Polls consistently show that fewer than
half of Americans approve of the job that President Obama is
doing, and those ratings are far higher than Congress or either political party
receives. Unemployment remains stubbornly above 9 percent. There is plenty
of anger in America today: anger about joblessness across the nation, about
cutbacks in services in the states, about increased tuition at our
universities, about economic and political inequality that seems to be
increasing, and at a government that seems unable
to do anything about any of this. Where are the people taking to the streets?
The closest thing to a strong
social movement in the United States in recent years has been the tea party,
and it demands that government do less. Lately, we hear about the tea party
largely from members of Congress and candidates for office, who have drowned
out and replaced the activists at the grass roots. This is largely because
although movements carry anger, anger doesn’t make a movement — organizers do.
Anger helps, of course; it’s a resource that organizers can stoke, channel and
exploit.
Although saints and psychopaths
will take great risks in the service of their beliefs, most people are a little
more calculating. People protest when they believe that something is wrong,
that it could be otherwise, and that their efforts are both necessary and potentially
effective. SO WHY AREN’T AMERICANS
MOVING?
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