Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano expressed "concern" over large spontaneous gatherings of conservative Republicans led by a charismatic Youtube-based preacher. The gatherings bring together hundreds of distraught Republicans who believe that the end of their political party is imminent. These events are estimated to bring together larger numbers of conservatives than the recent "Tea Party" events, and, unlike the Tea Parties, seem to be an authentic, grass-root movement.
At a recent event in Atlanta, Georgia, a reporter witnessed dozens of Caucasian conservatives dancing in a large circle, yelling incoherently and even performing acts of self-mutilation.
They wore "Reagan Shirts", white cotton t-shirts stenciled with an image of the 40th president, which they believe provide protection against the liberal media and high taxes.
The "ghost dance" movement among Republicans traces its origins to the prophecies of right-wing blogger Milton Braddock, who, following the election of Barak Obama in November of 2009, experienced a number of visions that he described on a series of youtube videos. His apocalyptic ramblings contained several cryptic statements that many of his subscribers deemed prophetic. For example, on an early December post he described "A negress with arms unsleeved / shall choose the dog of the Portuguese." - which devotees say is a reference to the selection of a Portuguese water dog by the first family, which predated the actual selection of "Bo" by 9 weeks. Interest in Braddock's Youtube videos reached a fever-pitch yesterday, when followers pointed to a February 19 2009 post in which Braddock stated, while in apparent trance, "The Keystone shall hold the key / and 59 will 60 soon to be, a majority." This was widely interpreted as prophesying Senator Arlen Specter's defection to the Democratic party this week. Pennsylvania is known as "The Keystone State".
Margaret Bunning, an anthropologist doing field research on the Republican Ghost Dance Movement, say that these gatherings fit into the intellectual framework of a classic "revitalization movement", similar to those which swept American Indian tribes at the close of the 19th century, though they may more closely resemble the Maji Maji rebellion in Tanzania in 1905, where an African spirit medium provided "war medicine" that would turn German bullets into water. Bunning asserts that American Republicans were in the third stage of a Revitalization Movement, typified as a period of "cultural distortion" where changes in a group's social environment "reduce the capacity of accustomed social behavior to satisfy the conservative's physical and emotional needs".
The participants in the gathering by and large refused to speak to the media, though one participant, Wendy Woods, a mortgage originator whose smudged mascara ran down her cheeks, was overhead to chant "Cheney, Cheney, Cheney..."
Visit my humor blog.