Telling Us What We Already Know

An academic study coming out of North Carolina and Tennessee concludes people who associate themselves as Tea Baggers (aka, people who vote Republican) are mainly driven by fear, nativism, authoritarianism and libertarianism.

...That TPM [tea party movement] supporters simultaneously want to honor the founders' Constitution and alter that same document highlights the political flexibility of the cultural symbols they draw on.

The TPM supporters' inconsistent views of the Constitution suggests that their nostalgic embrace of the document is animated more by a network of cultural associations than a thorough commitment to the original text. In fact, such inconsistencies around policy, whether on the right or left, highlight what many sociologists see as the growing importance of culture in political life. The Constitution - and Tea Party more generally - take on heightened symbolic value and come to represent a 'way of life' or a "world view" rather than a specific set of laws or policy positions.

In other words, they're idiots. They claim to want to honor the Founder's intentions while simultaneously wanting to amend it to fit their political desires. Idiots.