Tea Party Priorities

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

As she bowed out of the running for the office of the President of the US, Sarah Palin outlined her personal priority scheme. Sympathetic responses caused me to realize that something about her priorities resonates with other Tea Partiers. Her priority scheme fits a general priority paradigm with which a number of voters can relate. It resonates with their personal sentiments about their own lives.

Starting with the Sarah Palin priority pyramid, our students derived a general Tea Party Priority Pyramid that reflects the resonance with Palin's position. The illustration depicts these priorities starting with the lowest one of country at the bottom in red. Despite the racial diversity of Tea Party constituents, the middle priority of family retains the heavenly color of the clouds. At the primary position on the apex of the pyramid, our students capped the paradigm with a cerulean deity sub-pyramid. (The use of TM in the illustration represents "Tea-party Mark" and the My prefix reflects a My Space mindset within the Tea Party despite their graduation to Facebook.)



Starting with the bloody standard at the base of the pyramid, we asked the question of what exactly does a Tea Partier think of when they speak of their country? Is it the same country as their fellow citizens, or is it a narrowly conceived country? Does it primarily mean the collective citizenry of their territory, or do they conceive of a territory occupied by an alien population? Do they consider their country to be the government that operates within that territory, or do they view that government as an alien entity? When a Tea Partier considers their personal country, do they dismiss the people and the governing institutions altogether and think only of the Constitution? Is the Constitution they value the actual Constitution, or is a Constitution of the Partier's imagination?

These are important distinctions to consider whenever you hear someone speaking of their country. The same sort of process can be applied to their personal deity. Not only can we find distinctions between the Tea Partier's personal deity and those of non-Christian traditions, we can also find differences with other Christian deities. I am sure there are distinctions between different personal deities within the ranks of the Partiers themselves.

The implications of the priority pyramid are manifold. The greatest one is the subordination of the interests of the country to the interests of the self and its family. A Tea Partier will serve self and deity above all and expect the rest of their personal country to serve their personal family interests. The second greatest implication is the subordination of the rest of the planet below the interests of the personal country. Not only does the Tea Partier want their own country to bend to their will, they want all other countries to do so as well. We can imagine a subterranean extension of the pyramid that includes the rest of the world.

I place the biosphere above humanity, humanity above my country, and my country above myself and my family. Naturally, I relegate Sarah Palin's deity to a lower domain.

What are your priorities?

Comments

[404.livejournal.com]

The Tea Party Pyramid, as you try to make it into some pejorative of selfishness, represents the natural state we find our priorities: our personal priorities of faith, life or whatever is meaningful to you, then come our family priorities, and then our community. This neo-hippy idea of placing anything that constitutes country or the planet above family or yourself I think is a fairy tale.

I agree.

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

Your natural state of priority is not something I disagree with. I had a similar sentiment when I was a child.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

Hang on, are you saying it makes sense to put a belief over yourself and family, but that it's crazy to put something like the biosphere above oneself and family?

If so, that's freakin' crazy.

[dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com]

Pretty much the same as above - my faith, my family (and friends), my country, myself. I don't know many people who don't follow a similar hierarchy at some point in their life.

At one point...

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

... do people usually outgrow this perspective?

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

So if God says that democracy is bad, you would prefer a theocratic dictatorship that would be the Christian variant of Iran?

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

I actually don't know much people who put faith above all else. Those people are kind of scary frankly. Religious leaders often claim that faith demands you do all sorts of terrible things.

Nationalism...

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

... seems to be an artificial form of love of country. It comes across as a personal ambition to live in the best of all possible countries. I consider it to be a from of hubris.

Viva the simple life!

[oportet.livejournal.com]

It seems selfish if you look at it as ranking individuals and groups according to how much you care for them (how much they care for you), but if you figure in level of influence it isn't so bad.

If I put my dog above 6.5 billion people, does that make me selfish, or a realist, or normal, or an asshole (or all of the above)?

[404.livejournal.com]

Obviously your life should revolve around the great Gaia and her needs.

I love my pet more...

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

... but I would not place her above the rest of humanity. I need other human beings more than I need my pet. Someone else may have a different perspective. The name for someone who feels they have no need for humanity is a misanthrope.

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

If I put my dog above 6.5 billion people, does that make me selfish, or a realist, or normal, or an asshole (or all of the above)?

Why not? Your dog will treat you with an unyielding selfless loyalty and respect. The 6.5 billion you mention? Pffft. To most of them you're a source of potential revenue and nothing more.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

I only care about things that deserve it.

Humanity?

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

Does humanity not deserve your care?

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

So the Tea Party admits that it's not a political movement so much as a theocratic-libertarian cult? That's perfectly fine, then. They prefer to Render unto God that which is Caesar's, which means that they'd be a great movement....for the Theodosian Roman Empire. Not for the 21st Century.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

My own list of priorities is family-faith-country-self. The state and its political institutions can be surprisingly fragile, my family values faith very highly so it is just after them. I am utterly and totally opposed to the idea that a real sense of morality comes from imposing one faith on everyone else with the coercive power of the state, which is what the Tea Party says it wants over and over again.

[essentialsaltes.livejournal.com]

Any rigidly ordered list of priorities is not going to make sense at some point.

I mean, I love the biosphere. It's where I live. So I certainly wouldn't buy a Hummer. But neither am I going to waste portions of my lifetime using public transportation all the time.

I don't go big game hunting or light firecrackers in frogs, but neither do I wear a mask to avoid inhaling gnats.

Priorities interact and a balance is struck; they are not hierarchical.

I, too, avoid public transportation.

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

Most of the people you see wearing masks do so out of courtesy to others: they have a cold and do not want to spread it.

Priorities give us an idea of how decisions are made. When a person places their country above other countries, there is a greater likelihood that they will abuse other countries in their foreign policy.

[debergerac.livejournal.com]

oportet's dog maslow is at the top of my pyramid.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Maslow sounds like maslo, which means butter in my language. 'Nuff said.

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

Priorities?
1) My wife and daughter.
2) Myself.
3) My close personal friends.

And the rest of the world be damned for all I care.

Where would you be without them?

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

You may damn the rest of us, but life would be pretty dull and difficult without us.

[raichu100.livejournal.com]

My personal priorities are different from my "political" priorities (i.e. what I think the government should be focused on). My personal priorities run similar to the pyramid shown above, i.e. God, family, country (and including other things like environment and friends and animals). That doesn't mean I think we should live in a theocracy.

If you believed in theocracy...

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

... you would not have a Pokemon avatar.

I simply hope that you keep your political priorities within the domain of reason.

[medea34.livejournal.com]

I worship no deity. I care about my country, but have almost given up hope that my fellow citizen's share my views on what our country should look like. My family (including my personal career and parenting goals) are my sole priority. I vote in accordance with what is best for my family (which includes quality publicly funded schools and health care, and social programs to provide for all members of society - whether we personally use them or not).

[harry-beast.livejournal.com]

Priorities:
1. Truth
2. Honour
3. Justice
4. Love
The Tea Party priorities aren't bad either. They probably reflect the thinking of a lot of people.

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

Priorities:
1. Me. I gotta eat. I gotta survive.
2. Mine. My family. My girlfriend.
3. My people. My friends come before strangers. People I identify with come before those I cannot relate to.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

For the point you want to make, that pyramid is a lousy metaphor image. "My Country" may be at the bottom, but it holds up everything else by the metaphor. Ever try to make a pyramid without a foundation? Every other pyramid representation I have ever seen puts the stuff you need the most of in that foundation layer. Something tells me that a devout person who is thinking about it would put G-d the layer that holds everything else up.

A pyramid without a foundation...

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

... is just a smaller pyramid...

[surferelf.livejournal.com]

It seems like this is upside-down. I would think that faith would be the foundation of the pyramid. Upon faith rests the family. Country being at the top supported on the other two. This seems more in line with the rhetoric. Much of the criticism I hear from the Tea Party has to do with "the left" basing society on government instead of faith.

There is a difference...

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

... between faith in a deity and the deity itself. Someone like Palin may base her perspectives of her deity, her family, and her country on faith, but such people still subjugate their country below their own family rather than inculcating values of family service to society.

The perception of the Left is inaccurate. The Left does not base society on government but seeks to base government on society rather than on material power.