Teabaggin' It Across The USA

HuffPo's Stuart Whatley argues the Teabaggers are just the natural extension of the GOP's deep-seated anti-intellectual movement.

Anti-intellectualism is defined by, inter alia, abject paranoia of the perceived educated elite -- which, in the US, is a group that's been growing for decades alongside steady economic growth, fueled by innovation. Granted, this is all very simplified, few would deny that the driving force for America's economic growth now is educated innovators. This, sure enough, will drive any future economic growth as well. Manufacturing has moved across seas, and regrettably much of American brainpower in the past few decades has been directed towards the financial sector. But that may be set to change, and the alternative is not retrogression towards willful ignorance or a widespread, intentional drop in college enrollment -- it is simply a shift in focus towards science, math and technology, whereby education remains as important as ever.

Granted, the geniuses in the financial sector who got us into this mess are a valid seed for this type of movement. Never trust anyone smarter than you, they say. Reject knowledge, embrace faith instead. That'll keep America competitive globally!

The sad fact is that there is simply no place for this type of wretched anti-intellectualism in America anymore. It can be expected from the margins, but it's troubling to see it embraced and validated by more mainstream entities. This movement represents the lost and left-behind. And, pitifully, it's a one-way street. It is not as though there are educated or "intellectual" people who crave ignorance and despise knowledge. Anti-intellectualism is a purely circumstantial outlook, whereas education or knowledge acquisition is indisputably a normative societal goal. Thus, it is no surprise that anti-intellectualism is promptly defenestrated as soon as alternative options become available. It is, in short, a last resort, knee-jerk reaction to abject desperation.

And that's really the key. The GOP is almost done for in this country as a credible party. The last time this happened, FDR and the Dems forged a generational shift that gave the Democrats control of Congress for more than fifty years. They're playing the last card they have: paranoia.

And when that fails, well, then things get ugly. That's when the fringes of what's left of the GOP is backed into a tight corner and have nothing left to lose.

[UPDATE] TPM DC's Brian Beutler covers the Teabaggers' million-dollar Astroturfing efforts from the FreedomWorks group.