I thought through the Tea Party in the context of the "cycle". The model fits. I think the Tea Party is now at stage 5, partial reckoning. There is a whole lot less talk about the Tea Party now than there was in the 2010 election cycle. The republican nominee, at heart, is a moderate. This must be a moment of reckoning for the Tea Party faithful.
Chris From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dr. Ernie Prabhakar Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 4:56 PM To: Centroids Discussions Subject: [RC] Article: The True Believer Cycle Nice. I don't think I've seen this summarized before.. The True Believer Cycle http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/29/the-true-believer-cycle/10639 _____ <http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/29/the-true-believer-cycle/10639/clownpa radesquare> Tribes of true believers are faithfully committed to a small narrow core of ideas. These ideas usually have some merit or efficacy, which is how the tribe forms. That they are oversimplifications constrains their spread at some point. So naturally, such groups experience periodic ebb and flow: a cycle. Stage 1 The Cleansing Each new cycle begins with the angry passionate trip through the desert, to expunge the insufficently faithful. Only the faithful shall cross over. Impurities are burned away. A narrow core faith is distilled. Simple. Compelling. Expressing certain appealing truths. Passion and truthiness leads to success. Stage 2 The Evangelizing True passion for any set of core truths always implies that there must be a moral imperative to spread this truth. This is hard to do. People who don't agree must be persuaded, cajoled, enticed into the fold. For the sake of growth, small bits of compromise become necessary. These don't seem like compromises, only like open-minded rephrasing that preserves the spirit of the faith while allowing others to come on board. This fosters success and growth. Many join. Stage 3 The Bureaucratizing As always, among the ranks of the new members? Opportunists. Such individuals are invariably more committed to the organization's success than to the ideological faith that founded it. It's how tribes work. Those whose first devotion is to the organization's success? They become the leaders and deciders. The tribe has more success, but notice the fundamental shift: the first priority of those in charge becomes the success of the organization. Ideals necessarily become secondary by comparison. See Pournelle's law. Again, it's how tribes work. Stage 4 Idealism Meets Reality When idealism meets reality, reality wins. Sorta the nature of idealism. As with all idealistic pursuits, the real world crest of the expanded and corrupted tribe's effort falls somewhere short of ideals that were the original aim. Like all other waves, it crests and recedes. So it goes. Stage 5 The Partial Reckoning In the aftermath, all blame for the failure to achieve the desired heights is placed on compromise. No failure may be attributed to the faith, only to those who failed to adhere. Perhaps compromise was integral to growth and operational power. And perhaps inherent flaws in the initial simple ideals played a role. But these shall not be noticed. Simple and clear truths are usually paired with countervailing truths, invariably inconvenient. Few if any faiths can bear to face that. So the circle remains unbroken. [Editorial Note: This post was created in part for reference purposes, to save describing this cycle many times..] share our centrist moderate and independent blog content avatar About Cranky Critter <http://riseofthecenter.com/author/cranky-critter> Comfortable independent, willing skunk at every garden party, obnoxious sprayer upon partisan half-truths. Think more, act better. If you're not cranky, you're not paying attention. Filed under Featured <http://riseofthecenter.com/category/featured> , Home Page <http://riseofthecenter.com/category/full-posts> . Tagged with _____ (via Instapaper <http://www.instapaper.com/> ) Sent from my iPad -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
