The Tea Party Has Lost Bobo

And if you've lost Bobo, then you've lost the Village.

But we can have no confidence that the Republicans will seize this opportunity. That’s because the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.

The members of this movement do not accept the logic of compromise, no matter how sweet the terms. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch in order to cut government by a foot, they will say no. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch to cut government by a yard, they will still say no.

The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities. A thousand impartial experts may tell them that a default on the debt would have calamitous effects, far worse than raising tax revenues a bit. But the members of this movement refuse to believe it.

The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency. A nation makes a sacred pledge to pay the money back when it borrows money. But the members of this movement talk blandly of default and are willing to stain their nation’s honor.

The members of this movement have no economic theory worthy of the name. Economists have identified many factors that contribute to economic growth, ranging from the productivity of the work force to the share of private savings that is available for private investment. Tax levels matter, but they are far from the only or even the most important factor.

But to members of this movement, tax levels are everything. Members of this tendency have taken a small piece of economic policy and turned it into a sacred fixation. They are willing to cut education and research to preserve tax expenditures. Manufacturing employment is cratering even as output rises, but members of this movement somehow believe such problems can be addressed so long as they continue to worship their idol. 

Congrats, David Brooks.  It only took you a couple years to figure out what most of us got in the first five minutes of seeing the Tea Party rallies in 2009.  Your complete cluelessness is only exceeded by your utter lack of self-awareness in your role enabling these clowns to wreck our country in the first place.

You defended their racial dog whistles, you defended their populist manipulation, you defended their radicalism, you defended their birther nonsense, and you did it whenever you found it was convenient to do so, then you decided to piss and moan about how awful they are.

You helped put them there, Brooks.  Do go away, we're sick of you.