The Tea Party

[poliphilo]

We all hate government, right? Except the North Koreans. And maybe even they hate government deep down inside, where nobody can see. Government is always corrupt and stupid and disgusting. However, if you want to have a society of any degree of complexity you can't manage without it.  The bigger, more complex the society, the bigger, more complex its government has to be. 

The Tea Party dream is a dream of log cabins and coonskin hats and long-barrelled flintlock rifles. It's the dream Daniel Boone carried around with him, but which faded whenever he paused to set up a fort- which needs soldiers, administrators, law officers, decision makers- ie: government. It's a lovely dream if you fancy living way out on the edge- as a rugged 18th century individualist- and I can see why people buy into it- but there's no way you can make a 21st century nation conform to it without returning that nation to the wilderness. 

Comments

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

I don't think they even know what government is.

They use "big government" as a code word for "socialism," which itself is a code word for social welfare--or rather, anything that doesn't fit the rugged, individualist, capitalist narrative that they've been fed by corporate media outlets like Fox. There are some social welfare programs that they like, or at least pay much less attention to.

Among folks like this, military spending is a non-issue, but they will raise a huge fuss about foreign aid. It's only big government if you don't like it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The Tea Party is a romantic, populist movement. It's all about emotion, not thought- which makes it very easy to manipulate.