American Anti-Intellectualism.

The majority must rule.   That is,  after all, the meaning of democracy.  If a majority is sufficiently filled with hatred of the Obama’s they will vote—quite literally—for any candidate who is not a Democrat regardless of what that candidate represents.   The Tea Party impetus is classic patriotism.   At bottom, it is the voice of traditional American populism, with its inextricable tie to American anti-intellectualism.  

There is no other North Atlantic country in which people actually pride themselves in being anti-intellectual.  Certainly not France, nor  England nor Germany, nor Holland, nor any of the Scandinavian countries.   Germany went through a period when anti-intellectualism was considered a virtue 1933-1945.   And the German intellectuals were so decadent and self-hating that they succumbed to anti-intellectual culture with gusto.