama was sworn in, Rick Santellis rant on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange launched the tea party. The conservative establishment worked together with the grass roots to fan the flames of opposition. The resulting tidal wave swept Republicans to power at the national and state level in 2010 and set the stage for Trumps victory in 2016.

This isnt just about electoral politics, its about shifting political and economic power across the board.

Since at least 2012, Ive worked in and with organizations that saw the tea party as a model for the left. While we abhorred their politics, we admired their tactics and coveted their success. The tea party pioneered a strategy that enabled grass-roots activists and candidates to work inside and outside of the Republican Party to advance a principled conservative agenda. And they won big time.

In the wake of Trumps election, were seeing a tsunami of progressive activism. The confrontations with lawmakers around the country during the February congressional recess were nearly mirror images of the town halls the tea party crashed as Congress first debated Obamacare. Unsurprisingly, commentators and pundits have quickly drawn parallels between what happened in 2009 and whats happening today.

But the commentators are wrong and if the left continues to take the tea party as our model, we might lose out on our biggest opportunity to make large-scale progressive political change in decades. We are the clear majority

As Trump and the Republicans have begun rather clumsily to manipulate the levers of the federal government, we are under attack from all sides. Republicans have moved with breathtaking speed to roll back progress on immigration and civil rights, on health care and the environment and on regulating Wall Street and the corporate elite. More frightening still, we have seen the Trump administration begin toying with authoritarian tactics and threatening to undo the post-World War II global order. Practically overnight, it feels like everything has changed.

We have seen the Trump administration begin toying with authoritarian tactics and threatening to undo the post-World War II global order.

Given this onslaught, its easy to forget that roughly 3 in 4 Americans didnt vote for Donald Trump in November. If our electoral system wasnt rigged against democracy, Trump wouldnt even be president. But now that hes assumed office, Trump is the least popular president in modern American history. So while Trump and the Republicans control the federal government, we must remind ourselves that the vast majority of the American people are on our side.

In fact, that is the real story of the last six weeks. While the media has been glued to Trumps every tweet, millions of Americans have taken to the streets to protest his agenda. More than 3.7 million people one out of every 100 Americans flooded into the streets to participate in the Womens March. Within 48 hours of Trumps initial Muslim ban, thousands gathered at airports around the country demanding that immigrants and refugees be released from detainment. During the February recess, Peoples Action, MoveOn and the Working Families Party organized more than 600 town hall events. While its difficult to predict how long this level of activity can be sustained, we have already seen resistance to the new administration that is unprecedented in recent history.

This is precisely where comparisons to the tea party start to break down. According to commentators and many in the media, what were seeing now is merely history repeating itself. Republicans have control of the federal government, just as Democrats did in 2009, and now its liberals and the left in the streets instead of old white people dressed in colonial garb.

But the tea party only ever represented a tiny faction of Americans. We, on the other hand, are the clear majority.

Political scientists Theda Skocpal and Vanessa Williamson estimate in their book The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism that at its height only about 200,000 Americans were active in the tea party at the local level. Its too early to say exactly how many Americans are engaged in the current protest movement, but already there are signs that were organizing at a scale that dwarfs the tea party.

For example, the tea party first debuted on the national stage when they held roughly 750 Tax Day events around the country. But only 250,000 Americans attended those events. In other words, the tea partys Tax Day protests were 15 times smaller than the Womens March. Of course, participation at a single event does not necessarily foretell prolonged participation in a social movement. But the fact that a small group of former Hill staffers and progressive organizers could help launch more than 4,500 local groups in less than four weeks suggests a massive groundswell of people interested in sustained political participation.

The scale of active engagement is mirrored by public support. Polling conducted by The Washington Post in April 2010 found that roughly 27 percent of Americans supported the tea party. By contrast, a full 60 percent supported the Womens March.

At the policy level, the difference is even starker. When the tea party held their Tax Day protests, polling showed that 65 percent of Americans actually backed Obamas overall economic plans and 62 percent approved of how he was handling taxes. Their colorful protests may have generated a media frenzy, but the policies they were intended to bolster did not have popular support.

Those who have participated in recent marches, rallies and actions are protesting a wide array of Republican policies. But if we take just two core policies pushed by Trump and the GOP, we can see that the resistance to those policies and support for progressive alternatives is broad.

If we take just two core policies pushed by Trump and the GOP, we can see that the resistance to those policies and support for progressive alternatives is broad.

Last week, Republicans introduced their bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, despite the fact that the law is supported by a majority of Americans. The Republican repeal bill also proposes deep cuts to Medicaid, something that has historically been opposed by 84 percent of Americans. And theres evidence to suggest that public support for a Medicare-for-all system is even greater than support for Obamacare.

Tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy are also a centerpiece of the Republican agenda. Yet, a series of post-election polls compiled by Americans for Tax Fairness show that Americans oppose cutting taxes for big corporations and the rich by roughly a 2-to-1 margin. Gallup polls consistently show that similar margins believe corporations and the wealthy already pay too little in taxes.

Despite widespread support on issues like health care and taxation, the anti-Trump resistanceis clearly an ideologically heterogeneous bunch, encompassing leftists, centrist Democrats, independents and perhaps even some moderate Republicans.

That means our task is to organize. Republicans have used voter suppression, redistricting and other undemocratic aspects of government such as the Electoral College and the Senate to take power, despite the fact that many of their policies are extremely unpopular with large segments of the public. They have also used the media, think tanks and the academy to manufacture public consent to policies that hurt many of the same people who support them.

Our goal must be to bring together different constituencies within the resistance movement, those motivated by diverse struggles, to support a bold platform for social change that will make life better for the working class as a whole. Reshapingthe parties

The tea party was a minority faction within the Republican Party funded by the wealthy elite. Our aim shouldnt be the creation of a faction within the Democratic Party. It should be to forge a new American majority.

Neoliberalism has been in crisis for at least a decade, and the crisis of legitimacy that elites including politicians from both parties face today is far more acute than it was in 2009. As a result, both parties face deep internal rifts. We should not simply aim to pull the Democratic Party to the left. We should work to redraw the lines of the entire political map so that we find ourselves at the center.

We should not simply aim to pull the Democratic Party to the left. We should work to redraw the lines of the entire political map so that we find ourselves at the center.

This doesnt mean abandoning our principled politics or the hardscrabble tactics pioneered by the tea party. We can and should mount primary challenges to corporate Democrats and collaborators, including members of the current Democratic leadership. Efforts like WeWillReplaceYou.org, a new Political Action Committee created by #AllofUs, are an important addition to work that has been done by groups like Peoples Action and the Working Families Party.

Nevertheless, all of these efforts should be seen as tactics inside of a broader strategy to redraw the political map. The aim should be threefold.

First, we should aim to take over the Democratic Party wholesale and make it into a vehicle for the working class. In addition to electing real progressives to office, this means building a greatly expandedcoalition of active voters and a genuinely progressive policy platform.

Second, we should exploit Trumps incompetence and the factions within the Republican Party to decimate it for decades to come. Where possible and without compromising progressive principles, we should aim to peel off sections of the Republican coalition to join our side.

Finally, we should work for structural reforms that make both the party structure and the electoral system itself more democratic. That means everything from giving working people real decision-making power over the direction of the Democratic Partyto making it more feasible for third parties to run and win governing powerto rewriting the rules to eliminate the Electoral College and other undemocratic elements of our political system. Winning more than elections

This isnt just about electoral politics, its about shifting political and economic power across the board. While the tea party propelled electoral victories, it did not generate sustained and politically independent social movements. Since the tea party was funded by the wealthy elite, it didnt put significant pressure on Wall Street and the ruling class, despite being fueled in part by anti-Wall Street sentiment.

While Trump and the Republicans control the White House, Congress and 25 state governments, our goal cant just be to reclaim those seats and offices. Even in places around the globe where Left-leaning political parties have won significant governing power, such as Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece, they have been largely unable to achieve their desired reforms in part because of the vast economic power that weighs against them.

We shouldnt lose sight of the fact that politicians face structural limits on their power. Even progressive governments need outside help. We must build social movements strong enough to win governing power and challenge the dominance of capital, markets and the corporate elite.

Together, we can forge a new American majority. It may become possibleto achieve progressive changefar greater than we would ever have imagined just a few years ago. But doing so will require those of us on the Left to stop confining ourselves to the margins so that we can redefine the center.

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Forget Building Our Own Tea Party. The Left Can Win So Much More. - BillMoyers.com

Former member of Congress Steve Stockman was arrested by FBI and charged Thursday with conspiracy to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars illegally from a charity to his own pocket.

From KPRC in Houston:

He is accused of conspiring to violate federal election laws during his last term in office. Its a felony that could send him to federal prison if hes convicted.

As Stockman stood before the judge Thursday afternoon, prosecutors alleged that the former Congressman had conspired with two former employees to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to his personal use.

According to the complaint, in 2011 Stockman set up a non-profit called Life Without Limits in Las Vegas. A single contributor donated $350,000 to the charity, which Stockman then allegedly funneled back to himself through donations made by his employees.

Stockman was brought into a courtroom Thursday in shackles and handcuffs where a judge set his bail at $25,000.

The former Tea Party politician received $15,000 through the scheme, according to law enforcement, before he was investigated. He faces 5 years in federal prison if hes convicted of the charges.

Stockman lost a 2014 primary to John Cornyn after serving two terms in Congress. Tea Party groups formally disavowed him for running such a poor campaign that resulted in Cornyn beating him easily. While in Congress, he sought to have Lois Lerner arrested for her part in the IRS scandal under Obama, said English should be the official language of the U.S. government, and openly called for the impeachment of Obama.

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Former Tea Party congressman arrested by the FBI, charged with ... - TheBlaze.com

Rick Rouan The Columbus Dispatch @RickRouan

A faction of local Democrats trying to unseat sitting party members on the Columbus City Council and school board are getting a national reinforcement.

The Working Families Party started about 20 years ago in New York but has expanded nationally, framing itself as the Lefts answer to the Tea Party movement in the GOP. Its deepest ties are in New York, where the group has taken credit for the election of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and it has helped seat dozens of candidates.

Now it has adopted the local Yes We Can movement as its local branch.

Its unclear how much influence the group will have in the upcoming primary election, but it already is providing back-end support for Yes We Can and has hired a staff member in Columbus to work with local affiliates around the country.

Part of that support has been in identifying the most likely voters to turn out in the May primary, where the nonpartisan city-council race will narrow from 11 candidates, including one write-in, to six, and the race for school board will be whittled from eight to six. The remaining six in both races will move on to the general election for three seats in November.

It also will give Yes We Can access to a fundraising infrastructure that it hasnt previously had.

Working Families Partys national political action committee raised about $121,500 last year, according to filings with the Federal Elections Commission, and finished 2016 with about $108,000 in its coffers. That PAC registered with the Ohio Secretary of State in January.

Yes We Can finished 2016 with less than $700 in its campaign account.

Spokesman Joe Dinkin said the organization likely will help Yes We Can identify donors and solicit their contributions. It is less likely to directly contribute, he said.

We will never compete on a financial even footing with people who are tied into powerful special interests and well-funded corporations and developers, he said. We think the most important formula for winning a race like that is enthusiasm.

Franklin County Democratic Party Chairman Mike Sexton said the affiliation wont change how the party runs its campaigns. The party has endorsed the three incumbents in both the council and school board races.

Were just going to keep moving forward, he said. Were just going to keep moving forward in promoting our candidates and doing what we need to do to win the primary.

Yes We Can and Working Families say they share the same goals: from getting money out of politics, to strengthening and improving local schools.

In a document describing the relationship, Working Families says it will seek out, recruit and back Working Families Democrats who will advance our values and challenge corporate Democrats in primaries.

Joining WFP means we're part of a bigger movement of progressives all around the nation who are ready to take the electoral process into our own hands and transform the nation, city by city, town by town, so that our economy and our democracy really work for all working families, said Madeline Stocker, Yes We Can spokeswoman.

rrouan@dispatch.com

@RickRouan

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The City: Left's answer to the Tea Party wades into council race - The Columbus Dispatch

WASHINGTON, D.C. The rise of government spending, including Obamacare, was a key factor in the rise of the Tea Party in 2010. But where is the Tea Party today, and how much influence does it still have?

It's true that the big Tea Party rallies from years ago may be gone, but the Tea Party itself is not. Nowadays it takes different forms.

This week on Capitol Hill, hundreds of Tea Party patriots came to Washington to partner with Tea Party lawmakers. They're not happy with Republican leaders as they push Congress to make sure the GOP's Obamacare repeal and replacement plan gets done the way they think it should.

"If Republicans take this opportunity and blow it, we will be rightly considered a laughing stock," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said.

"The leadership in the House is weak-kneed and they are afraid to lead with freedom and capitalism. So they're giving you something that's half as much as Obamacare but doesn't fix the problems," said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

The Tea Party transition over the years has three different components.

First of all, most Tea Party groups are now trying to effect change at the local level.

The second component of change is taking place right here in Washington where the Tea Party stars of 2010 are now national power players in D.C. Senators like Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Mike Lee were all powered into office by the Tea Party movement.

And Donald Trump's outsider, 'drain the swamp' image played well with Tea Partiers too. Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint is a card-carrying member of the original Tea Party. "The two Republicans who came closest to winning the presidency were Cruz and Trump and those two were probably perceived as the most outsider-type category of people who are against Washington," DeMint said.

DeMint sees a third and final component to the Tea Party's new appearance.

They're looking a lot more like pro-Trump events, cloaked in good-old-fashioned patriotism.

The events are now called "Spirit of America rallies" and they're popping up all over America with a message: The Tea Party won't be silenced. "We are that voice. We are that silent majority and we support Donald Trump," said Ralph King, founder of the Main Street Patriots. "The Trump voters, a lot of those were Tea Party voters, evangelicals and they were kind of new Tea Party people coming out of blue-collar, Iron Belt America, union workers who were just tired of the baloney that Washington was giving them and they thought maybe Trump had the power to kick down some doors and make government work for them," DeMint said.

The Tea Party's door kicking days are not over at all, but the headlines today are all about those liberal protests at GOP town halls. The mainstream media wants to compare this movement to the Tea Party. DeMint says it's night and day, arguing the Tea Party was organically motivated, unlike these current events. "What you see with this group on the Left is it's well organized, well-financed. We've seen all of their manuals about what to do. A lot of it is George Soros-funded and an Obama-funded organization," DeMint said. That liberal megaphone has deep pockets. And while the Tea Party's megaphone isn't rich financially, it is rich in spirit and fight, transforming right before our eyes.

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'Spirit of America': Whatever Happened to the Tea Party? - CBN.com - CBN News

Tea Party activists and allies planted their flag Wednesday on Capitol Hill in the Republican battle over dismantling ObamaCare -- rallying with stalwarts like Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul, then rolling through the halls of Congress to press their case for repealing the 2010 law.

The battle is just beginning, said Paul, elected to the Senate in the 2010 Tea Party wave.

The rally, sponsored by FreedomWorks, served to highlight the growing tensions in the GOP over House Republican leaders' current approach to repealing and replacing the health law. Paul called the GOP lawmakers who crafted the bill weak-kneed, suggesting they put the insurance industrys interests ahead of consumers.

They have to remember it was the Tea Party that put them in power, Paul told a crowd standing in cold, snow-swept Upper Senate Park. Organizers estimated roughly 700 people attended.

FreedomWorks' primary goal is to get Congress to swiftly repeal and replace ObamaCare, which it considers big government run amok -- but it has concerns with the current legislation.

The group also has singled out Republican Sens. Rob Portman, of Ohio; Shelly Capito, of West Virginia; Cory Gardner, of Colorado; and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, for what it considers backpedaling on support for a repeal.

FreedomWorks Noah Wall, in campaign-style rhetoric, recently said the senators would be in jail with Bernie Madoff if they had orchestrated such a fraud in the private sector.

While Speaker Paul Ryan and others have joined with President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence to advance their version of the bill, the American Health Care Act, many fiscal conservatives say it doesnt go far enough.

FreedomWorks major focus is opposing any plan that delays efforts to stop the Medicaid expansion, continues to require Americans to buy insurance and keeps refundable tax credits, group spokesman Jon Meadows told Fox News.

The bill on the table includes such provisions and has already been approved by two House committees. But it faces a key vote Thursday in the chambers budget committee, where opposition from conservatives and moderate Republicans alike threatens the legislation.

How many of you here write letters to [your] newspapers? ... We need you right now, Virginia Republican Rep. Dave Brat, a Tea Party favorite who upset party incumbent Eric Cantor in the 2014 election, told the rally.

If the bill indeed passes the chamber and reaches the Senate, Republicans would need support from 51 of 52 senators to ultimately get the measure to President Trumps desk.

Ryan has been a target of conservatives essentially since he became the chambers top Republican in fall 2015. However, the Wisconsin lawmaker was not the focal point of the rally, which was followed by participants going to the congressional offices of Portman, Virginia GOP Rep. Bob Goodlatte and others to voice their concerns.

Hours before the rally started, Ryan tweeted an open letter to Congress from nearly a dozen conservative groups -- including Americans for Tax Reform -- supporting his American Health Care Act.

As advocates of free market principles and limited government, we endorse this significant legislation, the letter states. AHCA repeals nearly all of ObamaCares tax increases, thereby saving taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.

To be sure, essentially every Republican elected to Washington ran on a promise to end ObamaCare, which has insured tens of million Americans but has also failed many with rising premium costs and fewer options.

If we dont pass this bill now, we never will, said 78-year-old Jim Hulett, who came to the rally from Elizabeth City, N.C. We need to start all over.

The recently released, non-partisan Congressional Budget Office report found the bill would reduce the federal deficits by hundreds of billions of dollars but that tens of millions fewer Americans would have insurance.

That situation has caused problems for Portman and others, who have supported ending ObamaCare but are committed to providing affordable, comprehensive premium options to voters at home.

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Tea Party allies rally on Capitol Hill for ObamaCare repeal - Fox News