Much of the Tea Party IS the working and middle classes. It absolutely amazes me sometimes how brainwashed they are into voting against their own best interests, how easily manipulated they are by pushing a few emotional buttons…gun control, abortion, God & country, “libtards,” “lazy druggie freeloaders and welfare queens,” “illegals” “tax & spend,” etc. Breaking through the defensive emotional bubble they’ve erected is impossible. You can try to ignore the social issues and just focus on the economics…the inexorable erosion of their economic and political power through the concentration of wealth…and it’s useless. Any talk about fair taxation, raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations and closing loopholes, is met with the accusation that you’re a communist.