| The Tea Party vs. the Intellectuals: A Movement of Attitude, not Ideas
Harris, Lee
Policy Review, June 2010, #161, online edition
"Intellectual critics of the Tea Party movement most often attack it for its lack of ideas, especially new ideas — and these critics have a point. But the point they are making reveals as much about them as it does about the Tea Party. Behind the criticism lies the implicit assumption that comes quite naturally to American intellectuals: Namely, that a political movement ought be motivated by ideas and that a new political movement should provide new ideas. But the Tea Party movement is not about ideas. It is all about attitude, like the attitude expressed by the popular poster seen at all Tea Party rallies. Over the head of a hissing rattlesnake threatening to strike is inscribed the defiant slogan so popular among our revolutionary ancestors: “Don’t tread on me!” The old defiant motto is certainly not a new idea. In fact, it is not an idea at all. It is a warning."
Lee Harris is the author of The Next American Civil War: The Populist Revolt Against the Liberal Elite.
Go to the article at:
http://www.hoover.org/publications/policy-review/article/5387
C9/03-10. Posted August 25, 2010
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