Defining Astroturf up

Ryan Sanger has a very good column in the New York Times today objecting to the characterization of people who come out for or against various health care proposals as AstroTurf. Organizing people to be active in an issue they care about has a long history in our country.

American history is littered with movements that have organized aggressively to exaggerate their sway. Samuel Adams was a master manipulator of the town hall, rallying opponents of British policy to show up at meetings and then publicizing the outcomes — communicated through the colonies’ Committees of Correspondence — to embolden patriots in other towns. While one might resist drawing a moral equivalence between our founding fathers and today’s self-proclaimed Tea Partiers, the principle is the same: outraged citizens married to savvy organizers.

The term "Astroturf" in a political context had a very specific meaning about ginning up false support by faking letters or calls to politicians. But generating passion that then impels people to call Congress or show up at a townhall is what political organizing is all about.

He notes that both sides are doing it.

One reason the town hall protesters are called Astroturf is that they have ties to groups with corporate financing like FreedomWorks, run by Dick Armey, the former House majority leader. But the Obama administration has been doing its own stage managing. At a town hall in Virginia last month, the president took questions from members of organizations with close ties to the administration, including the Service Employees International Union and Organizing for America, which is a part of the Democratic National Committee. The Web site of another liberal group, Health Care for America Now, instructs counter-protesters to “bring enough people to drown” out the Tea Partiers.

Is this Astroturf?

Instead of denigrating people who are moved to action on issues that are important to them, let's acknowledge that they wouldn't be active if they didn't feel strongly. We should applaud such civic engagement - that's always what we're encouraging our young people to do. We approve when kids "get involved" and go to a county commission meeting. Why shouldn't we approve when senior citizens do the same thing?

Here’s a rule: Organizing isn’t cheating. Doing everything in your power to get your people to show up is basic politics. If they believe what they’re saying, no matter who helped organize them, they’re citizens and activists. The language at the town halls may get ugly and rough. But it’s not Astroturf.