September 1, 2010 2:04PM 

# Are the Anti-War Left and the Tea Party Just Two Sides of the Same Coin? 

By [Roger Pilon](https://www.cato.org/people/roger-pilon) 

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Responding to my POLITICO Arena post this morning about the Tea Party’s potency as a notional political force, David Biespiel, poet, editor, writer, and founding executive director of the Attic Writers’ Workshop in Portland, Oregon, points to opposition to the Iraq War as he argues that “the anti-war left were tea partiers before being tea partiers was cool!” Look [here](http://www.politico.com/arena/) and scroll down a bit for Biespiel’s argument and my response.

##### Related Tags 

[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law) 

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