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- There isn't much new to say about John Judis' retrospective on the origins of the Tea Partiers except that these types have always been a fixture of American politics, and tend to be at their most prominent when a Democrat is in the White House. That said, the animating impulse running through the different components of tea party resentment is the belief that lazy and unproductive dependents of government assistance are unfairly taking resources from the productive members of society. Whether it's food subsidies for low-income children, the physically disabled, or welfare Emergency Fund recipients, it all comes down to "Rejecting American traditions of hard work, self-sufficiency, and honesty, they [liberals] encourage Americans to learn how to game the system -- sucking the maximum resources out of our country while contributing the minimum."
- I don't even know where to begin with this Reihan Salam opinion piece on the GOP comeback of 2010. The awkward juxtaposition of a political scientist's reasoned take on the election with a Republican political strategist's groundless and inflated predictions? The inability to understand that predictions about the "death of conservatism" two years ago were chronicles of conservatism's decline as a coherent political philosophy? The tired argument that Obama's "approach to economic governance" has alienated former supporters and made them take a second look at the GOP? The penultimate sentence -- "This could be wishful thinking on my part" -- is the sort of caveat that should have appeared in the first paragraph.
- The right-wing assault on education in Texas has been going on for some time, but I'm almost at a loss for words to describe how offensive their anti-intellectualism is. The world of this alternative reality is one in which the United States was chosen by God not only to promote free enterprise, but also the "Atlantic triangular trade" -- that's slavery to you and me. It is one that emphasizes "scientific advances through military technology" and drops mention of noted liberal activist Sir Isaac Newton. It is one that actually doesn't respect history, fact or the truth at all but aims to produce the antithesis of critical thinking based on settled fact. That they might get away with it makes me sick.
- Remainders: If our politics weren't insane, we wouldn't need people pointing out that terrorists are often motivated by U.S. foreign policy choices; Maureen Tkacik discusses journalism in the age of branding; it would be nice if Democrats stopped pretending to believe in bipartisanship; and feel the Kausmentum!
--Mori Dinauer
