I'm glad that the Tea Party finally has some competition. It was bound to happen eventually. Every pole needs an opposite pole (well, not really, but it makes a better analogy), and maybe this new progressive populist movement (as opposed to the Tea Party's conservative brand of populism) will restore some balance to the debate in Washington. I hope so, anyway. The problem with Democrats (and I say this as a proud member of) is we generally have no backbone. That's kind of the nature of being progressive, willing to consider alternatives, and roll with the punches. But that lack of backbone is also a major weakness, and when one side of the aisle basically aims to sabotage government (indeed, the very existence of government seems to be in question according to the Tea Party faithful), it's difficult to fight back because the very tool we Democrats prefer to use (government) is actually being used against us. The Democrats need to stand up, and maybe this Occupy X or 99%-ers or whatever make us realize that once again.
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