A Radio Tour of Tea Party Nation

A Radio Tour of Tea Party Nation

A Radio Tour of Tea Party Nation

Gary Younge hits the road to understand how local opposition to President Obama explains a growing national movement.

Gary Younge
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In his column for The Nation this week, Gary Younge hit the road to reveal what’s at the heart of Tea Party Nation. In this two-part, companion audio documentary from the BBC World Service, Younge tells the story of President Obama’s fiercest opponents. He spoke to tea-partiers, evangelicals and libertarians; local elected officials, country club members and small business owners to find out why they oppose the President, and what they think of his first year in office. He traveled to rural Arkansas and Kentucky, speaking with dozens of people who believe President Obama is taking the country in the wrong direction.

Listen to both parts below, or download the MP3. Special thanks to the BBC World Service for their production of this feature, and permission to run it at TheNation.com. You can listen to more audio documentaries from the BBC World Service here.

Part 1

Part 2

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With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

It’s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you’ll donate today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Huevel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Gary Younge Gary Younge, a member of The Nation’s editorial board, is a professor of sociology at the University of Manchester and a Type Media Fellow.


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