Call it the politics of victimhood.

Call Tim Eyman its most enthusiastic practitioner.

Because in America, you’re either a victim or an oppressor. Since no one wants to admit to fostering oppression, we all compete to be victims. We all get to be outraged. We all get to stand up for our rights against The Man.

Being oppressed is so liberating.

Tim Eyman is a victim. Just ask him. In fact, he’s made a career of it.

It’s not enough to take an idea that appeals to people and run with it. Eyman must declare that he’s sticking up for the little guy against the political establishment. That way, any criticism – even deserved criticism – is dismissed as a manifestation of those in power trying to squash the people.

Eyman didn’t invent it, but he’s good at it. At least he was until he morphed into a professional initiative marketer, for sale to whichever interest had the money – like minicasino operators who wanted slot machines or a wealthy investor who wanted government performance audits.

Being outraged for the people worked. Being outraged for profit didn’t. As such, Eyman was on the verge of realizing his greatest fear – being ignored.

This year, he’s lobbying against bills that would make it more difficult or more expensive for professional initiative companies to get initiatives on the ballot. He wasn’t getting far with Democrats in the House and the Senate, so Eyman decided to return to his roots, to the politics of victimhood.

He distributed a message from his biggest donor – a businessman who has already ponied up a million bucks to get measures on the ballot – that contained this breaking news: The financier is going to finance Eyman’s next initiative.

Not news you say? Of course it isn’t. Which is why Eyman had to create a story line.

He had to assert that his money man wasn’t going to contribute this year but changed his mind when some legislators had the audacity to treat Eyman the way he treats them – with ridicule and contempt.

“Their shameless actions have moved me to do something meaningful to fight back,” an outraged Mike Dunmire wrote in an e-mail to Eyman supporters. He’d give up to $250,000, Dunmire said, and urged others to match his outrage and his donation.

The whole thing was classic Eyman theater. Without even donning a gorilla costume, he got attention by saying to legislators: Your actions have backfired; your attempts to weaken me only made me stronger.

The scenario would be fascinating politics if it were credible. But it is acted out by someone who admitted tearfully just five years ago that he had lied in order to further his cause and further his career. He’d promised donors he wouldn’t take a salary for his work while he was doing just that.

How do we know he’s telling the truth now? We don’t, of course. Given his history, I find it best to assume everything he says is a lie until proved otherwise.

Are some of the proposed bills shortsighted? Absolutely. The initiative power in Washington preceded Eyman and it will survive him. But too many lawmakers – angry at Eyman – take it out on something important. They aim at him and hit our rights to initiative and referendum.

Historically, it’s been the only way to break the grip of special interests on the Legislature. That principle is bigger than politics.

But despite Eyman’s attempts to describe the sky as crumbling, nearly all of the proposals have already been found to be unconstitutional and probably won’t pass anyway. Those that are legal present only minor changes and would enhance the credibility of the initiative process.

So what’s the problem? There isn’t one. But it’s hard to rally the troops to the battlements when the enemy isn’t approaching.

So Tim Eyman gets outraged. He ratchets up the rhetoric of victimhood. And most importantly, he gets the attention he so desperately craves.

Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657

peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com