Who Are the Tea Party People? - by John Dean. author of "Conservatives Without a Conscience"

[housewolf]

Great article, hope you'll read the whole thing, it has a lot of stuff we need to know


The Tea Party: Same Old Authoritarian Conservatives With a New Label

...
They call themselves the Tea Party patriots, apparently seeing themselves in the tradition of the American colonists who resisted Parliament’s Tea Act tax in 1773 by dumping three boatloads of tea in the Boston Harbor, rather than returning it. The Tea Party’s effort to find a historical connection, however, does not work.

There is no real Tea Party, by any definition of the term “party.” This is merely a label, a colorful (albeit historically-distorted) rebranding of the GOP’s right wing. The Tea Party is really a new amalgamation of radical conservative groups who have been around a long time: evangelical bible-thumpers of the religious right; extreme anti-abortion and anti-women’s-rights groups; those who want guns (if not well-stocked arsenals) in every home and office with annual tithes to the National Rife Association; the sons and daughters, as well as a few grandchildren, of the John Birch Society loonies (who knew all along that Dwight Eisenhower was a communist); people who oppose any inter-marriage of races, and, God forbid, same-sex marriages between those they see as perverts; groups who would end the separation of church and state; and people who get most of their political information from right-wing radio, the Fox News Channel, the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, their prayer groups, or a few select right-wing Internet sites. Ironically, few in this movement understand that those who provide the money that is spreading the messages that are manipulating them probably believe them to be fools for following an agenda that is not in their best interests.

The Tea Party movement is an orchestrated undertaking that is underwritten by big corporate money, with hard-right corporate conservative views. The puppeteers here are pushing a radical agenda to remove, if possible, or significantly weaken, all government influence and regulation in the marketplace. The movement seeks to disrupt the processes, by gaming the system, in order to de-legitimatize government. They believe that, by making government fail, they will ensure that Democrats in general, and Barack Obama in particular, will lose future elections. And the Tea Party backers and supporters utterly despise our first African-American president.

Notwithstanding glib slogans and faux patriotism, the Tea Party thinks that government has only a few responsibilities (most, if not all, of which can be subcontracted out to the private sector), namely: keeping public order, protecting private property; defending the country against foreign enemies; permitting the marketplace to self-regulate; allowing the intelligent and shrewd to prosper while the less gifted, unlucky, or meek fail because we are not all equal; keeping all taxes to the absolute minimum while eliminating all “death taxes” so that wealth can be accumulated by the “job creators,” to be passed on to their progeny—to highlight but a few core principles of their thinking.

Tea Party Followers: Conservatives Without Conscience

more...
http://verdict.justia.com/2011/07/29/the-tea-party/

[BlueCaliDem]

1. That's why I, like Rep Jim McDermott, call them Tea BAGGERS, not Tea Partiers

because TeaBaggers do just that for big money corporations...They lie on their back with mouth wide open and take it again and again and again...

They disgust me.

[BeFree]

2. They do like being trickled down on

[MyshkinCommaPrince]

3. Good link. Thank you.

The 15-page analysis of the Tea Party is interesting, too.

Edit. I'd be interested to know if the US has an average number of authoritarian personalities in the population, or greater than average.

[Scottybeamer70]

4. Finally.......someone who tells it like it is.

There is NO tea party...........it's just the rabid right of the republican party. When they take a vote in the House, do you see
a sign that says, "Tea Party"? No.........just repubs and dems.........if there were an actual tea party, then they would be
included in the voting totals.

[mwb970]

5. The article includes a perfect thumbnail description of the enemy.

Allow me to summarize Bob Altemeyer’s core findings. For purposes of illustration, he highlighted a dozen conspicuous authoritarian traits in the Tea Party: (1) they are more submissive than most to their leaders, and they take direction without question; (2) they are easily frightened and their leaders keep them that way; (3) they wear their self-righteousness on their sleeves, e.g., with their assertion that they are “the true Americans;” (4) they are highly aggressive, so they lash out at those with whom they do not agree; (5) critical thinking and logic escapes them, and they rely upon simplistic slogans to answer complex questions; (6) they inflate problems, and they find an endless supply of our “biggest problems”; (7) they hold conflicting and contradictory beliefs, which does not trouble them, because their thinking is compartmentalized; (8) double standards are totally acceptable to them, so they can be highly critical of others who do exactly what they do, or have done; (9) they feel empowered when in groups, and gain strength by remaining together with like-minded others; (10) they are highly dogmatic, since they do not know why they believe what they do, and they do not question themselves; (11) they are ethnocentric and constantly judge others and events from an “us versus them” point of view; and (12) they are prejudiced, and often racist, although some do not realize it or believe it when confronted.

Nailed it!

[MBS]

7. Wow, he really did nail it. Thanks for excerpt. n/t

[MBS]

6. this looks really good, thanks for posting.

I've been saying this for weeks in a less articulate way (as in "It seems like I've been fighting these people all my life"). .but it looks like John Dean nailed it. I look forward to reading the whole thing.

[ellenrr]

8. I always enjoyed John Dean (to my surprise) when he was on Olbermann's show.

He has integrity, and he actually learns from experience.

[housewolf]

9. oh he's good friends with Keith

They re-tweet each other's tweets often. Both are proliferative tweeters.

He's such a smart man, I'm so glad he's seen the light re the conservatives and writes about it. His book, "Conscience of a Conservative" is terrific.

[SusanaMontana41]

10. K&R, because everyone needs to read this. n/t

[66 dmhlt]

11. My response while reading "Conservatives Without a Conscience"

Yes
YES
YES!
HELL YES!
DAMN RIGHT!

When a former Nixon capo (Dean) and former right-wing presidential candidate (Barry Goldwater) team up to denounce the Repubican Party ... well, that pretty much makes it a "Must-Read"!

[Blue_Tires]

12. kick

[The Wizard]

13. Rabid radical reckless Repubes

They never bargain in good faith and throw temper tantrums. Obama's mistake was talking to them as if they were normal. It's a pathology manifested in cognitive dissonance.