1Perry
Banned
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2011
- Messages
- 7,624
- Reaction score
- 1,859
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Libertarian
Morgan Freeman is entitled to his opinion. Other very well informed people, too, have reached that same conclusion; he's not alone. I think it's more complex than simple racism though.
Personally, the Tea Party people are primarily reactionaries. They are fundamentally white, upper middle class conservative people, fellow baby boomers, who see the world they know rapidly passing them by. By mid century Caucasians will merely be the plurality in this country, no longer the majority. People of color are finally being fully integrated into American society, and, yes, they aren't exactly comfortable with that; they simply cannot imagine a black family living in the upper quarters of the White House. Known homosexuals are no longer being automatically and universally shunned. Government is playing an increasingly more important role in our complex society. Agnosticism and atheism are among the fastest spreading religious persuasions. And, America is just a leading country among increasingly competitive nations around the world.
All of this was enough to deliver the angry white guy phenomenon of previous elections. But, now, on top of it all add the increasingly crushing pressure on the middle class to maintain their current lifestyles during a period of falling home values, flat salaries, a quarter of the population out of work or under employed, a federal government running trillion dollar deficits and these people have gone postal. They have become so irrational, that you see signs saying, "Keep your government hands off my medicare!"
The Tea Party people would be sympathetic if they weren't so ugly in their bizarre, even insane accusations and causes. We are faced with an irrational political movement which has already damaged the credit rating of the American nation and may be capable of far more harm going forward. Are they racist? Probably, yes, somewhat, but, probably in terms of what's really important, the thing to focus on is that they suffer from a kind of fear that is founded on a potent, intoxicating mixture of fact and fiction that makes them impervious to reasoned argument and compromise. The Tea Party is one of those forces of nature that must be diverted, deflected and survived.
There is no reasoned arguement for putting the country further in debt and they are absolutely right to not compromise that position. In the end, that's what has the left so pissed. The Tea Party has taken away the blank check.