American politics may have changed forever this summer when the conservative members of Congress who are aligned with the Tea Party rejected dire warnings that failure to raise the debt limit would rock global markets and cut off Social Security payments to senior citizens. No, it wouldn't, the Tea Party replied, everything would be just fine. "We cannot go on scaring the American people," Michele Bachmann complained in July. She urged Barack Obama to "tell the truth" about the consequences of default. When House Speaker John Boehner agreed with Obama about the possible risks, he was called a dupe. "I would...
The Tea Party's Triumph
A populist movement underestimated by both parties has shown that it's here to stay
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