The Tea-Party and the Civil War

I made the comment in this post about the Tea-Party led shutdown feeling like a second civil war, and some of my thinking is affected by the reporting of James Fallows(who has done a very good job of marshaling data). A reader of his, a lapsed Republican, makes this comment which really sparked a moment of clarity for me:

"Tea Partiers seem to have more in common with the fire eating secessionism of John Calhoun, than with the statesmen of the GOP. Like Calhoun, the Tea Party is obsessively fixed on a peculiar institution, regarding which they will accept no compromise. Congress must defund Obamacare, they insist, or they will burn down both our government and the full faith and credit of the United States of America."

The idea is sparked was this: (a) this dude is right, that the Tea Party is treating Obamacare in particular as a target to destroy, (b) why should that be?, (c) oh right, because it's Obama's main (if not only) policy legacy, and (d) the Tea-Partiers appear to be very open about their inveterate racism - so to allow Obama to change this country in any way would be like miscegenation. Obama's legislative DNA would infect the country, making us a Black Country, a drop of Negro Blood! Seriously, this is what I fear is motivating the Tea Party. And that also means that they won't give up.

Alas, most of the anti-Obama people I've met are not-so-open racists. Sad but true. Yes, yes, it's quite possible to be anti-Obama and not be a racist, just as you can be anti-Israel and not be an anti-Semite. But some advice for y'all who fall into either group: you really gotta *work* to make that clear. Because I know what racism and anti-Semitism sound like, and y'all basically fit it. Hatred is hard to cover. Orthodox Jews are almost all Republicans and I hear mildly racist stuff all the time. Not "kill them all" racism, but a basic belief that Blacks are all bad. It sickens me that Jews should feel/believe these things, but I have no idea how to get them to stop it.

Anyway, we'll see if this insight plays out, but I think this is why the Tea Partiers can't back down - because in their minds, Obamacare is tantamount to having sex with Obama, or whatever nonsense the KKK is on about.

And for all of y'all who are Orthodox Jewish Tea Party supporters - please stop.

Update: This New Yorker article gives a great picture as to the members of the "GOP Suicide Caucus."