About those teabaggers in Congress causing all the pain . . . . . . consider this:

[Stinky The Clown]

They are nothing if not reflections of the voters back home who put them there. For every outrageous quip, for every hateful vote, for every assault on the public good, there are cheers back home.

Imagine a crowd of older white people, armed to the teeth, tricorner hats and yellow flags in evidence, cheering, yelling encouragement, getting louder at any mention of stopping the black guy they see as squatting illegally in the White House.

We've all seen such people on television, if not in person. They are real. They are the overwhelming majority in 80 house districts. They out-poll by approximately 20% reasonable people in their districts. They voted these hateful people into office as reflections of their own hatred.

And they got what they wanted.

[LiberalLoner]

1. Is there any hope for the future?

Or will the older, white angry teabaggers just be replaced with a new generation equally nuts?

[onehandle]

3. Not based on surveys of young people and Latinos.

This is the last gasp of a racist, gun loving, bunch of old cranks.

[LiberalLoner]

9. So the future will be better? Like maybe ten years from now, the teabaggers are gone?

[onehandle]

10. Maybe, somewhat.

Hopefully none of them will sign up for Obamacare and go down with the ship.

[kelliekat44]

17. Yes, sooner or later they die out. nt

[City Lights]

2. Yep.

Sad state of affairs.

[newfie11]

4. I am beginning to there is mass insanity afoot in America

Why on earth would cause rational people to elect idiots to congress.
Why would they vote against their best interest.

[Myrina]

8. Because they don't want to consider anyone ELSE's best interests, just their own.

Indiana is TeaBagistan in a a microcosm: mean spirited rednecks who would step on their grandmother's throat if they thought she was getting a dollar she didn't "deserve" and who will spy, snark and narc on their neighbor for the same reason, yet lie, cheat and steal to make sure they can get a 'one up' on the rest of the crowd and say with a straight face that they - and only they - deserve a break.

[JHB]

13. Required reading:

The Paranoid Style in American Politics

The Paranoid Style in American Politics[1] is an essay by American historian Richard J. Hofstadter, first published in Harper's Magazine in November 1964; it served as the title essay of a book by the author in the same year. Written at a time when Senator Barry Goldwater had won the Republican Presidential nomination over the more moderate Nelson A. Rockefeller, Hofstadter's article explores the influence of conspiracy theory and "movements of suspicious discontent" throughout American history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paranoid_Style_in_American_Politics

http://www.amazon.com/Paranoid-Style-American-Politics-Vintage/dp/0307388441

(or do a search for other sources... or try your local library)

[newfie11]

16. Thanks for this

[Skidmore]

5. Yes, and they have held tight to their original plan while

the left dithered and dinked around and while some decided to stay home and not vote to teach pols a lesson. Redistricting laws are drawin within states and if you don't show up you don't count.

[HereSince1628]

6. Yes, Koch-propagandized voters presented with ballots of Koch approved candidates

So, absolutely, the tea-baggers all got elected in straight-up fair elections that reflected the innate interest of the people of a diverse nation...or at least some facsimile of something like an election.

[jehop61]

7. Never assume

Many of us "older"DUers don't subscribe to teabagger ideology. My staunchest righty critics are twenty somethings raised on a steady diet of Rush and Faux. Generalizations are unhelpful.

[Stinky The Clown]

15. Uh .... I don't think I suggested "older" (why the quotes?) DUers held teabagger views.

The OP was about the people who voted for the Tea Party reps now causing all this grief. I stand by my posit. You may wish to brush up on reading comprehension.

[malaise]

11. Stinky they are all ReTHUGs

Do not give them a pass

[jeff47]

12. They were reflections of voters

But they made a critical mistake - they made it real.

Let's talk about some of the folks at my former workplace, who worked for the federal government. Fox News was on in most of the break rooms every day, to give you an idea of the general political alignment. And the teabaggers won a lot of votes with vague promises and philosophical arguments. Then the teabaggers shoved the country into the sequester.

Suddenly, it was real for those federal employees - they got a huge pay-cut due to furloughs. The programs they run and believe in got slashed. They started having to worry about getting laid off - with their program shrinking, some managers were thinking about reducing headcount to avoid furloughs. It really didn't take long for those breakroom TVs to change to another channel. And those former fans of the teabaggers now seethe with hatred. It was "those people" who were supposed to suffer, not me!

The Republicans just made it real for a much, much larger part of the country.

Lots of small business people are going to find out they can save a ton of money on health insurance due to "Obamacare", and their SBA loan is not going to be processed due to Republicans trying to undo that. Suddenly, there's a reason for them to vote besides "party of business".

Vets who stood around shouting "Kenyan socialist!" are going to find the VA running out of money if this lasts a month...that's gonna make it quite real for them.

And so on.

If we were sociopaths, we'd want this shutdown to last a while. Because it's overwhelmingly viewed as caused by the Republicans, and the pain from it is going to be blamed on Republicans. "Unfortunately", we're not sociopaths.

[spanone]

14. gerrymandering has given a voice to the minority/rule by majority