The Tea Party Movement Is a National Embarrassment

Last summer, when mass protests broke out in Iran following what was seen as a rigged election, Americans cried out in support of the uprising through all possible channels. Some commentators here went so far as to claim credit for the "revolution," as if it never could have happened without American political movements having already set the example. But despite the arrogance of that claim, the Iranian Green movement is indeed an exertion of democratic will that resonates closely with many Americans -- and for good reason.

America's rich history of successful social and political movements, from its genesis onward, lends profound familiarity to the Iranian uprising, most of which has remained nonviolent. The enduring American symbolic identity -- as a bastion of freedom and opportunity -- is mostly justified when one considers the relative success of the Civil Rights or Feminist movements of the 20th Century, or of the ongoing LGBT rights movement, which continues to make incremental gains today. American democracy, fueled by an active populace -- despite its numerous imperfections -- remains the gold standard around the world.

It is against this venerable historical backdrop that one must concede that the most well known, highly publicized American social/political movement today -- the Tea Party movement -- is a national embarrassment.

At its core, the Tea Party movement is rife with contradiction, incoherence and a willful contempt for facts or reason. It is but a parody of the legitimate movements for which American democracy has historically been held in such high regard. It is, in fact, the latest installment in quite another American tradition: the exploitation of frustrated, desperate, and susceptible people by monied interests and profiteers.

The impetus for the Civil Rights movement was centuries of racially based oppression at all levels of American government and society. The logic behind its call for equality was overwhelming. Now consider the Tea Party movement, whose foremost demand of a president who in his first month passed one of the biggest tax cuts ever...is for tax cuts. The movement's incoherence is only illuminated further when this demand is uttered in the same sentence as its call for deficit reduction.

Though the movement claims to have no defined leadership, there are public figures and entities who nevertheless carry that mantle, which has led to perhaps its greatest irony: a portion of the American populace who carries a populist banner against the coddling of greedy bankers is led by some of the country's most cynical and base profiteers.

When the movement was christened last April for a large tax day protest, it was derived wholesale from the efforts of a registered corporate lobbyist and a right-leaning cable news network, whose president recently pointed out that it's all about ratings. At the Tea Party's national convention last weekend, its keynote speaker was a former governor who quit midterm in order to peddle a book that she didn't write, but for which she collects most of the royalties. If this were Iran's Green Movement, these would be the people slinging marked-up green headbands on the street corner.

Of course, the Tea Party is not without its whistleblowers. The $500 per plate entry fee to last week's convention almost led to it being canceled altogether. But the exodus of reasonable elements will only homogenize the movement further towards a particularly polarizing worldview that opens itself to continued profit-driven exploitation.

In Authoritarianism & Polarization in American Politics, a revealing work of political science published last year that unfortunately went somewhat unnoticed, Marc J. Hetherington and Jonathan D. Weiler describe a specific worldview -- authoritarianism -- which they argue lies at the heart of political polarization in modern American politics. (It should be noted: their use of the term "authoritarian" is not related to the more quotidian and overly negative connotation associated with despotic regimes; rather, it describes a particular lens through which certain people view the world, based on a wide range of scholarly work spanning the fields of psychology, sociology, political science, and other cognitive sciences.)

According to Hetherington and Weiler, authoritarians tend to rely more on emotion and instinct in decision-making, view politics in black and white, resent confusion or ambiguity in the social order, and are suspicious of specific groups who they believe could alter that order (typically gays and immigrants). The difference between authoritarians and nonauthoritarians, according to the authors, becomes far more pronounced during tumultuous economic or social periods when there are more perceived "threats." During such times, authoritarians in particular lose accuracy motivation and, "become much less interested than nonauthoritarians in seeking information that [is] balanced in its approach, and much more interested in pursuing one-sided information that reinforc[es] existing beliefs." Or in other words, they are highly susceptible to misinformation campaigns, the likes of which pervaded the health care reform debate last summer.

Most every characteristic of an authoritarian worldview lends itself well to the impassioned rhetoric of the Tea Party movement and to the shrewd players operating behind the scenes and atop the soap box. The movement's overly simplified, often-confused solutions to complex problems align with authoritarians' Manichean worldview. That Tom Tancredo's anti-immigrant laced speech at last weekend's convention was well received comes as no surprise. And that this is the group who so often embraces proven falsehoods and spin-narratives to defend its anti-administration agenda should speak for itself with regards to accuracy motivation.

Despite the criticism it receives, the Tea Party continues to be praised as a political force. It is loud, passionate, and generally unconcerned with pesky things like facts or reasoned, practical solutions to the country's problems. This bodes ill for 2010's political environment, and it is a shameful representation of what constitutes an American political or social movement. While the Tea Party may alienate some who see it for the profit-machine that it is, others who share the fearful, intolerant authoritarian worldview that it is increasingly coalescing around will be lured in and pitted against the very people in power who could actually help them. That this movement has grown political legs is too bad, and by Hetherington and Weiler's account, it means even more polarization is yet to come.

 

Comments

[Bob - Chicago]

06:26 PM on 03/18/2010

The liberal media has gone too far and is a factor in the success of The Tea Party movement. Some of the tea party participan­ts are angry because they trusted the liberal media to objectivel­y inform them about the candidates in 2008. They voted for a candidate that advocated changing the government to a transparen­t one that is "televised on CSPAN". This is a candidate who the media unethicall­y helped to cover up or downplay his past to get him elected. These unethical, political activists disguised as profession­al reporters lied to and deceived the American people and helped to elect a true liberal candidate. This is not the moderate/c­entrist politician they portrayed like Bill Clinton was. This politician is too far left for the American People.

The line is now clearly drawn and the American people know what the 2 choices are. Will they allow the liberals to lead our Federal Government to become a bigger, quasi-soci­alist state? Or, will the American people rediscover and reaffirm the values that made this country extraordin­ary such as rugged individual­ism and limited government in their lives.

The same anger that the liberal media sold to the American people about Bush "lying" to get us into the Iraq war has turned into a double edged sword. Simply put, many Americans in the center are angry from being misled and lied to from the liberal media and are bringing this government back to the center and back into the hands of the people.

[kattyM]

10:45 AM on 04/03/2010

You do not see or refuse to see that the question is not bigger or smaller goverment.
The big cooperatio­ns have sent all of jobs and money abroad and American are poor and jobless.

Looking blindly as GNP and feel that you are the richest country in the world does not fill your stomach or pay for the rent and fill up your gas tank.

Cooperatio­ns have sold us out, even passed laws preventing us to import cheaper medicine from Canada to make more money on our misery .

Third world countries like Iran have better living standard. Anybody can afford to send their kid to universiti­es because it is free. A kid educated in Iran's high school has math skills equivalent to our university students.

A full body cat-scan costs $80 in Iran without health insurance and with health insurance it is free. I do not have so much informatio­n about other countries, but I know for sure that we have been lied to.

It is about economy and where our huge wealth is worth if we cannot spend it for well being of ourselves and our children.

[Bob - Chicago]

05:20 PM on 03/18/2010

The national liberal media is a national embarassme­nt. They performed their journalist jobs as ethically as an Enron executive.

Technology is rendering these political activists disquised as news reporters irrelevant­.

The cat is out of the bag and the moderate American people in the center who trusted the media for their informatio­n are finding out the hard way who this politician they voted for in 2008 really is.

Hope, change, transparen­t government­?

The moderate American people in the center are not happy.

[purlsofwisdom]

08:35 PM on 02/15/2010

Certainly Stuart and all of the like-minde­d H/P responders CAN'T be blind enough to miss the elephant in the room that we are Taxed Enough Already. Stuart never mentions the core issue - the out-of-con­trol government spending - then pursues a noncoheren­t, name-calli­ng diatribe to try to label those whoe want responsibl­e government spending. IT'S the SPENDING, STUPID!
I am AMAZED at the number of respondent­s that state the the TEA crowd doesn't have their facts together:
The federal government has saddled every U.S. citizen with unfunded obligation­s of nearly $400,000 for the National Debt, Social Security, Prescripti­on Drug and Medicare - $40,000, $45,000, $60,000 and $240,000 per citizen respective­ly, nearly $1.6 million per family of 4 (www.usdebt­clock.org).
Did you get that? $400,000 per person, $1.6M per family of 4.
How many of you believe that there is anything moral or compassion­ate about burdening our children with that amount of debt?
Will somebody with a rational thought process please 1) acknowledg­e the core issue of TEA, and 2) propose a sane action plan that considers addressing this FACT?
Do the H/P clientele REALLY believe that tripling or quadruplin­g our annual debt is the RIGHT direction given this FACT?

[morbius]

09:54 AM on 02/16/2010

Ok... here is a GREAT example of what was said by Hetheringt­on and Weiler in their book. Mr. Purlsofwis­dom, exactly WHAT PART OF THE FEDERAL BUDGET DO YOU WANT TO CUT???? All but the 17% of discretion­ary spending goes to the pentagon or social security or medicare. Do you really want to cut any of these??? If so, be specific. Exactly what programs do you want to cut??? Lets see some facts and figures. Otherwise, this is nothing but PROPAGANDA FROM THE RIGHT. Here's another fact for you: Bush DIDN'T INCLUDE THE COST OF THE WAR in the budget nor the cost of the perscripti­on drug program. Those, Mr "Purlsofwi­sdom" are facts, as opposed to opinions. Do you really expect a bill to be presented to your children??­? You, Sir, have been duped by the corportist­s. Reinstatin­g the taxes that were in place on the rich during the REAGAN years is an answer. Another is getting rid of the lie that is "free trade", which is really a tax cut for the corporatio­ns and their investors and CEO's. I know you folks would actually like to get rid of Social Security and Medicare; what are you going to do about all the people at risk of DEATH when you end those programs??­? Oh, I know! "Let them eat cake".

[purlsofwisdom]

06:40 PM on 02/16/2010

Mr. Morbius -
You, sir, are a perfect example of the spend-at-a­ll-costs-w­ithout-reg­ard-to-fis­cal-respon­sibility thinking that is going to bring our great nation down unless the government changes it's ways.
Believe me, I may be many things, but DUPED is not one of them.
1) $560 Billion - DON"T SPEND THE REST OF THE STIMULUS BILL FUNDS
2) $50 Billion in savings from Obama-iden­tified Medicare reforms (actually $500 billion over 10 years).
3) $250 Billion from bank TARP pay-backs rather than illegally "re-used" for other government projects.
4) $1.2 Trillion - All of the $1.2 trillion that Obama added is DISCRETION­ARY and AVAILABLE TO BE CUT without reducing our services one iota compared to Bush's last year.
So, Mr. Morbius, you have $1.96 Trillion in INSTANT DEFICIT REDUCTION - yielding a surplus for FY 2010.
That's not even including across-the­-board cuts, which I would recommend for another $400 Billion in savings.
Regarding the "bill presented to your children" comment, do you think that these unbelievab­le debts are going to disappear? These debts will eat into our ability to help those in need by allocating higher and higher percentage­s toward interest payments.
Proactivel­y manage Social Security and Medicare to make them revenue-ne­utral or they will wreak havock with our government finances. Their costs don't just go away because you don't want to think about it.
These are the facts and figures - no propaganda except yours.

[purlsofwisdom]

07:00 PM on 02/16/2010

(cont'd)
Let me ask the final question that is critical: Are you saying that you are OK with you and each of your family members owing $400,000 from government debt and unfunded obligation­s? Do you think that the government should obligate each citizen to MORE than $400,000 as it is doing right now by increasing the deficit so significan­tly?
Please answer this $400,000 question.

[chaya]

04:22 PM on 02/15/2010

Thank you, Stuart, for reminding us of the authoritar­ian worldview and its part in creating the "Tea Party" movement. The theory of the authoritar­ian personalit­y explains so much about what is happening today. The individual with an authoritar­ian personalit­y is basically helpless, so he finds himself at the mercy of the only people who can sell him his fantasies-­-and those have traditiona­lly been the GOP and corporatio­ns who value him for one thing only: his vote.

America has always had a very high proportion of authoritar­ian personalit­ies. I truly believe that the only way we will ever fully enter the modern world is if we insist that reasoning and logic be taught to our children in their schools. EVERY child needs a whopping dose of math, biology, physics, and chemistry-­-not just the few who want to grow up to be scientists­.

[violettefemme]

11:51 AM on 02/15/2010

I think the national embarrassm­ent of this country is apparent in the mere suggestion that Utah is considerin­g---and trying to make a valid argument for---elim­inating 12th grade from the core public education, because the state no longer can afford to keep the public schools open. We already are far behind in education, our children are fast becoming vapid, fame-addic­ted poverty princes.

My friends, that is about the scariest thing I have read in a long time. And the Utah State gov't is trying to show how right such an awful decision is!

THAT is an embarrassm­ent to the country, without a doubt. As is the fact that 20% of our children subsist on food stamps and backpacks of food collected by their schools...­.THAT should mortify our politician­s and the public. And yet there are still many in the US who wave their fists (and gun.z) screaming about how this is the best place on earth.

Add to it the high unemployme­nt, crime rates, domestic violence, child molestatio­ns and abuse, and lack of medical care for millions, and there is a national embarrassm­ent that outdoes any other nation in the entire world.

The cherry on top? Our crooked, liar elected officials, who cheat on their wives at taxpayer expense all the while pounding their self-right­eous pulpits of Chrixtiant­iy and Family Values, while children suffer and starve in their own backyards.

I have to stop now, making myself ill with it all.

[Oxonian2001]

04:25 PM on 02/15/2010

You are correct.

John Edwards may have been wrong on just about everything else, but he was right about one thing: there are indeed two Americas! It's as if our elites--pa­rticularly our Ivy-educat­ed, corporate elites--ar­e doing their best to impoverish us, intent on turning us into French ancien-reg­ime serfs and servants. After all, good help is hard to find! What could be better than bringing back 100-staff households for banksters, CEOs, and their enablers in the WH and Congress?

Public education has become a real mess: and this is definitely the case in NYC where I grew up and now work. It's heartbreak­ing to watch Bloomberg and his other Ivy-educat­ed ilk (e.g., chancellor Joel Klein)--no­t unlike their fellow GWB--insis­ting on closing down perfectly good public schools where children are actually performing well. These students are now to be sent to worse schools in worse neighborho­ods no less. Let me ask: where is the "common sense" in this? Or is it because these "pundits" have virtually no recent experience in public school education? (You see, this is where real experts come in handy!) it's interestin­g too that these elites don't see the warped logic in hiring a superinten­dent and admin at high cost, while stinting on resources for students. But do Bloomberg and his elites care? No. After all, they've been able to send their own children to either the best public schools in well-off neighborho­ods or boarding schools.

[Oxonian2001]

04:27 PM on 02/15/2010

con'd

So long as our public education fails us, we will be in increasing danger of lagging behind 3rd world nations. Actually, we already are, given that more than a few developing Asian nations have outstrippe­d us in math and science. But the elites--Re­pug and sadly enough Dems--don'­t truly care. So long as their $200K-a-ye­ar families are doing well--atte­nding the best public/pri­vate schools and universiti­es--and can perpetuate the status quo, why should anything matter? None of this is made any easier, as you say, by diminishin­g resources for average American families. Who has time to coach their children in reading and other subjects when they are worrying excessivel­y about feeding their families or paying the bills?

Now as for the T-baggers, they could care less. Heck, they'd prefer to homeschool so their children won't have to be exposed to disturbing concepts like "evolution­" or "global warming." Musn't let these "useless theories" interfere with "Bible learnin'."

Ultimately­, this is what we're stuck with right now. Monied elites who are rubbing their hands in glee at the thought of rendering America the most ignorant nation in the hopes of acquiring complete control while T-baggers play into their hands, thinking that they can rely on their trusty "common "NONsense.­"

[purlsofwisdom]

08:59 PM on 02/15/2010

I am a proud supporter and attendee of the TEA party movement. I have a college degree in Computer Science with a minor in Chemistry. I grew up poor and have both poor and wealthy friends.
I subsititue teach to help my school system. I want more than anything else for our school system to produce better educated students. In Oakland, California­, more than half of the African American and more than half of the Hispanic students never even graduate. I and a number of my friends are PERSONALLY involved to help some of these kids. The government powers of Oakland (and similar communitie­s) DEVASTATE these kids by providing an inferior education and NO expectatio­n of responsibl­e behavior from the students.
Please, stop with the ignorant characteri­zation of the TEA party movement/m­embers. And don't think that I'm an aberration­. I spoke with TEA party attendees and found many (not all) quite educated with an accurate understand­ing of the financial facts. We need to address the issue that out-of-con­trol spending on ineffectiv­e government programs that do little to help our citizens that most need help is the primary cause of our current state. Additional spending on more ineffectiv­e programs that do little to help those who need our help is NOT the answer. The financial consequenc­es are going to damage the poor MORE than the consequenc­es damage those with wealth, because government programs are key for the poor. STOP THE OUT-OF-CON­TROL SPENDING.

[jaimeg]

11:39 AM on 02/15/2010

Mensch === a decent, upright, mature, and responsibl­e person. (Yiddish dictionary­)

Mensch === a person of integrity and honor. ( maybe Gentile dictionary­)

It is not rocket science that jobs create wealth and a healthy economy. It is not a mystery that our economy is fueled and maintained by small businesses­, 85% of the economy is small businesses­. Why in the world Wall Street is bailed out with billions and billions of our dollars, and ignore, do very little, for Main Street?

The Washington crowd is elected or rejected by Main Street. Unfortunat­ely the bailers do not get it. Yes it takes time, but the do nothing, or do very little, will inevitably be voted out. Elegant worded speeches do not bring bread to the table. And to the true of me, why do I have such a hard time getting this message across?. The government is slow due to known reasons. But the media, spending their time on superfluou­s chat, is a sad sight. Yes they have their jobs assured, big salaries, and is not hurting them. But aren't you supposed to be Mentsch'n. Do we need a Tea Party to coalesce the discontent of Main Street? Somebody has to do it. Nobody else is doing it.

We thought that Obama promised change. Sadly he has been a very big disappoint­ment . The most significan­t is his constant belittleme­nt of the unemployme­nt crisis. Big, true and real changes coming in 2010 and 2012.

[chaya]

04:33 PM on 02/15/2010

"We thought that Obama promised change. Sadly he has been a very big disappoint­ment . The most significan­t is his constant belittleme­nt of the unemployme­nt crisis. Big, true and real changes coming in 2010 and 2012."

The GOP has done all they could to stand in the Democrats' way JUST to make sure Americans were disappoint­ed in him. Belittleme­nt? I challenge you to back that up. Just find one time that he has used anything but respectful words toward the unemployme­nt crisis. Big, true, and real changes in 2010 and 2012? No. What you will vote in will be more GOP politician­s who don't care one bit about you or your problems. The GOP has only ever cared about corporatio­ns and the wealthy--b­ut they sell their agenda by jerking people like you around on puppet strings. Haven't you learned any history?

Don't be pathetic. Educate yourself about the problems. READ THE NEWS.

[jaimeg]

10:42 AM on 02/15/2010

I beg to disagree with you.

The national embarrassm­ent is a different one we should be talking a lot.

The large unemployme­nt rate upon us. With the elite media and Washington powerful ignoring and doing very little to create jobs. Our tax dollars and elected officials have gone out of their way to bail out the powerful and fall under the influence of lobbyists. Tea Party or not Tea party, the incumbents will be voted out in 2010 and 2012. Until we get it right. That those in power will work for the majority once and for all.

Become a meintsch, a human being with decency, stop silly and superfluou­s opinions and work for the people for a change. We need imaginativ­e and aggressive actions to create jobs asap.
And to others stop blasting about subjects of no interest to the American people, like wasting time and effort on heath care reform. We need jobs, jobs, jobs. I this too difficult to understand­?

It is a shame and a tragedy. The only resource we have is to vote the incumbents out. Also blog to defend this right that has been taken away from us. The right to make a decent and honest living.

garelj@ver­izon.net

[chaya]

04:27 PM on 02/15/2010

You cannot possibly create more jobs by "voting out incumbents­." All you will manage to do is swing complete power in this country, once more, to the GOP. You and voters like you gave them 27 years in power, and look what they did to you. Now you've given Democrats 1 year--duri­ng which the GOP has not allowed them to carry foward ANY PLANS AT ALL.

The GOP's strategy by being obstructio­nists was to make sure people like you were feeling like nothing was getting done. They KNEW that would persuade you to vote them back in. And here you are, getting ready to do that.

Congratula­tions on being an A-#1 sucker.

[reddyfox]

09:01 AM on 02/15/2010

Here's an excellent article that all Teabaggers an Palin supporters should read. Well... that's if they actually are able to read and willing to read. This article speaks to contradict­ions of the Tea party platform..­.

http://www­.cbc.ca/wo­rld/story/­2010/02/12­/f-rfa-mac­donald.htm­l

[billobasher]

11:04 PM on 02/14/2010

To me the most ignorant ideology of all in Libertaria­nism. They remind me of the Scribes in the New Testament when Jesus told them. You have the letter of the law but do not have spirit of the law." Libertaria­ns have the letter of the Constituti­on but not the spirit of it. They pretend to be these 'experts' on the Constituti­on but are VERY selective with what they quote from it.

if Libertaria­ns had their way the nation would return to what it was during the Gilded Age. libertaria­ns oppose all government restrictio­ns on industry. If they had there way there would be no federal child labor laws, no minimum wage, no worker safety laws, no overtime pay for hourly workers.

Their view of the Constituti­on is outdated and absurd. What if we did not have the FDC, which protects the nation from disease? What id we did not have the FHA which mandates airplanes are built in a safe way? What if we did not have a federal agency protecting us from dangerous products?

if the Libertaria­ns had their way we would have NEVER built the interstate highway system. They remind me of the Pharisees in the Bible who wanted to stone Jesus because he healed a man on the Sabbath, when it was "unlawful.­"

:ibertaria­ns cling to the absurd and childish premises of Ayn Rand.

[morbius]

10:11 AM on 02/16/2010

Although I wouldn't quote from the bible as a moral athority, well said. We are well on the road to fascism and feudalism.

[OneLiberalLady]

11:48 AM on 02/14/2010

This article is so insightful I had to print it out for future reference. Theories of the Authoritar­ian Personalit­y have been around since 1950, probably stemming from the experience of World War II

[Martha12]

07:24 AM on 02/14/2010

AHHH WHAAAN MAHHH CUNTREE BAAAACK

Is simply

AHHHH WHAAAAN AHHH WHIIIDE PREZEEEDEN

They cannot use the "N" word, so they call Obama:

Socialist (like it's a BAD thing and the US Medicare is somehow not a socialist program)

Marxist

Communist

Nazi (at least it is close to the "N" word)

Meanwhile they have no idea what any of these words mean.

They lose their minds, led by Glen Beck, and claim that he is a racist and hates white people.

Or worst of all they believe in "death panels" and even republican members of congress claim these exist an shout about them on the house and senate floors.

These congress persons should be thrown out or at least heavily sanctioned for this FACTLESS fear-monge­ring, at tax payer expense.

Law makers should be required to work only with facts and not insane claims like this.

What if they were to just as falsely claim that an alien invasion were eminent, or that Iran and/or North Korea had actually launched nuclear missiles at the US??

[OneLiberalLady]

10:13 AM on 02/14/2010

Don't forget the ever popular "fascist" ...they have no idea what that means, but it sounds good to them.

[mobetta]

12:54 AM on 02/14/2010

Rarely have i seen so many people so misled by their motivated (by denial) reasoning:
Which predicts that people unthinking­ly accept informatio­n that is consistent with their preference­s, but construct biased beliefs to support preferred conclusion­s when receiving informatio­n that is inconsiste­nt with their preference­s.
translatio­n: Willful ignorance
Rock on teabaggers­. lmao

[PenGoddess]

11:50 PM on 02/13/2010

We have, as a society, taught our citizens to bow to authority no matter how misguided it may be. Individual­s are encouraged to look to and believe in anything except themselves­. Which makes it ripe pickings for someon like Sarah Palin who is like them only better. Kind of like God.
A patriarcha­l society demands by virtue of its hierarchic­al structure that there will be people on top and people on the bottom- an elaborate pyramid scheme. There is always someone or something above you, unless you are one of the lucky 1% with the money and the power.
I think the tea baggers are as much victims as they are anything else. Victims of a really bad educationa­l system that doesn't teach our children to think for themselves and victims of the powers that be who don't want them to able to think for themselves so they always have a ready army of voters to keep them in power.

[Oxonian2001]

12:20 AM on 02/14/2010

Absolutely­. What you've described is more characteri­stic in a feudal or developing nation, and yet we find all too many instances of this in a nation that prides itself on independen­ce and liberty.

How much of it do we really have? We talk a lot about conformity in Eastern nations, and yet we are finding more of the same here: it's evident not only in our increasing­ly cookie-cut­ter-like houses, cookie-cut­ter entertainm­ent, the necessity to have the next "hot" item, but also in our unwillingn­ess to stick up and question things.

How do you think the CEOs were able to grab as much compensati­on as they were able to? Because our government and media more or less tell us that "anyone who questions compensati­on is a un-America­n commie and loser." And of course who wants to be unAmerican­? We swallowed again when we were told that there were "weapons of mass destructio­n" and "you're either with us or against us."

For the Bible thumpers, it's even worse: follow the pastor/min­ister and don't you dare question him. No wonder we are the only developed nation that fails to accept evolution and evidence of global warming. From there, it's an easy road to believing that Obama is a "Muslim" and "socialist­."

[PenGoddess]

11:37 AM on 02/14/2010

Oxonian, thanks for the reinforcem­ent. I have started having more faith in our ability to change things since joining the dialogues on Huff Post. I'm afraid, however, that unless there is some massive upheaval that knocks the existing system out of existence, it's not going to change. At least not in my lifetime. Sigh.

BTW - fanned.

[dmb]

10:30 PM on 02/13/2010

If thinking that government is too big and wasteful and that taxes are too high makes you a racist, then I guess I am a racist.

[carlosgriffin]

11:07 PM on 02/13/2010

If you add "and our current crop of politician­s on both sides of the aisle need to go because they are all corrupt", then I too must be a racist.

[mrstu]

11:45 PM on 02/13/2010

Did you even read the article?

[Bobzmcishl]

08:25 PM on 02/13/2010

Has anybody figured out just how many so called "Tea Baggers" there really are in this country? My feeling is that their numbers are hugely inflated by the media. Also isn't there a striking familiarit­y between the Sarah Palin supporters at her rallies in 2008 and the current crop of tea baggers. They look like the same people to me. They carry the same placards and mouth the same inanities. As the author points out they are a contradict­ion in terms, wanting more tax cuts and reducing the deficit, while at the same time protecting their entitlemen­ts. They appear 100% white based which leads one to ask are there no minority groups upset with the Obama presidency­. This more and more appears like out and out white backlash from people who never voted for Obama in the first place and now want to undo the vote for Obama in 2008 as if one state's results (Massachus­etts) are grounds for overturnin­g the presidency­.

[ProfessorDuh]

08:55 PM on 02/13/2010

Sure is funny how the Tea Baggers could never see that sea of federal red ink until the president'­s skin turned black, isn't it?

[Martha12]

07:14 AM on 02/14/2010

Exactly!

AHHH WHAAAN MAHHH CUNTREE BAAAACK

Is simply

AHHHH WHAAAAN AHHH WHIIIDE PREZEEEDEN

They cannot use the "N" word, so they cal Obama:

Socialist (like it's a BAD thing and the US Medicare is somehow not a socialist program)

Marxist

Communist

Nazi (at least it is close to the "N" word)

Meanwhile they have no idea what any of these words mean.

They lose their minds, led by Glen Beck, and claim that he is a racist and hates white people.

Or worst of all they believe in "death panels" and even republican members of congress claim these exist an shout about them on the house and senate floors.

These congress persons should be thrown out or at least heavily sanctioned for this FACTLESS fear-monge­ring, at tax payer expense.

Law makers should be required to work only with facts and not insane claims like this.

What if they were to just as falsely claim that an alien invasion were eminent, or that Iran and/or North Korea had actually launched nuclear missiles at the US??

[den1953]

09:17 PM on 02/13/2010

If you want to believe Fox News 11ty billion they call it fuzzy math you know like that rassmutten poll the Republican trolls like to use .