State of the Union: A Status Report on the Far Right by Sara Robinson

[Shallah Kali]

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010010428/state-union-status-report-far-right

"There's another group of people that are actually more interesting right now," Chip explained. Dr. Robert Altemeyer, who did the original research on right-wing authoritarian followers, found that there's a second slice of the American populace—about the same size as the first one, or slightly bigger—who are conservative by temperament, but don't live full-time in that same overwrought, hyper-vigilant, paranoid space that the ultra-right wing authoritarian 10 percent do. This group, Chip said, usually hews closer to the political center-right, keeping themselves at some distance from the really wild-eyed True Believers in the next cohort farther out.

But according to Altemeyer, I pointed out, these people tend to move away from the center and embrace hard-line conservatism if they're under extreme social or economic stress, right? Exactly right, said Chip. It's happened several times before in American history. (One example: In Nixonland, Rick Perlstein documented how, back in the mid-1960s, conservative suburban homeowners were driven into the arms of the far right by their fear of neighborhood integration in the wake of fair housing laws. The political careers of both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan where launched on the resulting tide of rage). And it's precisely what's happening again now.

This faction's rightward march is being driven by the Tea Party movement, which is organizing the core of this second slice. It's actively decoupling itself from the center-right position of the GOP's mainstream, and forming stronger alliances with the ultra-right 10-percenters—creating a super-right-wing faction that includes upwards of 25-30 percent of the country.

snip

# The ultra-right is in this fight for life. Many of them were raised in families which have clung to extremist beliefs for generations. But for those joining the new Tea Party movement, their activism is more situational. They haven't done anything like this before. They're only stepping up now because they're worried and frustrated (as we all are) about the way power is being used in Washington and Wall Street. There's no telling how strong their commitment to this new alliance is, or how long it will last.
# The Tea Party congealed due to significant funding from GOP lobbyists, with a huge assist from Roger Ailes at Fox. You occasionally find the odd antediluvian fat cat giving money to ultra-right racist, nationalist, and militia groups, too; but it's been a long while since this faction got the kind of concentrated corporate fertilizer that's being lavished on the teabaggers.

Much more at the link:
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010010428/state-union-status-report-far-right

BTW Bob Altemeyer's - The Authoritarians can be read or downloaded for free here: http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/