Highway Hubris, and gross political miscalculation

The organizers of the big trucker protest in D.C. made a lot of delusional noise about the support they had, claiming millions would join them in a new revolution.

The bunch of racist pseudo-patriots are left just looking stupid.  But this is instructional to something we see repeatedly on the right : the notion that the nation is behind and with them, and that they are representative of a majority of the country.

That doesn't appear to be true by any rational metric, but this group ignores rational metrics and other facets of objective reality when those things are inconvenient to their ideology.

WHAT rational metric, for example, pertains to this silly and grandiose effort? It was repudiated by the major organizations that represent the interests of truckers. A facebook page like is not a reliable metric of who will show up, or what a majority of people think.  There are too many ways for one person to hit like from different accounts.  Facebook likes are not a scientific poll, and in any case, they did not receive millions of facebook likes, much less millions of facebook likes from bona fide truckers.

This is a reflection of poor political thinking, of being out of touch, of a badly flawed hubris.  We see that from the right in the claims made for this protest, and we see it in the shut down of the government by the Tea Party intimidating the rest of the GOP.

As noted by the Washington Times:

Truckers 'Ride for the Constitution' falters, makes no impact 

WASHINGTON, October 12, 2013 — The whole idea behind the “Ride for the Constitution” is flawed.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), about 10-12,000 trucks drive the nation’s capital beltway daily, so it would take a substantial number of trucks to impact traffic and promote the so-called “Ride for the Constitution.”

Hint, hint: a few dozen trucks is NOT "a substantial number of trucks".

The Times goes on to note:

Even if thousands of trucks arrived to snarl trafic, this would do nothing but anger commuters. Since participants did not obtain permits to demonstrate in Washington, D.C., they would also risk having their rigs impounded.
Independent truckers are barely squeezing out a living these days and they often take jobs just to make their rig payments so to ask them to come to Washington and drive around in circles with diesel fuel at $3.85 per gallon and getting about five to six miles per gallon at highway speeds, a trucker would have to ask themselves; “What is this going to accomplish?” Some who did show claim the fuel alone cost them $700.
The so-called ‘manifesto’ by organizers attempted to recruit truckers by listing industry related grievances first and foremost. The manifesto went on to list constitutional concerns. The group then tried to enlist bikers by calling it a “Ride” rather than a “Drive” for the constitution. Other points of the manifesto, such as statements that the requirements for earning an Eagle Scout are over-regulated, appear to be attempts to further broaden support for the effort.
Earl Conolon, self-proclaimed Ride for the Constitution organizer, drove up from Georgia and was spotted by a US News reporter as he stood alone at the mall complaining: “I’ve been here for hours and I ain’t seen nothin’.”
He went on to angrily declare “I’m downtown where the rally is supposed to be but I haven’t seen anybody or heard anyone on the radio.”
Conlon concluded by ruminating “If they (the truckers) are circling the loop (beltway) what good is that going to do? Sure taught D.C. a lesson, didn’t they?”

 Yeah....they sure showed them, didn't they, in Gilberton, Pennsylvania and in D.C.? NOT.