A member of the Anthro-L listserv group has offered what I think is a very concise description of those people drawn to the so called Tea Party, known as Tea Baggers. With permission I herein append this brief account:

The tea baggers are 100% fully duped. They also have no idea how wide the gap is between themselves and the money behind those who assume to speak for them. What they do have is a very deep seated set of fears of falling below their current comfort zone and have had that fear manipulated into their blaming the wrong causes. What is really odd about their whole group is that for all that they nearly all place the blame on the same factor the underlying fears are really quite different across the spectrum of the tea bagger movement. Once outside of the relatively small economic interests those folks have they are completely out of their water in regard to larger issues without realizing it. Do not make the mistake of considering those folks to be lazy; most of them worked very hard to accumulate the relatively small amounts they have, but in the process had blinders on to many of the larger issues. In a very real sense a bunch of suckers, being used against their own best interests. They have almost literally become addicted to a litany of propaganda with interconnected hooks, making it next to impossible to unravel the cross ties by any one on the outside. Absolutely and securely brainwashed. Absolutely dependable cadres.