The Power of a Lie

The power of a lie

In the first few weeks after the election, I went to a conference in New York. The event was a really important day–it’s a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, funded by the government, and it was part of a big national day of action. It also happened to be the last day of the year for the Tea Party. Essentially, there was a polarizing reaction to the election. There were people who were pro-Obama, and there were people who were anti-Romney, but largely the same people were showing up. I was surprised to find that the conference was full of people who had never voted before, and the speakers were all volunteers. There was a huge disconnect with how the world actually is. The Tea Party was the first people in a long time who cared about the election. The most important thing to understand about this phenomenon is that it’s the product of the culture we’re living in. A lot of people are clueless about what’s going on. They’re not paying attention. They’re not seeing the world the way it actually is. They’re not looking hard enough, or speaking up, or noticing what’s happening. The Tea Party was the first to point out that the election was a sham, that it wasn’t really about the policies or the candidates, but it was a whole bunch of small events that weren’t related to the big change. And the Tea Party was the first to point out that the tea party didn’t actually stand for anything. It didn’t matter that the tea party was a small group, a small group, but a small group nonetheless. It didn’t matter that the tea party was a little bit weird and a little bit old-fashioned. The tea party was clearly a political movement, and it was meaningful. It’s a little hard to see the world differently.