The Untold Story of Astroturf: Corporate-Sponsored Environmentalism

The Untold Story of Astroturf: Corporate-Sponsored Environmentalism
That attitude has been widely echoed in media coverage of the Tea Party, as if it were a corporate effort to subvert the U.S. government’s ability to collect revenue and redistribute wealth through public works and social program.

It’s the American way, right? It is patriotic to exercise the 1st Amendment by petitioning the government for a redress of grievances – unless of course your effort has a tie to some corporation or lobbying interest. Then regardless of its size, it’s phony baloney Astroturf activism.

While groups like the George Soros-funded MoveOn.org have managed to elude the “Astroturf” moniker, from its inception, the Tea Party movement has taken shots from its critics. One of the most popular left-wing charges was to call it “Astroturf,” meaning it was presented as a grassroots efforts, but wasn’t really grassroots. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi labeled the Tea Party movement “Astroturf” back during the original Tax Day Tea Party protest on April 15, 2009.

“This initiative is funded by the high end – we call it Astroturf,” Pelosi said. “It's not really a grassroots movement. It's Astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class.”

Meanwhile, environmental causes, like Earth Day or global warming with their own corporate sponsorship – are rarely labeled Astroturf.