Gus: we do silly things when we are young and restless, don't we? and some of us carry doing different silly things when we grow up... like becoming a reactionary "Tea Party" member...

Christine O'Donnell is in a fantasy world. Literally. The pretty Palin Mini-Me identifies with the women of Middle Earth, comparing herself to the female characters in the Lord of the Rings novels by J.R.R. Tolkien.

"Look at the significance that he gives to Eowyn, the Lady of Rohan," O'Donnell said on C-Span in 2003. "She was a warrior spirit and, to me, that's who I love. I mean, I aspire to be soft and gentle like Arwen, but realistically, I'm a fighter, like Eowyn."

O'Donnell said she liked Tolkien's outlook on gender: "On the one hand, there's the attitude that's normally on the conservative side - as a conservative woman, I feel I can say this - that stifles women. There's almost the stereotypical attitude of, to be a true woman, you have to stay at home. And I've actually had people say to me, 'Why do you choose a career over marriage?' Honestly, I've had only a few significant relationships, and they've broken up with me. And one of the things I've been told is, 'If you weren't so strong, you'd be married by now."'

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see toon at top... Some people might wonder what has all this to do with democracy... Well, one of the concept is that some people want to shape the future of humanity according to their specific gamut of narrow views... And we're all entitled to participate — agreeing or not. Hopefully voters know better than go for crass populism.

Er... I'm dreaming, aren't I?.

The Tea Party does not represent ''the far right'' unless it is viewed from a point far to the left of centre (Letters, September 21).

Academics, schoolteachers, unionised industrial workers, bureaucrats, government employees and the very rich are not highly represented in Tea Party membership. They have secure, high-paying jobs with subsidised healthcare and benefits provided by governments or unions. Their lives are insulated from the reality of recession.

Tea Party members are small-business owners and employees, retirees living on savings, nurses, non-unionised workers, construction workers, tradespeople, entrepreneurs and self-employed consultants, small farmers, shop assistants and those whose livelihood is subject to the exigencies of government policy, government spending and the market.

Business owners and their employees have lost, or risk losing, their businesses, jobs and homes. Retirees are receiving less than 0.5 per cent interest on their savings. Many struggling to maintain their businesses are threatened by tax increases and bureaucratic demands that may signal their demise.

This nationwide network of disaffected middle-class Americans can hardly be dismissed as frenzied extremists, recklessly aggressive or any of the other inflammatory descriptions currently being wielded.

Hard as it is for Australians to believe, most Americans do not want to be dependent on government welfare.

The former Democratic president Bill Clinton, hardly a creature of the far right, has warned that the Tea Party is saying something ''everyone should hear'', which is that ''everyone but average Americans are doing all right''. He urged Democrats to emphasise their plans to create jobs, boost the economy and build a better future.

Dorothy Cordes Turramurra

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Gus: the "Tea party" experiment of course had a season in Australia way back under our own Pauline... Our champion of the rabid-right, Tony, made sure his rabid-right was not usurped by a rabider-right, though.

Pauline after Tony delt with her, by Gus...

In good times, these Tea-Party-ists would have you believe that government is still a hindrance no matter what. And that everyone should be of the same ilk, as long as it is christian-whitey...

In regard to shopkeepers or "liberal" small entrepreneur, anyone who works to supply a fickle small clientele knows it's hard to make a buck no matter what. If one sells left-handed goods in an exclusively right-handed neighbourhood, one is going to struggle.

In Australia and in most Western countries, a large numbers of new small businesses (80 %?) bite the dust in the first year of operation — after the early excitement of buyers, who soon don't come back once their needs or fantasies are satisfied — or not satisfied...

There is nothing wrong in trying out something new — or riding a trend... It may work. But there are big risks. In order to work it has to be done "organically". Have an established devoted clientele before growing bigger...

Remember the dotcom bubble. I knew some small smart operators who were frantically developing new search engines and the like — such as "igames" in their "backyard sheds". Some had the backing of rich investors who knew the risks. Only a few made it to the top. Even some of the big ones still struggle to increase their small share of the market — a market that tends to become lazy and content with a pair of goggles.

Tax and government regulations do not really interfere with small business...

Many people will hang me for saying this, but.

Government regulations are there to minimise exploitation of the workforce and exploitation of consumers. Tax is there to pay for general services. Wasted tax is a worry though but often, small business are also indirectly "subsidized" by the greater community such as council planning — by being provided access roads and/or "vibrant community spirit". One of the major problem (before tax is) is with small business falling to greedy landlords who — after having "cheaply" let a deadbeat shop that a cluey shopkeeper turns into a little gem — want their cut of the action and raise the rent through the roof.

There is an obvious problem in "Middle America"...

There are contradictions such as in "free speech". Someone is NOT allowed to say something negative about a race or behaviour, yet someone is allowed to steal "Valor Medals" with impunity... There are the contentious gun issues and that of christian morals versus secular ethics. And this is were the "Tea Party" mostly comes from: being anal with traditional cosy conservative ideals that seem to have worked till now — rather than the Tea-party-ists being a lot of struggling shopkeepers.

There are "new" (new for some) ideas out-there like recognition of homosexuals — and the concept of evolution — that challenge the suburban god, the family holiday in Bermuda, the KKK and the guns...