Posted on 08/17/2011 10:12:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
If you thought the Tea Party was a product of GOP masterminds or the Great Recession, think again.
In an op-ed in today's New York Times, big-name political scientists Robert Putnam and David Campbell examine the origins of the Tea Party movement.
Turns out, it is basically just the latest iteration of the Christian Right.
According to Putnam and Campbell, next to being a Republican, the best predictor of a Tea Partier was the desire to see more religion in politics:
"Tea Partiers continue to hold these views: they seek “deeply religious” elected officials, approve of religious leaders engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government."
As Putnam and Campbell point out, the religious inclination of the movement explains why disapproval of the Tea Party is actually on the rise — even as Americans have grown slightly more fiscally conservative as a whole, they have become more opposed to mixing God and politics.
A recent NYT/CBS poll revealed that 40% of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the Tea Party, compared to just 18% in April 2010. Meanwhile, Tea Party supporters have slipped from 21% to 20% in the same period. The Tea Party ranks lower than Republicans, Democrats, "Muslims," and "atheists." The only group with the same degree of unpopularity is the Christian Right.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
See the original NY Times hit piece on the Tea Party here :
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/opinion/crashing-the-tea-party.html?_r=3
TITLE: Crashing the Tea PartyBy DAVID E. CAMPBELL and ROBERT D. PUTNAM
Published: August 16, 2011
See the original NY Times hit piece on the Tea Party here :
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/opinion/crashing-the-tea-party.html?_r=3
TITLE: Crashing the Tea Party
By DAVID E. CAMPBELL and ROBERT D. PUTNAM
Published: August 16, 2011
LOL - They won’t understand until it’s too late for them.
I’m the furthest thing from Christian Right, but...I’m definitely Tea Party.
We the People. THAT’s who started the “Tea Party Movement.”
They just cannot believe U.S. citizens care enough about the country to not turn over like whipped dogs.
bump.
All the Tea Party events and Tea Party Board meetings I’ve been to have concentrated on taxes, debt, Constitution, and national security. Nine will get you ten this guy’s never been to a meeting or event.
I know several people in the Tea Party who are not socially conservative, but who are fiscally conservative and know the other two sides, the Dims and Repubes will not lead the country out of the collapse they see comming.
They are willing to put some of their idealogical differences concerning social issues on the back burner and support the TEA party because they know that if the country economically collapses that we all will be pining for the good olde days when we used to have the time to complain about social issues in the first place.
Every who is unique and different in some way that prevents a bunch o'who's from coelescing.
The what is the key to our unity and cohesion.
Our definition of patriot f'rinstance, hearkens back to colonial America and not contemporary entitlement politics.
THEY don't accept our what, thus ... they are they and our what makes us we.
Me and millions like me, no leaders required, we think for ourselves.
Probably, a heck of a lot of people that believe in family, country, morality, rules and a generally agreed upon concept of society.
They won't dig past the “Christian right” label because they know they will expose to their ruin that the beliefs of the Tea party movement encompass the “Christian Right, The non-Christian Center-left to right and most of the dang thinking country that is evenly remotely paying attention.
Bump! Well stated.
TEA Party
TEA = Taxed. Enough. Already
This is a classic case of the reporter: “did not do the research.”
Funny and frustrating at the same time. I am a Tea Partier. I also am a fairly conservative Christian but the last person I want as president is another Christian Socialist like Lyndon Baines Bush or Nanny Huckabee. I would vote for an atheist—Hell, I’d vote for Satan himself—if I knew he could cut government spending and government employment in half by the end of his term.
The frustrating part is that a lot of low information voters believe this BS and think the Tea Party is a Christian conservative plot, funded by the Koch brothers and evil Rove, to foist a theocracy on the US.
“The frustrating part is that a lot of low information voters believe this BS and think the Tea Party is a Christian conservative plot, funded by the Koch brothers and evil Rove, to foist a theocracy on the US”
The left rails against theocracy while demanding that follow LeftWingGodvernment without question.
Same here.I’m a believer but I’m not looking to inject Jesus into government. I’m all about smaller government, less spending, and fewer taxes though. I’m happy to be an enemy of Islam too of course.
“The frustrating part is that a lot of low information voters believe this BS and think the Tea Party is a Christian conservative plot, funded by the Koch brothers and evil Rove, to foist a theocracy on the US”
The left rails against theocracy while demanding that ALL follow LeftWingGodvernment without question.
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