Yet, while the Tea Party’s inchoate sense that liberty is dying is distinct from the evangelicals’ perception that they are on the losing end of a culture war, both groups echo Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) Randian rhetoric about a culture of “dependency” fueled by government programs. And both groups warn that this dependency places conservatives on the losing end of American democracy. Obamacare and similar programs are akin to bribes that Democrats offer to get “the votes for the next time.” according to one evangelical voter. A Tea Party voter draws an even crisper line between social welfare and Democratic success at the polls — “we’ll give you insurance, we’ll give you money. That’s why he got elected,” she says of President Obama. And if Obamacare is fully implemented, both wings believe that the Democratic Party could become a permanent majority party. Once Obama adds the newly insured to his base, evangelicals and Tea Partiers will be cut out of Congress and the White House forever. This is why so much of the Republican base rallied behind Cruz’s shutdown-or-defund-Obamacare strategy, despite the fact that most GOP leaders viewed it as a suicide mission. And this is why conservatives in Congress refuse to abort this mission even as it becomes increasingly clear that Americans at large resent the GOP’s decision to shut down the government.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 21:38:00 +0000
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