Backward, March.

In a matter of days, for the first time in history, members of something called a Tea Party will be elected to Congress. They will have catapulted into office through an ether of anger, not perfectly unified as to what is wrong, but certainly convinced of who is to blame. Liberals. Feminists. Atheists. Incumbents. RINOs. The President. The government. Anyone who lives in San Francisco. Anyone whose expression of freedom does not align perfectly with their own.

The elixir of the Tea Party is the stereotype. So allow me to return the favor.

There are only two types of Tea Partiers. The manipulators. And the manipulated. That's it.

As in any hierarchy, there are far fewer at the top; in this case, those who are clever and craven enough to use the passions of the masses against themselves. The psychological buttons are so easy to push that it hardly seems like sport. Any lie is palatable as long as it's coated in the sweet sugar of rage.

The rank and file Tea Partiers are the manipulated. They are, in a word, stupid. They are wide-eyed; but not in the way a child is wide-eyed with wonder. Instead, they are wide-eyed with hate. It is empowering and all-consuming. It is both therapeutic and paralyzing. It prevents them from making the necessary rhetorical step from 'what is wrong' to 'what must be done'.

Consequently, anything that sounds good is good.

Cut $100 billion to help reduce the national debt? Fine--but from where? 'Well, we'll get to that when we take over'.

Balance the budget by allowing corporations and the rich to pay even less? OK, exactly what parts of defense, Social Security, Medicare and corporate welfare are you targeting? 'The details will be worked out'.

If you believe you can fix government by becoming part of government, precisely what qualities do you possess which will make you immune from the forces that you believe have corrupted all who have come before you? 'I refuse to answer any more questions from the lamestream media'.

Stupid is the new smart.

But of course, there is nothing new in all this. The Tea Party is simply part of history's inexorable march of two steps forward, one step back. When progress moves too quickly for some, its gears are filled with sand. Those threatened will recoil reflexively to what is comfortable, and wallow in the mistaken memory of what once seemed to be. The fact that there never were any 'good old days' will not deter the effort to relive them.

And the Tea Party is the final response to the upheaval of the 60's. Whether its members themselves lived through that wrenching period--or are their children, raised on the nightmarish recollections of the decade--this is the last best hope to 'reclaim America'.

The one that existed before women were paid as much as men...or allowed to sit on the Supreme Court.

The one where polluters operated without oversight.

The one where every American soldier must necessarily die for a just cause.

The one where people would never utter the blasphemy, 'God is dead'.

The one where a black man could never vote, much less be elected President.

How could any right-minded person forsake the good old days?

So, we must endure this step backwards. It must play itself out.

And it will.

Old Time Religion

It's the most incisive political writing since What's the Matter with Kansas?--the New Yorker analysis of the poisoned family tree which today has born fruit in the form of the Tea Party. The lunatic right wing charges now leveled against Barack Obama are the same ones formerly cast against Woodrow Wilson, FDR, and even Republican Dwight Eisenhower. These insanities call to mind Einstein's assertion that, "...only two things are infinite: the universe, and human stupidity." As a nation, we are older, but apparently no wiser.

Most compellingly, the article weaves the modern day rants of Glenn Beck back to his spiritual predecessor, a man named W. Cleon Skousen. And I use the term 'spiritual' advisedly; Skousen was an ardent Mormon, whose beliefs were long promoted by his church. Beck, a reformed alcoholic, is a recent convert to that faith.

So, given the long held Mormon depiction of black people as devils (since rescinded), it is no surprise that not-so-hidden racism helps fuel the Tea Party anger. But it is a mistake to make that anger and the racism synonymous; there is far more to the anti-government, anti-taxation and anti-American aspects of the movement.

And one, in particular, should not be overlooked.

By the time Bill Clinton formally announced for Democratic nomination in the early 90's, millions of Americans were already warning that his wife, Hillary, would ruin the nation. She was too liberal, too uppity and far too opinionated--for a woman. And certainly more than 90% of those people who felt certain Hillary would prove the death of democracy would not have recognized her had she walked into their living rooms. No matter that they didn't know her; they knew her to be evil. Expressly because she was a woman. If there is one thing a Mormon will not abide--to this day--it is the idea of a woman standing on equal intellectual footing with a man. Men lead...and women follow. It is God's law.

And that, in turn, helps explain the irrational and terroristic views espoused about the Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. To GOP candidates this fall, running against Obama may be a home run. But running against Pelosi is a grand slam. She is the new femme fatale--the new woman who would ruin America.

Now, let me express my own opinion. America would be far better off if Pelosi had been elected in 2008 instead of Obama. With her years of experience, she understands the take-no-prisoners, suicidal obstructionism of the Republican Party. She would not have sauntered into the White House holding even the faintest belief in bipartisanship. She would have ruled with the iron hand of progressivism that is the only hope for the next generation...or two. This is the greatest fear of the right wing: a woman who understands their false bravado, and is willing to call the bully's bluff.

At the same time, it must be conceded that the anti-female credo of the Mormons and right wing extremists does allow for admission of women into the fold--as long as they are candidates who will align themselves abjectly to the dictates of their uber-male corporatist masters. The girls can be acceptable, even useful. It's OK if Fiorina and O'Donnell and Palin and Angle and Bachmann and McMahon carry the standard for the Party into office.

They don't matter. They are simply tools. They can prove their true destiny: serving their men.

Update: On Countdown this week, Nancy Pelosi delivered the following statistic: more new private sector jobs have been created during the first eight months of the Obama administration than during all eight years of the Bush presidency. This qualifies as an astounding fact...and further distances the communication effectiveness of Pelosi from the curious reticence of Mr. Reid and Mr. Obama.