During today's rowing session part of my audio time shifting was an excellent Christopher Lydon conversion with Vanessa Williamson on Radio Open Source. Vanessa is a grad student at Harvard who spent two years interviewing tea party members... some really excellent insight.
My own notion is fairly similar - this is a generational reaction of older white and socially conservative people to change - the same change that the much younger occupy folks were reacting to and perhaps the beginning of a major generational break in the US.
Vanessa's book is probably worth reading.
audio of the interview is here (39 minute mp3)
Tea Partiers want to slice this country up into an Orio Cookie. They'll hand over the east and west ends to the slackers and keep the creamy white middle.
Posted by: Roger | June 02, 2012 at 19:09
Theories abound, but I do believe that the most unstated fear of tea party members is the declining ratio of "Caucasians ('white and beautiful') relative to Mongolians ('brown and ugly')." The dying taboo of interracial marriages and the recessive white gene foretell of a time when tea party members will be so fortunate if their world contains more Nelson Mandelas. Oh, that they might wipe clean the pages of history.
Posted by: Roger | June 03, 2012 at 08:03