Tipping The Pot?

In November 2010, the GOP and it's "Tea Party" allies seemed to be on a roll. Taking the US House and control of several States. For people who supposedly took inspiration from basically a guerrilla movement, they seemed to have forgotten two basic rules of warfare: do not underestimate your enemy, or enemies, and do not open too many fronts.

The governors who swept into power on a tide of manufactured outrage wasted little time in opening their first front, organized labor. The first attack was in Wisconsin, where their Tea Party, and Koch Brother's backed, governor signed a law that gutted public sectors workers rights. Ohio soon followed suit. What neither expected was that workers would do what they always do when they are threatened, fight back! Workers in Wisconsin occupied their states capital and spawned satellite protests all across the country, including Pennsylvania. They organized and recalled 3 senators , and now have Governor Walker facing a recall election in June. In Ohio, their Governors attack on workers was voted down by its states voters. The efforts of these citizens may have been the inspiration for the Occupy movement.

After those defeats, you would think the GOP would back off. Not with people like ALEC and religious fundamentalists calling the shots within the party, the next target became women. Arizona became the newest state to open this front, with their State's Governor blocking Planned Parenthood's funding. Pennsylvania had an attempt to require ultrasounds for women considering abortions tabled in the face of public opposition. We have the Catholic Church and other religions arguing for the right to impose their morals on their employees. But as we saw the end of April, women did much as workers did, and fought back.

The GOP also has opened other smaller fronts; Latinos, urban minorities, through "Voter ID" laws, and, as North Carolina shows, homosexuals.

The question is, can these groups coalesce into a movement, much like what we saw in 2008? Perhaps they can, and must, for it may be the only way to combat the "%1" backed "superpacs".