Show Us The Money

Jay Tea spells it out:

RJ here makes a very stupid mistake, but that's not so bad -- it's one that a lot of leftists make. It comes from the very common failure of projection -- they see how their side operates, and imagines that that is the only way things can be done. RJ constructs a chain of logic, but makes a jump at the end that completely unravels the whole chain.

1) There are a lot of rich people on the right. True.
2) The rich people on the right spend their money to push their interests and beliefs. True.
3) Among the beneficiaries of their largesse are right-wing think tanks, institutes, and organizations. True.
4) That's how the Tea Party is succeeding -- lots and lots of right-wing money.

HUH?

I've looked very carefully, and I don't see any signs that there is any big money involved in the Tea Party movement.

When you spend money, it tends to be rather visible. Let's look at the average leftist event.

They tend to have a lot of people, many of whom arrive on chartered buses emblazoned with banners. They demonstrate their solidarity by wearing matching t-shirts and holding up the same signs. They're organized by professionals, who secure the permits, put out the publicity,

All of which cost money.

On the other hand, Tea Partiers mainly provide for their own transportation, wear whatever they feel like wearing, and make their own protest signs -- none of which cost much at all. (One exception is a Tea Party event friend of Wizbang Rob Port attended -- in that case, a talk radio station chartered a bus for the event. But they then charged admission for the bus and turned it into a station promo event -- meaning that it was either a tax writeoff, or possibly turned a profit.) And they're organized through e-mail, blogs, and other social media -- all very low-cost or no-cost forms.

The watchword of the movie "All The President's Men" was the made-up aphorism "follow the money." Well, please -- someone follow the money from the right-wing billionaires down to the Tea Party rank and file. Demonstrate how these events show concrete indicators of having serious money behind them.

It just ain't there.

And that is what has the left so puzzled -- they are so used to being tightly regimented, organized down to the smallest detail, given their marching orders, and having very well-funded organizers to handle all the finer details. They are so used to needing "community organizers" to tell them what to be angry about, who to be angry at, how to express their anger, and even what to wear and hold while expressing it (ever wonder how the Koch brothers were suddenly promoted to Satan's Little Helpers?) that they simply can't imagine a community organizing itself without the help of their "betters."

Well, it's happening. And they have absolutely no clue how to deal with it.

That's why they need to find the mysterious puppet masters behind the Tea Party movement, so they can fight back. And when they can't find them, they will invent them -- they NEED that monolithic entity, that Great Satan, that they can challenge directly.

Which is why they fail.