Zen, Green Eggs and Ham, and the Tea Party

{mosads}Jay’s Treaty of 1794: About navigation and commerce between England and America. It is the key turning point in America as George Washington split with his fellow Virginians, Madison and Jefferson, to team up with the New Yorkers. New York dominance of the continent was set, later to be followed by blood.

Andrew Jackson’s presidency: Jackson brought a rustic awakening to the heartland. He hated the pomposity of Washington and the Colonials, and he saw them as monarchist imitators. He was despised and feared by Jefferson and company exactly as Sarah Palin is today.

Industrial revolution: With industrialization, the North became suddenly rich while the heartland sank into agrarian poverty. New York would advance to economic dominance here and across the world. Meredith Whitney’s new book, The Fate of the States: The New Geography of American Prosperity, suggests a shift in paradigm on the horizon.

17th Amendment: Until 1913 we were a nation of states. With the passing of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, we became a nation of tribes. 

Yalta: The phrase “worldview” used by sociologists is really from the end game of Yalta, the moment of conquest in which the world’s broken remains were divided among the Anglo/Americans and the Soviets. This brought a classic 80-year cultural and economic cycle of conquistadors (Nixon/Obama) and priests (Elvis/Lady Gaga). This week, Mick Jagger expects the birth of a great grandchild. The season has passed. The cycle has ended.

Bush/Cheney invasion of Iraq: In 2003, Thomas Naylor, a retired Duke professor, with help from novelist Carolyn Chute (The Beans of Egypt, Maine) formed the Second Vermont Republic. Naylor cited Jefferson’s Kentucky Resolutions, claiming the northernmost New England states need not participate.

ObamaCare opposition: Citing the same Kentucky Resolutions, New Hampshire state Reps. Dan Itse and Paul Ingbretson  brought a states’ rights challenge to ObamaCare in February 2009. Thirty-some states immediately followed. The age had awakened.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry: On the steps of the Alamo in April 2009 chanted, “… states’ rights, states’ rights, states’ rights …” bringing a new wave of apoplexy to Washington.

Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee: In Zen terms these might be considered the three celestial ones; they who formed the first “official” presence of the Tea Party in the Senate. 

Rand Paul filibuster: This leap of faith brought the Tea Party into the mainstream.

Ted Cruz’s filibuster: Next to “the most interesting man in the world” (“He once parallel parked a train. It is never ‘his bad.’ ”), Cruz might be the most interesting person to be stuck in an elevator with. Maybe his father, Rafael, would be first. Reading Green Eggs and Ham during his filibuster was absolutely inspired.

“Duck Dynasty”: In 2013, “Duck Dynasty” went ahead of “American Idol” in ratings. It presents a fundamental shift in the common American consciousness, and this is Jacksonian as well. Get ready.