Tea Party Politics Pt 3: Why is mistrust of government growing?

If variations of Tea Party thinking (TP themes - tax cuts and mistrust of government - ) are surfacing in cities and towns throughout Ontario, should we be concerned?

Yes. Man cannot live by tax cuts and mistrust alone.

In a recent news article, Brian MacLeod said a survey suggested “about 19% of (Canadian) voters would join a Canadian Tea Party.”

Why all this mistrust, and where does it come from?

Some politicians embrace TP themes because voters experiencing financial difficulties and growing debt may embrace their message. And vote. For them.

Some governments have brought mistrust upon themselves through wrongdoing - real or perceived.

High unemployment numbers, the loss of good full-time jobs and growth in lower paying part-time jobs and the export of jobs to China and India inspire mistrust and a belief in relief from taxes.

As well, the media - knowingly, perhaps even unknowingly - fans the fire under TP themes.

The more times we hear about supposed government waste or do not hear about the benefits of taxation, the stronger our grip grows on our wallet, the more we mistrust those that lead us.

In my opinion, another factor is a principle (known to old high school physics teachers and the occasional student) called sympathetic resonance.

Here’s how I learned about sympathetic resonance in my Grade 13 physics class.

Mr. Beecroft said (and demonstrated) the following:

“When a person stares at a red stop sign long enough they will occasionally see another colour shimmer around the edges.”

“Viewing the red sign will primarily stimulate rods and cones in the eyeball that relate to the colour red, but, because red’s rods and cones are right next door to green’s rods and cones, a small secondary response may be that a person will see green shimmer around the edges of the sign.

“Staring at blue stimulates the rods and cones related to orange in a small way. Yellow stimulates purple, and visa versa."

During the demonstration I stared at a red dot for 30 seconds, then stared at a blank screen. I saw green.

A light went on. I raised my hand.

“Yes, Gordon. What is it?” asked Mr Beecroft.

“The other night I watched a ball game at the park, and while swinging on the large swing set in right field I saw sympathetic resonators, or whatever you call it,” I began.

“Sympathetic resonance,” he said. “But do go on.”

“I was swinging on the middle swing, and once I got into a rhythm, I noticed that the other two swings got moving too. So I created an equal and opposite reaction, or sympathetic resonations. Right?”


["Jodrell Bank Observatory. All I won was the book"]

“No, and yes,” Mr. Beecroft said. “The equal and opposite reaction doesn’t apply here, but you did see an example of sympathetic resonance. And because you’re so observant and brave enough to raise your hand on occasion, I’m going to award you the Grade 13 physics award at graduation.”

“Cool,” I said.

Okay, that wasn’t exactly word for word, but I did win the physics award at graduation (a nifty plaque and a book entitled ‘Jodrell Bank’, which unfortunately was not about an exciting bank heist but about some astrophysics and science and telescope-related stuff) and I think sympathetic resonance applies somewhat when speaking about government mistrust.

For example, though you can’t talk about growing debt, economic losses and unemployment numbers without also talking about a player with an important role, i.e., government, perhaps there are other forces (besides media) at play as well.

Stay tuned.

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Have you seen sympathetic resonance at work?

Are you happy I explained it so well?

I deserved that award, eh!

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