A Tea Party In Your Future

For John, BLUF:  The Tea Party, due to decentralization, is going to be around for a while.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Last Semester one of the courses I took was Modern Revolutions and one of the texts we used was from Harvard Professor Theda Skocpol (our professor said that was pronounced Scotch Pole).  However, after putting forward a theory on revolutions, Professor Skocpol turned to the Tea Party phenomenon and has published a number of items on the topic.♠  I am not saying she is a fan, but she is paying attention.  So, I thought this item from The Atlantic, "Why the Tea Party Isn't Going Anywhere" was worth reading.  The subtitle is "The movement's structure means it can withstand low popularity and continue to exert a huge pull on the GOP".  While I don't agree with all of the Professor's political conclusions, I think she is making a good point about the Tea Party.  It isn't going away.

This led to another item, from Real Clear Politics, by Salena Zito, where she suggests ""Obamacare Could Go Way of Prohibition".  Surprisingly, this is an item from late October.  A lot of this coming year will turn on how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PP&ACA)♥ evolves.  I am sure that there are people who are now saying "It seemed like a good idea at the time".  The thing is, if the Madison, Wisconsin, progressive weekly Isthmus is saying it is in trouble, it is in trouble.  That doesn't mean it will go away, but it does mean that changes will be required for it to survive.  As the great Helmuth Carl Bernard Graf von Moltke once said, "No plan survives contact with the enemy."  Keep in mind that the Republicans are not the enemy here, the reality of health care is the enemy.

Hat tip to the Instapundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  For example, the 2011 The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism.
♥  What City Life host George Anthes calls "Obamacare".