Since the weekend of the Tea Party convention the media has been beating a slow drum, repeating the meme that this is a Populist movement. We've heard claims they are angry at the banks, angry at wall street and angry at government. That is pretty populist right? They have a small problem though -- it's not populist at all. If history does indeed repeat itself, this could be dangerous.

Last week, Peter Beinart, associate professor of politics and journalism wrote an article about this movement and populism. He writes: Anger is not populism. Having a woman who was paid a $100,000 speaking fee to rile up the masses is not populist. The Tea Partiers are not only opposed to bailing out the banks, they are opposed to regulating them as well. They want less government 'interference' with regards to Wall Street. They are certainly against progressives taxes.

Populists wanted to empower people by making this a more democratic country. They wanted to use government to more equally distribute the wealth in the United States. Tea Partiers believe the opposite; they don't believe that government can do that, an instead are in favor of disempowering our government. IF they succeed, they are actually going to empower the monied interests they claim to rail against. That's quite the opposite of populism, and the opposite of what they think they are doing by being a member of the Tea Party.

So you see, once again the Media is misleading everyone into believing a false meme. It's time for the left to take back a political movement that has always been a progressive idea. It's time for people to start calling the media out on this.

If it's not populism, then what is it? Sadly, it's much closer to what happened in Italy I try not to use the word fascism, as it's very inflammatory during these political times, but I think in this case, it is warranted from a historical point of view. What is happening with the Tea Party movement may or may not be exactly the same as what happened in Italy, but there certainly are comparisons to be drawn. People are genuinely angry, and monied interests have seized upon that for their own personal gain.

It's easy to go after Sarah Palin, but the real problem isn't her, it's what people think she represents.

The problem is that whether they know it or not, people are being led down a path that is against their own self interests. The media is more than happy to help them along. That can become a very dangerous thing. History has shown us that time and time again.

It's simply not populism. Don't get fooled again.

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Raine