Don&#8217;t Dis the Wiccans, Tea-Partiers!
<p>A few minutes ago I read Bill Whittle sneering at <a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/ejectejecteject/2010/02/08/party-time/">&#8220;mass-produced members of bused-in wiccan nihilist anarcho-Maoist lesbian eco-weenie anti-war protestors&#8221;</a>.  I tried to leave a comment there; it went into moderation, and I lost my original in the browser shuffle.  I can&#8217;t guarantee that the following is a word-for-word copy, but it&#8217;s pretty close. </p>
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<p>Hey! Hey! Don&#8217;t lump all Wiccans in with the left-wing rent-a-mob crowd.  It&#8217;s true that some our more vocal people fit the stereotype, especially in the Dianic wing of the movement.  But there are lots of quieter Wiccans who are gun-toting libertarians like me; for us, the rejection of monotheism and &#8220;faith&#8221; is continuous with the rejection of One-True-Wayism in all its forms. Thomas Jefferson might say of us that we have sworn on the altars of our gods eternal hostility towards every form of tyranny over the mind of man.</p>
<p>Wiccans are potential allies for the Tea Party movement, as long as it remembers that America was founded on religious dissent and doesn&#8217;t fall into an unholy alliance with bigoted religious conservatives as the GOP did.  That choice didn&#8217;t play well with the general population of independents and moderates, either; heed the lesson.</p>
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<p>Here&#8217;s the disturbing part.  There are now two comments on that post, and mine isn&#8217;t either of them &#8211; suggesting that Bill Whittle did a moderation pass and shitcanned it.  If true, that&#8217;s deeply disappointing news about both Bill Whittle and the movement in which he claims to be a principal figure.  It puts some point on the left-liberal accusation that Tea Partiers are a bunch of reactionary know-nothings wearing fiscal conservatism as mere camouflage.</p>
<p>Mr. Whittle, I&#8217;m making a noise about this because I think your attitude about Wiccans &mdash; whatever it actually is &mdash; is a good proxy for your movement&#8217;s ability to see beyond tired stereotypes and fratricidal culture wars.  Are limited government and individual liberty your actual goals?  If so, can you recognize potential allies from wherever they hail?</p>
<p>Much &mdash; including the future of the Tea Party movement, and perhaps the future of our country &mdash; may turn on your answer.</p>
<p>UPDATE: It now appears that the apparent disappearance of my comment was due to technical difficulties.  I apologize to Bill Whittle for entertaining dark suspicions of him personally, and note that he disclaims being a spokesperson for the movement.  The larger question about the willingness of the Tea Party movement to (sorry for the PC phrase&#8230;) embrace diversity, is still open.</p>
