--And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:5)

There is a distinct sense that a great many people in the political class are peering over the city walls and regarding the approaching Mongols with dread and confusion. One day you're master of the universe, the next you're under siege by the hordes.

...and we owe it all to Barack Obama.

In my social circle, I'm quite well-known as being the go-to guy for political information, but until early last year, I rarely discussed politics with my friends, who remained--not apathetic or uninterested exactly, but rather perplexed by the complexities of foreign policy. Why are we in Iraq? Where are the WMD? The absence of easily-defensible propositions made a lot of people leary of looking stupid.

Enter Barack Obama, whose ambitious drive to remake the U.S. into a Western European Socialist Republic in less than a year was only matched in the audacity, undemocratic and corrupt activities of the Democrat-controlled Congress.

Without liberal arrogance, the sleeper would not have awakened. So sure that they were right, entitled, and endowed by providence, Democrats basically scared the complacency and ambiguity out of the American electorate. Politics became simple again--WE OPPOSE THIS CRAP!

Over the past year, dozens of people, who I've never knew to have a political bone in their body, have become aggressive proselytizers of the new populism. A day doesn't go by that I don't get a Facebook status, an email or a text drawing my attention to the newest outrage by Louis XVI and his court.

The social networking of the Tea Party movement differs significantly from that of the Netroots. The Netroots took a lobster trap approach, drawing people into a well-conceived and highly sophisticated virtual network run by seasoned political activists. The Tea Partiers use social networks in a totally organic fashion, creating modeless nodes of communication that simply passed information along by whatever means was preferred. What digital hipster would even think of using an email chain to promulgate political activism? Yet, this has been extraordinarily effective in arousing a non-typical protestor--the middle-aged man or woman.

Glenn Reynolds is using a term with religious overtones to describe the Tea Party movement--the third awakening. But that only describes the provocation, the casus belli.

What underlies the vigor of the movement, aside from American's native sense of empowerment, is the simplicity of the proposition and the infrastructure of digitally-connected social networks. But Reynolds does add something important:

In less than a year, the Tea Party movement has gone from a few spontaneous protests against Obama’s stimulus bill to a nationwide phenomenon rating major media coverage, with several political scalps on its belt. And these inexpert activists are getting better with practice at what they do, with a lot of room on the learning curve ahead.

It’s fun to put on a protest rally for the first time and have it work out, but it’s even more fun to elect -- or defeat -- a candidate. Or, as Tea Party activists are beginning to do, to run for office yourself.

Over the next couple of years, these multitudes of virgin political operatives are going to acquire considerably more experience and self-assurance, which means they’re probably going to become
considerably more effective, too. Politics may not be the same when they’re done.

I'm not sure Reynolds in seeing clearly into his crystal ball. While activism has its attractions, one must factor in the simplicity of the proposition--kill the King. What happens to the movement when the propositions are not nearly so simple? Will the older demographic of the Tea Partiers party for the party's sake, or will they go back to gardening and golf?

While a lot of things are simple, many things are not. The world is changing at a breathtaking pace. Will Tea Partiers be as keen to contemplate difficult issues as they are to hold a sign and write a check?

I hope so, but frankly, I doubt it.