What The Tea Party Is *Really* All About

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-09-13-column13_ST1_N.htm

The Tea Party's unifying bogeyman: the socialist

By Paul Froese
Some worry that the amorphous "Tea Party" is seething with racism. But if we listen to the leaders and media stars of the Tea Party, we hear little about racial enemies and a lot about ideological enemies. And the greatest ideological enemy is the socialist.

Yes, the fear of socialism, or to use a phrase that was thought to be a thing of the past — the Red Menace — is taken very seriously by Tea Party supporters. As it was in the 1950s, socialism (a kind of communism-lite) is something that many Americans love to hate. This re-energized hatred has produced some strange political bedfellows.

Why do libertarians and conservative Christians tolerate each other at Tea Party rallies? The libertarian wants greater freedom, presumably to have abortions, marry whomever and worship or not at will. This is a far cry from the family values of conservative Christians. But the conservative Christian and the libertarian equally despise socialism, and in their shared disgust they find tolerance for one another.

Libertarians hate the socialist because he or she threatens their liberty and takes their money through taxation. But there is a different and often overlooked reason why conservative Christians fear the socialist: Because the socialist is also an atheist.

Encroaching secularization

The anti-religious agenda of the left is something that conservative Christians take seriously. This will surprise liberals who tend to have no real religious agenda except to guarantee that religious liberty is protected. But most conservative Christians do not see it this way. They tend to feel embattled by the encroaching forces of secularization. And while Tea Party celebrities such as Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck continue to stoke the flames of libertarian ire, they simultaneously and somewhat ironically fuel concerns about the decline of Christianity.

Some observers in the media expressed surprise that Beck and other speakers at his recent "Restoring Honor" rally in Washington spoke so fervently and somewhat exclusively about God. The rally's organizers even touted it as an apolitical gathering. But references to God are highly political, especially when the underlying message is that good Christians need to be worried about the dawning of a new era of godlessness. That was the thrust of Beck's message. Tea Party supporters can easily tell you who is imposing this anti-Christian ethos: the socialist.

Merging concerns

The historical roots of the Tea Party are not really found in the deism of the Founding Fathers nor the racism of the segregated South. Rather, this growing movement is a direct descendent of the Red Scare. And, like the Red Scare, the Tea Party appeals to a wide range of Americans, many of whom are at direct odds over very central issues of freedom and religion. By reducing libertarian and conservative Christian concerns to a common enemy, the Tea Party has become a very potent political force.

Who exactly are the Tea Party's socialist enemies? In answering this question, we must return to the issue of race. The fear of socialism is strengthened by the idea that wealth redistribution is especially attractive to minority groups. Racial minorities, therefore, become dangerous to the extent that they are the pawns of the socialist menace.

If we trace this logic, it becomes clear why Beck is concerned with the legacy of Martin Luther King. He and his followers desperately want to show that Dr. King, too, was scared of socialists. And if they can do that, the Tea Party tent just got bigger.

Paul Froese is a sociologist at Baylor University and author of The Plot to Kill God and the forthcoming America's Four Gods.