Today’s tea party movement germinated from local taxpayer groups focused on issues like school spending and property taxes, according to Steve Malanga, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and author of the new book, Shakedown: The Continuing Conspiracy Against the American Taxpayer.
Malanga’s work often focuses on how the national grows out of the local. In his last book, The New New Left, he looked at how a coalition of public-sector unions and government-backed social activists came to control the machinery of local governments.
In Shakedown, he shows how this coalition continued its march all the way to the White House. Reason.tv’s June Arunga sat down with Malanga to talk about how this big government coalition has pushed government at all levels to the brink of bankruptcy, and what reforms are needed to combat its vast influence.
Approximately seven minutes. Shot by Jim Epstein and Meredith Bragg. Edited by Josh Swain. Go to Reason.tv for download-able HD, iPod and audio versions of this video and subscribe to Reason.tv’s Youtube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.]