Synopses & Reviews
On February 19, 2009, CNBC commentator Rick Santelli stood on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and delivered a rant against government programs to shore up the housing market in the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Ridiculing "losers" who could not pay their mortgages, Santelli invited America's" Over the next two years, conservative activists took to the streets and airways, built hundreds of local Tea Party groups, and weighed in with votes and money to help right-wing Republicans win electoral victories in 2010.
In this penetrating new study, Harvard University's Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson go beyond images of protesters in Colonial costumes to provide a nuanced portrait of the Tea Party. What they find is sometimes surprising. Drawing on grassroots interviews and visits to local meetings in several regions, they find that older, middle-class Tea Partiers mostly approve of Social Security, Medicare, and generous benefits for military veterans. Their opposition to "big government" springs from their reluctance to pay taxes to help people viewed as undeserving "freeloaders"--including immigrants, lower income earners, and the young. At the national level, Tea Party elites and funders leverage grassroots energy to further longstanding goals such as tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation of business, and privatization of the very same Social Security and Medicare programs on which many grassroots Tea Partiers depend. Elites and grassroots are nevertheless united in hatred of Barack Obama and determination to push the Republican Party sharply to the right.
The book combines fine-grained portraits of Tea Party members and local chapters with an overarching analysis of the movement's rise, impact, and likely fate. The paperback edition has been updated to cover the 2012 presidential and congressional elections, showing how the Tea Party influenced not only the selection of Republican candidates all the way from Mitt Romney to aspiring congressmembers, but the policy positions they embraced.
Review
"[E]xceptionally informative." -- Timothy Noah, The New York Times Book Review
"The authors pepper firsthand anecdotes with extensive-and at times weighty-statistical and polling data...A timely study of a contemporary movement and its far-reaching effects on politics and policy." --Kirkus Reviews
"Readers interested in grassroots political organizations, the influence of outside interests on political parties, or the Tea Party itself, as well as those whose leanings fall elsewhere on the political spectrum will find this an eye-opening book." --Library Journal
"This is an indispensable guide to the Tea Party phenomenon, and also an excellent demonstration of the power of first-hand research to add a richness of understanding that survey results can't provide. By spending patient time with Tea Party activists around the country, Skocpol and Williamson have been able to create a far fuller picture of the Tea Party than we have had before." --Nicholas Lemann, Dean, and Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University
"This important book will draw fire from both the political left and right, for contrary to the denunciations of liberal commentators, the Tea Party is not a motley collection of racist crazies. And contrary to the praise of conservative commentators, the Tea Party is not a pure grass-roots citizens' movement. Skocpol and Williamson provide a much-needed dose of analysis that begins to balance out the polemics that dominate discussion of the Tea Party." --Morris P. Fiorina, Wendt Family Professor of Political Science, Stanford University
"Skocpol and Williamson have produced the richest, most nuanced portrait of the Tea Party since it burst onto the political scene in early 2009. Drawing on a wealth of observational, interview, survey, and web-based research, their analysis and presentation is both sympathetic with the participatory ethic of the Tea Partiers and critical of the way they have been used by conservative advocacy groups and press outlets to breed misinformation and shift the Republican agenda sharply to the right. A must-read book for the 2012 election season." --Thomas Mann, Brookings Institution, co-author of The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track
"An interesting look at an influential political movement." --Booklist
"[A] fine-grained nuance and thoughtfulness that resonates." -- Publishers Weekly
"Until three years ago, we knew the tea party as a long-ago event in Boston Harbor, aimed at a government across the Atlantic. In 2010, a new tea party stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific and was aimed directly at Washington. That event changed the Republican Party, the United States Congress, and the Obama presidency. This book delves deeply into what happened in 2010, why it happened, and what the Tea Party means for the future of American politics. It's a book every student of American politics should read." -Mickey Edwards, author of The Modern Conservative Movement
"...the best academic work on the Tea Party" - David Frum, The Daily Beast
Review
Acclaim for The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism:
"Exceptionally informative."
-- Timothy Noah, The New York Times Book Review
"A timely study of a contemporary movement and its far-reaching effects on politics and policy."
--Kirkus Reviews
"This is an indispensable guide to the Tea Party phenomenon, and also an excellent demonstration of the power of first-hand research to add a richness of understanding that survey results can't provide. By spending patient time with Tea Party activists around the country, Skocpol and Williamson have been able to create a far fuller picture of the Tea Party than we have had before."
--Nicholas Lemann, Dean, and Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University
"The richest, most nuanced portrait of the Tea Party since it burst onto the political scene in early 2009. Drawing on a wealth of observational, interview, survey, and web-based research, their analysis and presentation is both sympathetic with the participatory ethic of the Tea Partiers and critical of the way they have been used by conservative advocacy groups and press outlets to breed misinformation and shift the Republican agenda sharply to the right."
--Thomas Mann, co-author of The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track
This book delves deeply into what happened in 2010, why it happened, and what the Tea Party means for the future of American politics. It's a book every student of American politics should read."
--Mickey Edwards, author of The Modern Conservative Movement
Review
andldquo;The Politics of Resentment is a breath of fresh air in the study of American public opinion. Intense partisan polarization has reached down into the ranks of everyday citizensandrsquo; perceptions of one another. Wisconsin is on the extreme end of this intense polarization that cuts along the lines of metropolitan liberals and non-metropolitan resentful conservatives, but these fault lines run deep across the nation. Cramer adds new dimensions of evidence and analysis to this dynamic. Her book will be widely read and debated, and it will help to reset the questions we ask about political worldviews in America.andrdquo;
Synopsis
This revised edition features a new afterword, updated through the 2016 election.
On February 19, 2009, CNBC commentator Rick Santelli delivered a dramatic rant against Obama administration programs to shore up the plunging housing market. Invoking the Founding Fathers and ridiculing -losers- who could not pay their mortgages, Santelli called for -Tea Party- protests. Over the next two years, conservative activists took to the streets and airways, built hundreds of local Tea Party groups, and weighed in with votes and money to help right-wing Republicans win electoral victories in 2010.
In this penetrating new study, Harvard University's Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson go beyond images of protesters in Colonial costumes to provide a nuanced portrait of the Tea Party. What they find is sometimes surprising. Drawing on grassroots interviews and visits to local meetings in several regions, they find that older, middle-class Tea Partiers mostly approve of Social Security, Medicare, and generous benefits for military veterans. Their opposition to -big government- entails reluctance to pay taxes to help people viewed as undeserving -freeloaders- - including immigrants, lower income earners, and the young. At the national level, Tea Party elites and funders leverage grassroots energy to further longstanding goals such as tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation of business, and privatization of the very same Social Security and Medicare programs on which many grassroots Tea Partiers depend. Elites and grassroots are nevertheless united in hatred of Barack Obama and determination to push the Republican Party sharply to the right.
The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism combines fine-grained portraits of local Tea Party members and chapters with an overarching analysis of the movement's rise, impact, and likely fate.
Synopsis
On February 19, 2009, CNBC commentator Rick Santelli delivered a dramatic rant against Obama administration programs to shore up the plunging housing market. Invoking the Founding Fathers and ridiculing 'losers' who could not pay their mortgages, Santelli called for 'Tea Party' protests. Over the next two years, conservative activists took to the streets and airways, built hundreds of local Tea Party groups, and weighed in with votes and money to help right-wing Republicans win electoral victories in 2010. In this study, Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson go beyond images of protesters in Colonial costumes to provide a nuanced portrait of the Tea Party.
Synopsis
Since the election of Scott Walker, Wisconsin has been seen as ground zero for debates about the appropriate role of government in the wake of the Great Recession. In a time of rising inequality, Walker not only survived a bitterly contested recall that brought thousands of protesters to Capitol Square, he was subsequently reelected. How could this happen? How is it that the very people who stand to benefit from strong government services not only vote against the candidates who support those services but are vehemently against the very idea of big government?
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With The Politics of Resentment, Katherine J. Cramer uncovers an oft-overlooked piece of the puzzle: rural political consciousness and the resentment of the andldquo;liberal elite.andrdquo; Rural voters are distrustful that politicians will respect the distinct values of their communities and allocate a fair share of resources. What can look like disagreements about basic political principles are therefore actually rooted in something even more fundamental: who we are as people and how closely a candidateandrsquo;s social identity matches our own. Using Scott Walker and Wisconsinandrsquo;s prominent and protracted debate about the appropriate role of government, Cramer illuminates the contours of rural consciousness, showing how place-based identities profoundly influence how people understand politics, regardless of whether urban politicians and their supporters really do shortchange or look down on those living in the country.
The Politics of Resentment shows that rural resentmentandmdash;no less than partisanship, race, or classandmdash;plays a major role in dividing America against itself.
About the Author
Katherine J. Cramer is professor of political science at the University of Wisconsinandndash;Madison, where she is also director of the Morgridge Center for Public Service and an affiliate faculty member in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the LaFollette School of Public Affairs, the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, and the Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies. She is the author of Talking about Race and Talking about Politics, both also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Making Sense of Politics through Resentment
Chapter 2. A Method of Listening
Chapter 3. The Contours of Rural Consciousness
Chapter 4. The Context of Rural Consciousness
Chapter 5. Attitudes toward Public Institutions and Public Employees
Chapter 6. Support for Small Government
Chapter 7. Reactions to the Ruckus
Chapter 8. We Teach These Things to Each Other
Appendix A: County Map of Wisconsin
Appendix B: Descriptions of Groups Observed and Municipalities in Which They Met
Appendix C: Questions Used during Observations
Notes
References
Index