Tea Anyone?
Photo Illustration by - Lucas Pakele
RENO, Nev. – The Republican Party achieved a massive victory during the midterm election after their defeats in 2008; most political analysts thought the Republicans would be sidelined for decades. They managed to gain control of the House of Representatives, won nearly every gubernatorial election, and saw one of the largest shifts in political power between the parties since 1966. From the mouth of future Speaker of the House, John Boehner, the American people wish to tell Washington to ‘change course.’
But how has the Republican Party managed to revitalize itself? Could it be the Tea Party? And what are Americans thinking about when it comes to this newcomer party?
Before we jump on in, if you're still confused about the primaries, voter participation, and candidate selection... listen to Eric Herzik, Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Reno:
They claimed after the 2008 election that they were going to acquire new faces and new ideas. They were going to listen to the American people and make the people’s agenda, their agenda. Two years of soul-searching later and we have the Tea Party, championed by senatorial candidate Sharron Angle. It is the Tea Party’s belief that to fix the nation we had to become more right-wing. We had to not only vote out democrats, but also what Angle calls RINOs, or Republicans-In-Name-Only. We could restore consumer confidence and the economy by greatly reducing government spending and the national deficit, and after this election the Republican Party declared that America had given them the ‘green-light.’
The race between Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, and Angle was a close one. Poll after poll, early predictions about Angle’s win became slimmer, but never eliminated and both candidates remained neck-in-neck; Reid slamming Angle for being too extreme, and Angle calling upon the vast number of Nevadan’s (52 percent in January) who were fed up with Harry Reid to get to the polls and vote him out. However, when the final vote was cast, Angle was unable to decapitate her head of the Obama-Reid-Pelosi Hydra. Harry emerged victorious.
After all the numbers broke down many of the facts were predictable. Most stereotypical genres of voters voted for their stereotypical candidates, except for two genres: the Latino vote, which normally sits back during midterm elections, and… those pesky RINOs. Reid received 12 percent of the Republican vote. And in a state that has a few more Democrats than Republicans, that isn’t good.
So how did she lose that 12 percent?
Eric Herzik, the Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Reno believes that her vilification of moderate Republicans, and her extremely conservative views led to her demise.
“The 12 percent of Republicans that defected did so because for the past five or six years of Angle’s career she’s run against RINOs,” said Herzik, “It’s not ‘Oh I disagree with your views’ as much as ‘you are bad people and you need to be voted out of office.’ She did it to Bill Raggio and she tried to do it to Dean Heller, who is certainly not a very liberal guy. And if you vilify the Raggio Republicans of the world they won’t vote for you.”
Even so, she did win in the primaries and that must mean that her ultra-conservative views are resonating with Republican voters… right?
“Sharron had a lot of firepower this election. After two costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, intrusive Homeland Security measures like the patriot act, the new, very costly public role in healthcare, and the huge fiscal effort to stave off another Great Depression… her ideas about reducing government spending should’ve held a lot of weight, “ said Edward Gazer, a Republican in Sun Valley, “I thought she’d be a shoe-in.”
A great majority of political analysts agreed with Gazer, that Angle would be a ‘shoe-in,’ but the fact remains that she did not win, but why?
“Angle won the primary, but not with a majority of the votes,” said Herzik, “There were multiple candidates in the race, and so the more mainstream Republicans, like Sue Lowden and Danny Tarkanian, split 60 percent of the vote pretty evenly. That should’ve been the first indicator that maybe she wasn’t this consensus candidate that could win in a general election.”
Herzik says that Reid was very successful in painting Angle as an extreme candidate because she is at the right-wing of the conservative party. He believes that her views are not just small government, but more anti-government, that she took the Reagan phrase ‘government is the problem, not the solution’ to heart.
Brian Gifford, a local small-business owner and fiscal conservative, voted for Harry Reid even though he’s ‘not a fan.’
“I didn’t agree with Angle’s position in it’s entirety,” said Gifford, “I think some of the issues that she was campaigning for, the underlying intention was positive; trying to reduce the size of government and improve efficiencies, reduce waste, those are good goals. But the way she wanted to accomplish that was something that I didn’t agree with.”
So this Tea Party wave wasn’t successful in Nevada, but they were successful in other, even unlikely states. Nikki Haley is the first woman and Indian-American governor in South Carolina, Ron Johnson defeated his incumbent opponent in Wisconsin, and Rand Paul, one of the first major Tea Partiers, who after a grueling and bitter campaign, beat Jack Conway even after facing criticism about his position on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
However, Angle, and many, more public Tea Partiers were unsuccessful, such as, Christine O’Donnell who garnered most of her attention by releasing an ad claiming that she was ‘not a witch.’
As for the Tea Party’s policies, while 41 percent of Americans in exit polls said they supported the movement, less than one-in-four voters said they wanted to send a pro-Tea Party message to Washington. In a new poll from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 68 percent of respondents said they would oppose making major spending cuts in Social Security and Medicare to reduce the deficit. Strong majorities also supported more progressive solutions for tackling the federal deficit. 63 percent back lifting the Social Security cap on incomes higher than $107,000 a year, 64 percent would favor eliminating tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs, and 62 percent would support a tax on excessive Wall Street bank profits.
Also found were strong majorities opposing common conservative ideas for addressing the deficit: 65 percent oppose raising the Social Security retirement age to 70, 65 percent oppose replacing Medicare with a private sector voucher, and 60 percent oppose raising the Medicare age from 65 to 67. Meanwhile, some liberal ideas still hold weight: 62 percent of respondents also said they support the idea of federal aid to states to prevent layoffs in public safety and education .
So while the Tea Party movement has brought about new, more conservative ideas to the Republican Party and has helped put them back into the spotlight as fierce defenders of America’s balance sheet against the monstrous federal deficit, Americans are not yet ready to abandon programs for the elderly and the poor and are still hesitant about moving public services into the private sector.
If a majority of Americans don’t agree with Tea Party ideals and policies, then how did they become so influence within the Republican Party and the nation as a whole?
Herzik believes that one of the major factors that contributed to the Tea Party’s visibility is that they are a very ‘loud’ part of a major party that has splintered.
“The Republican Party has a major split, if not multiple splits,” said Herzik, “And the vocal minority, the very conservative wing of the party, is driving the bus. The committed electorate, usually the extremes, show up [to the primaries] and start picking candidates.”
Gifford thinks that the people who are more likely to turn out during party primaries are the people who have very strong ideologies. He says that you’re going to hear the extreme voices more often and it’s going to give them more influence.
Brenna Williams, a democrat and former Reno resident , says that even though the Republican Party was so visible she didn’t think the Republicans would have persuaded so many Americans so quickly that they had the right ideas.
“After the fatal policies of the Bush-era, I didn’t think Americans would have as much amnesia as they apparently do,” said Williams
Williams believes that Americans are probably too impatient and were expecting a faster recovery than they got.
“I think that people are generally dissatisfied with politics on both sides of the aisle, they’re looking for more compromise,” said Gifford, “They’re looking for more genuine reform in different areas and they don’t see that from either party.”
One of the most important issues for Gifford is balancing the budget. He thinks that in order to accomplish real reform, both parties need to compromise. He doesn’t think raising taxes is a good idea, but he also believes that it is necessary to continue to support many of our social programs. Gifford thinks that if Republicans give a little ground with tax increases and, in exchange, the Democrats allow cuts in spending, a best-of-both-worlds solution can be found.
“I’d like to see more financial reform. With the bailouts I think the banks got away with really no punishment to speak of,” said Gifford, “They had to take loans and they paid them back, but it didn’t really force the banks to break up. We still have the ‘Too Big To Fail’ problem and that’s obviously very worrisome. It’s important to make sure that we have a stable foundation in [the banking sector].”
The dust has settled, the votes have been cast, and Americans hate politicians just as much as they did 2 years ago. So where do we go from here? Despite the difficulty of our current situation the answer has been obvious to a majority of Americans from every race, socio-economic class, and personal belief… compromise, Compromise, COMPROMISE!
“You have to compromise,” said Gifford, “I think the Tea Party and their democratic equivalent’s ideologies force them to be unable to compromise and I think that’s the wrong direction we need to be going.”
Election Day 2010
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I love when the weather gets colder. I put on more layers, pull my sleeves down, and prepare for the first bright, shining layer of snow to blanket my community. Then, when I’m feeling really good underneath the sunlit, blue sky, good weather provided, I grab my bike and adventure through our rad-tastic town…well, I would…if my bike wasn’t broken.
Luckily, I know of a place down a little ways on E. 4th Street called the Reno Bike Project. They have an awesome shop filled with a zillion different bike parts from chainrings to jockey wheels to spindles. And don’t worry, if you don’t know what any of those are (because I sure don’t) there are friendly, bicycle-fanatics who will tell you everything you need to know.
The cool thing about the Reno Bike Project is that nearly all of their bikes and parts are donated, repaired, and recycled. They’re dedicated to making our community more cycling-friendly and they’re prices are inexpensive, thanks to the donations. The part that I’m most interested in, however, is the fact that you can repair your own bike using their workspace (again, with friendly help an arm’s length away).
So where to start? Well, if you’re just looking for one little quick fix you can just take your bike down to 541 E. 4th Street, grab the part(s) you need, and repair your bike for the price of your parts. If you need a more extensive-repair job (like I do) then one of the personnel will be more than happy to fix your bike with you, or for you if you’re really mechanically-challenged, and get you on your merry way with your head to the sky, taking in the brisk wind and sunshine.
So, without further delay, I get my bicycle down to the neighborhood bike shop and one of the guys there immediately comes up to me and asks what he can help me with. I show him the problem, which is my gear-changer, and he tells me that it’s not too hard to fix and asks if I need help. I tell him yes and he sets my bike up on one of their do-dads that lifts it into the air. He looks at my current part and then goes and grabs another one. “This one is in good condition, lets see if it’ll work,” he says. He takes the chain off and takes out a couple screws. He replaces the part and reattaches everything and 20 minutes later I’m paying the cashier and excitedly riding my bike for a quick loop before going to Idlewild Park for a nice ride. It feels good to have the world at your back and have nothing else, but forward.
So, if you’re making excuses about a broken spoke and letting your bike collect dust…don’t. Just take it to the Reno Bike Project. Grab your helmet, your favorite cycling outfit, and your handlebars.
City Council Meetings May Be More Fun Than You Think
RENO, Nev. – The Reno City Council met today inside City Hall to discuss topics that you would normally expect to hear, from licensing to rehabilitation of city infrastructure and services. But then comes the public comment segment for each of the topics discussed and that’s where all the action happens.
The council started the meeting off with the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence and the approval of the ‘minutes’, which is basically the schedule for the agenda. They discuss some of the issues they are about to tackle and after they’ve explained the premise of an issue they open up for public comment.
“I’d like to dedicate this song to Sharron Angle,” said Bob Metten, an army veteran, as he played a song with his guitar to the council about how Angle was ‘one wild woman’ and that it was a good thing she couldn’t do anything in Washington.
“I thought it was fun. The boring meeting became a concert,” said 70-year old Blanche Wittum, a retired resident of Washoe County.
The meeting continued with some residents scolding the council and saying that the entire economic collapse of the area was due to their willingness to allow companies to exploit citizens.
“There’s always one or two people who say that it’s all the councils fault for everything,” said Andrew Heigel, a Reno resident, “they vent their anger with someone to blame.”
Before moving on to more topics they began the proclamation section where either the Mayor or a business representative declares for the public record. They declared that October was both Disability Employment Awareness month and Community Planning month. November was officially declared Pancreatic Cancer month and was followed with testimonies from Ellie Chiaro, head of the Reno Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and Nelson Chiaro, Ellie’s husband who is a survivor of pancreatic cancer.
“Pancreatic cancer is one of the most silent and aggressive cancers in the world,” said Ellie, “with a 94% mortality rate it is the hardest cancer to treat and yet only receives 2% of the funding from the American Cancer Society.”
With the meeting adjourned Nelson said that the experience was similar to a rollercoaster.
“I felt like I was going up and down, went from bored to awkward to laughing. It was quite the experience,” Nelson said.