The Tea Party

This is probably an old thought, but for some reason it resonates with me now. Perhaps because I've felt pretty happy about the Tea Party's rise, because it seems to make it easier for Obama to get re-elected (the Democrats have more unity, more time to organise themselves, etc.), and so this is a corrective to me. But in any case, I'm wondering what people think about this. How strong is the analogy? Is there really a danger that the Tea Party could turn into something murderous?

...I am genuinely frightened by what has happened in the Republican Party. I know what happened in Germany in the mid-thirties. The rise of a large, noisy, angry, bigoted, crazy rightwing political movement may be good electoral politics for the Democrats in the short run, but it is genuinely dangerous. If [John] Huntsman's [reasonable centre-right] statements can start to change the public discourse, that is all to the good. We really do not need a rise of fascism in this country. We have gone far enough down that road already, and the weakness of the underlying economy will create the material conditions for a fascist party for some time to come.

- from Robert Paul Wolff's latest blog post