Boiling Mad: Behind the Lines in Tea Party America - Political Book on Conservative Movement & US Politics | Great for History Buffs & Political Science Students

"Boiling Mad" is a fun read as well as totally engrossing. I gobbled it up in a single sitting. It is about the rise of the Tea Party. The author Kate Zernike describes it as a grass roots movement using techniques of Move-on.org and the Obama campaign. The organizers are young and internet-savvy. But they have help from some GOP operatives including FreedomWorks (Dick Army) and Tea Party Express (funded by Koch brothers I think). They are angry about bailouts and about economic conditions in general. They avoid social issues by design and focus on economic issues. They have two classic American traits: blanket distrust of institutions and an astonishing and unwarranted confidence in self. "They are apocalyptic pessimists in public life and naïve optimists when it cones to their own powers." This is the thing I find most difficult to understand about not just Tea Partiers but the right wing anti-government crowd in general. This author points to the anti-Obama rhetoric, which the liberal media says is racial, but Zernike says is a reflection of peoples' reaction to change: the world doesn't look like it did when they grew up. They fear or dislike this new world. I think there is a lot to that.They are constitutional originalists and treat the constitution much like the Bible: received text. They have the same mentality as evangelicals in that respect. But their interpretation of the Constitution comes from some weird sources, notably a book called 5000 Years (promoted by Glenn Beck) and writings by Francis Fukyama. They venerate the Tenth Amendment and want to--this is very odd-- repeal the 17th amendment (direct election of Senators) in the name of states' rights; repeal of the 16th (income tax) I could understand.Other connectionsZernicke quotes an article by Mark Lilla in May 2010 NY Review of Books, which expands on the Tea Party fantasy of self-sufficiency (Tea Party Jacobians). Lilla says for more than ½ century Americans have been rebelling in the name of individual freedom. Tea Party is an outgrowth of that. Some want to be freer still. They want to be a people without rules. Very interesting and provocative article. This mentality has more in common with 60s liberals (as he points out) and is a very far cry from the traditional conservative. The central value of the conservative mind set, according to George Lakoff, is respect for authority; they love law and order and the military. Tea Party Zeitgeist is the polar opposite of that of the traditional conservatives.Rachel Maddow had a great piece on September 23, 2010 showing the Fox crowd whining for their French fries, and criticizing Michelle Obama's healthy-eating campaign. It demonstrated every point in Mark Lilla's article. These folks aren't conservative or Libertarian. They are merely oppositional and defiant.On October 2, 2010, I watched a CNN special "Right on the Edge," about young conservative "activists." They are actually internet saboteurs. The CNN commentator described them as people who want "no rules and no boundaries." Ties in perfectly with Mark Lilla's theory.