A reflection. The scariest thing on earth at the moment is not Iran, or North Korea, or the Taliban or terrorists. One need look no further than the Tea Party supporters in America. They are our greatest threat.
Point one: I spent much of last week on business in the United States where the talk of the town, erupting volcanoes aside, was on the Tea Party and their various rallies on the East Coast. In my wanderings and discussions, Americans – as is their wont – brought up the Tea Party on several occasions and I was face-to-face with the unbiased hatred these otherwise sane Americans have when speaking about Obama and the work being done by Congress and the Obama administration.
Point two: On Sunday morning I chatted with my papa, who is freshly returned from six weeks at the condo in Bradenton, Florida, and who was so repulsed (tough word I know, but it applies) by the conversations of Tea Party supporters at the condo pool, he had to leave. His interactions with Americas mirrored my own.
Point three: The New York Times had an interesting (if sad) article on this group of passionate (if sorrily misguided) Americans on Sunday and a recent poll conducted on them by a New York Times/CBS News poll. See here. It makes for thoroughly disturbing reading.
All this to say …
America, as I have long said, is a nation in severe decline. Currently, eighteen percent of Americans identify themselves as Tea Party supporters. A Tea Party supporter’s world world is black and white – not the necessary gray so vital to civil understanding. A Tea Party supporter’s world advocates the elimination of Congress and President. This in a country that calls itself a democracy.
We have in America at the moment roughly 60 million people who have turned their noses up at the very notion of elections and voting. They seem to believe, despite an election they participated in and a democracy they purport to support, that their views trump the democratic process.
AppsScraps 
One more thing: Portland, Oregon’s 18-35 year-old set is only 7% registered Republican. Hot. Take me back!
There’s a book I’m reading at the moment, The Big Sort. It’s about how Americans have been sorting themselves into different regions, cities, and neighborhoods for the past 40 years. One of the underlying themes is that the Republican base is withering, so in its final moments, it’ll get more and more extreme to try to cater to a declining populous. In the meantime, liberals are getting comfortable in their lead and don’t feel the urge to scream their politics. Just because we’re quiet doesn’t mean we’re losing.The point is that Republicans, absent some big policy shifts, are in their last days. Period. The 25-39 demographic is about 60D-30R, and the 18-24 demographic is about 70D-15R. Plus, there are right-wingers who deny logic in every country. American news media is simply ratings-greedy enough to give the crazies some airtime.I urge you to check out that book. It’s good. And much of the information applies to Canada and Western Europe as well.
I have to agree with your evaluation of USA. I live in Florida as your know and just avoid any discussion about the Tea Party and anti-government ideas. I am not sure what happened to our minds. Maybe I will move too. My own feeling is that there is a racial bias still at work here.
What I’m curious about is how this “movement” will play itself out once they actually have to start choosing candidates to support. They will quickly discover that their candidates are part of the system they claim not to like, as is their Social Security, Medicare, and all the other government services so vital to their daily existence.
yikes, there are that many supporters of the tea party? maybe i’ll move to canada!