Immediate Word

The volcano in Iceland that disrupted travel and commerce throughout Europe has not been the only eruption in the headlines -- there's been another eruption of a very different sort in the political arena with the controversial rise of the Tea Party movement and the media attention it has received. Its populist undertones have tapped into a powerful vein in the cultural zeitgeist, and its devotees are raising fundamental questions about the basic fabric of the social contract and what kind of nation we ought to be.