Great op/ed in the L.A. Times:
Most 'tea party' followers are baby boomers reliving the '60s
By Jim Spencer and Curtis Ellis
[snip]
The tea party is a harbinger of midlife crisis, not political crisis. For men of a certain age, it offers a counterculture experience familiar from adolescence -- underground radio, esoteric tracts, consciousness-raising teach-ins and rallies replete with extroverted behavior to shock the squares -- all paid for with ample cash.
The partyers are essentially replaying the '60s protest paradigm. (We're aging boomers ourselves, so we know it when we see it.) They fancy themselves the vanguard of a revolution, when in fact they are typical self-absorbed, privileged children used to having their way -- now -- and uninhibited about complaining loudly when they don't. It's the same demographic Spiro Agnew called "an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals."
Ouch. Dirty fucking hippies with American Express cards.
Just when I was getting used to the idea of "them" as knuckle-dragging, buck-toothed, inbred morons.