Who is supporting the Tea Party? (Congress, suspect, solutions, myth)
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I would guess that it's people who really mean well, believe that the US used to be #1 and should have stayed that way, who think that the tax burden is too much and that taxes pay for too many unnecessary things. The average tea party supporter would like a president who is "of the people;" in olden times, you would have applied "commoner" as a label to such a person. This preference is so strong that they will outright reject anyone who could be intellectual by most standards - rather a "C" student who knows how to build a house than a Rhodes Scholar who has never wielded a hammer. You see, the latter would never synch with their understanding of the world.
Basically, however, supporters of the tea party don't want anything substantially different from the average Joe.
The only problem is, of course, that they are applying a very narrow understanding of the world in an attempt to solve intricate problems.
Naturally, they don't know what they don't know - just like anybody else. To them, their understanding of the world is extensive while it is clear to outsiders that this is not the case. Since there is just about always someone more intelligent, more educated, and more experienced than us, we all seem painfully dumb to someone. To the average supporter, WE are the stupid ones - as is evident in many threads on CD - and in a sense, they are right. We are stupid because we cannot comprehend their world and their solutions to the problems. They (solutions and tea party supporters) seem so utterly out-of-touch with reality - our reality, that is, because they are painfully simplistic but provide a superficial response to current issues.
Thus (and I've only gleaned this from discussions on this non-representative forum), the average tea partier is unable to comprehend that people may be substantially different from them, may face challenges unknown to them, and may have different needs and desires than them. They think they know, but it's clear from their arguments that they really don't.
Again, you cannot really blame them. Like anyone, they can only draw upon their own insights, interpretations, and comprehension to make sense of the world around them. Thus, their proposed solutions are reflective of such an understanding.
In that sense, they are no different than any supporter of any political party...
On the other hand, the apparent anti-intellectualism does speak volumes and, in my humble opinion, places them pretty far down on the totem pole... Then again, I am an outsider to that group and can only intellectualize who they are, what they want, what they stand for, and why. That process alone makes me a fool in their eyes...
Financially the usual suspects, namely the Kochs, but public opinion sure has waned...
...current polling shows a whopping 82% of Americans disapprove of Congress (including a 72% disapproval of the Republican House); and waning support for the Tea Party itself. It must be asked, is there then really a “mandate” for the changes the hard right proposes? The answer has to be “no”! Tea Party "mandate" purely a myth - myles spicer - Open Salon
But, we all know that the Tea Party we speak of was hijacked and polluted.
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