Get your hands off it

Whoa.

What bothers the elite so much about the Tea Party is that it is full of people who believe in the greatness of the nation and, from outside eyes, appear to be unapologetically nationalistic, a sin they had long since denounced. They are embarrassed of their kin. They view American nationalism as a sort of mental retardation, because the Euro-bigots have convinced them of it. Had they the backbone and clarity to argue the merits of Americanism, they would not have severed their manly parts in an effort to fit in.

Where these Americans view themselves as more enlightened than the middle-class working Joe, they invite into the void of estranged nationalism a sort of self-annihilation, a desire to squash Americanism into quasi-European world membership. They view patriotism as a disease and worldliness as a badge. They, who have been across the oceans and mixed with the peoples of other nations, return to America with a desire to remake themselves by remaking the nation. What's worse, they generally have the money and power to make the attempt.

Damn straight.