"It has to do with people being frightened and angry."

And what are they frightened and angry about? Go a little behind that statement and it has everything to do with people being willfully ignorant, selfish, and stupid: happy to align themselves with corporate fascists like Glenn Beck and Rupert Murdoch, to trade their abilities for critical thinking or curiosity about 'bigger pictures' for a sense of self-righteous indignation and revenge.

These tea-partiers have no 'better ideas': they have no ideas at all. They only have their anger at everything they don't understand. They hate Obama just because he's Obama. They hated Clinton (both Clintons) and they still hate Jimmy Carter. If you asked any of them for details about their disdain for these individuals they probably couldn't provide them.

Most of these people would be happy to accept living in a police state: a world of torture for security, environmental and corporate deregulation, and constant war, as long as they have job security and as long as gas doesn't cost more than $3 a gallon. They're happy not to think. They're happy to parrot whatever FOX News says. They're happy to drag us all down with them.

Fine, so the great state of Massachusetts has now joined Mississippi and Alabama as a weathervane of regressive American politics. Congratulations, I guess.