The Followers: Right -Wing Authoritarian/Tea bag movement.

When I've watched some of the tea bagger rallies or listened to their leaders interviews, it's been hard for me to take them seriously. The hypocrisy and self righteousness of their behavior/statements is so easy to see, that I've sometimes wondered if they're joking. Yet, with each tea bagger victory in Republican primaries, I've come to realize their movement is not a joke. What concerns me is the direction a movement like the tea party will take this country. My belief is it not will not be pleasant for everyone who is non-white male or female.

It isn't to say that tea baggers don't have legitimate concerns. The national debt is at a record high. The prospect that this debt will passed on to future generations is an issue that should be debated.

As far as taxes are concerned, I'm sure none of us wants to pay more of them.

Although, this is where the hypocrisy of the tea party becomes obvious. I don't recall the tea party demanding less government spending under G. W. Bush's administration. Bush began fighting two wars an Afghanistan and Iraq, continued with the bush tax cuts for the wealthy but did not decrease spending and deregulated the banks/wall street. Basically, set the table for much of the chaos that has occurred over the last two years.

In fact, I don't remember the existence of the tea party during G. W. presidency. This is due to the fact that much of the tea party probably supported Bush. In fact, they've only seemed to come out of the woodworks since the election of President Barrack Obama.

Their dislike of President Obama and his policies has sometimes been unreasonable. It's one thing to oppose government activities that interfere with the market, it's quite another to call the man a socialist or compare him to Adolf Hitler.

Most rational individuals would agree that President Obama is doing nothing on the scale compared to an Authoritarian leader such as Hitler.

If anything, it's more likely Tea Baggers would elect and follow a man comparable to Hitler. What makes me say this is not a partisan attack on the right, it's a scientific fact with empirical data to back it up.

In the book Conservatives Without Conscience, author John W. Dean quotes much of the work done by social psychologist and researcher Bob Altemeyer of the University of Manitoba. Over the last thirty years, Mr. Altemeyer has researched and written books on the findings from his studies. He has coined the term "right wing authoritarians" for followers of authoritarian leaders.

Now I don't want to confuse anyone, but there is a bit of a difference between the way I'm using the word "Authoritarian" and the way a political scientist would. A political scientist would use the word "Authoritarian" to describe a form of government, while I'm using it to describe a personality. You can have an "Authoritarian" school teacher or pastor or whatever. Although, it's the belief of Mr. Altemeyer that the more "Authoritarian" personalities that exist an American politics, can move our country towards an "Authoritarian" form of government.

To get back to Mr. Altemeyer's findings, there are three main attributes that an individual must score high on in RWA(Right-Wing Authoritarian) scale to be considered Right-Wing Authoritarians. They are as follows: especially submissive to established authority, as showing "general aggressiveness" toward others when such behavior "is perceived to be sanctioned" by established authorities and as highly compliant with "social conventions" endorsed by society and established authorities.

Submissive to Authority means they accept without question the statements and actions of their leaders. These just can't be any leaders though, RWA's believe in good presidents and bad presidents or good judges and bad judges. Their decision to submit is dependent on whether certain leaders views are compatible with their own. If they are, RWA's will not question their leader what so ever.

Aggressive support of Authority means a willingness to support their leaders and even partake in aggressive acts to a sanctioned group. This could mean physical, social, financial or psychological harm brought towards certain enemies (think torture in the G. W. Bush administration). Mr. Altemeyer research states RWA's are able to do this due to being fearful and completely self righteous, which frees their aggressive impulses.

Conventionality simply means RWA's accept and follow tradition absolutely. They tend to be religious fundamentalist with no flexibility on issues. There is no gray area or in between for them, just right and wrong. They believe in the traditional family structure with the man being the bread winner and the woman as the "subservient homemaker" wife. Again these are not negative characteristics, but data from research of accepted views held by RWA's.

Here's a few more attributes:

• They travel in tight circles of like minded people.
• They're thinking is more likely based on what authorities have told them rather than on their own critical judgment, which results in the beliefs being filled with inconsistencies.
• They harbor numerous double standards and hypocrisies.
• They are hostile toward so many minorities they seem to be equal — opportunity bigots, yet they are generally unaware of their prejudices.
• They see the world as a dangerous place, with society teetering on the brink of self-destruction from evil and violence, and when their fear conflates with their self-righteousness, they appoint themselves guardians of public morality, or God's Designated Hitters.
• They think of themselves as far more moral and upstanding than others-a self-deception aided by their religiosity (many are "born again") and their ability to "evaporate guilt" (such as by going to confession).

Not to bash the tea baggers, but these characteristics seem to define them perfectly. They are able to rally against President Obama's government spending policies but were non existent during G. W. Bush era's spending policies. They are able to be christian fundamentalists and at the same time call for the assassination of world leaders (Pat Robertson), even thought the ten commandments states "thou shalt not kill." They wave signs calling President Obama a socialist, marxist, nazi and witch-doctor, yet seem to be unaware of the bigotry of their statements.

RWA's are dangerous due to their uncompromising and absolute views. In a democracy, were allowed to have different opinions, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is guaranteed to all Americans. It seems the RWA's or tea baggers want to restrict freedoms for only a certain group of people. Tea Party candidate Rand Paul's statements about the civil rights act of 1964 only confirms this viewpoint.

We must be vigilant in these difficult times. Ignoring groups will not make them go away, on the contrary they will more than likely continue to grow. It's only through continued promotion of truth that some of these RWA's blinders may be knocked off. If we do nothing, I'm fearful of what form our government may take in the coming years.

What you think about the material presented in this post? Is it fair or unfair to the Tea Baggers?